Greene King helps licensees ‘take the mystery out of wine’

The free-of-charge service will be available to tenanted and leased pubs in Greene King’s Pub Partners estate and will guide them through the whole process of compiling and producing a bespoke wine list, which will then be printed for free.

Step-by-step guidance on matching wines to all of the major food groups – fish, pasta, meat, poultry and cheese – will also be given, which can then be explained to customers.

“In the hospitality sector, wine is growing fast,” the pubco said. “Wine is growing faster than many other drinks, driven by Prosecco’s popularity, but also reflective of guests being keen to try wines from around the world.”

The tool kit goes into detail of how to avoid customers embarrassing themselves when it comes to pronouncing wine types, as well as tasting notes, indicators and what glasses should be used.

Daunting task​

Greene King managing director Clive Chesser said: “Producing a wine list can seem a daunting task, but with this tool kit we can break down the process, making it much easier to offer the right range.

“The benefit for our licensees from this specialist training is to give them a better understanding of wine, its different styles and characteristics.”

Additionally, Greene King has paired with Fever-Tree to offer guidance on other specialist cocktail menus and to help licensees sell more gin in their pubs.

Gin sales in the on-trade exceeded £600m in the past 12 months, according to the Wine and Spirits Trade Association’s Market Report​​ released earlier this month.

In the past 12 weeks, £149m of gin was sold in the UK on-trade, up 19% on the same period last year.

£1bn for the first time​

Sales of gin in the on and off-trade exceeded £1bn for the first time in a 12-month period this year.

The Morning Advertiser ​is hosting the Future Trends: Spirits event on 3 October, which will feature a gin tasting with gin expert David T Smith, who will also be hosting a panel debate on the gin bubble, if it will burst and what could be the next area of growth.

To book your place at the Future Trends: Spirits event either visit www.spiritssummit.co.uk​ or contact Joanne Horton by email at Joanne.Horton@wrbm.com​ or by phone on 01293 610 403.

Event partners include headline sponsors Diageo and Schweppes, associate partners Pernod Ricard UK and the WSET and bar partners City of London Distillery, Masons, Slingsby and Warner Edwards.

Other speakers on the day include founder of non-alcoholic spirits founder Ben Branson of Seedlip, CGA Strategy and Euromonitor International. Visit the event website to see the full agenda.