In Vino Veritas Read Free Page B

steadily increasing wine yield.
    Gerry Davies took his time and spoke calmly. ‘So far, we seem to be immune from the worst effects of the recession. We are a specialist market with niche sales, which we all hope may not suffer the worst troughs of the economy. We shall know by the end of this year whether this is indeed so. Sales of our white wines have increased again, as they have done every year in the last ten – as in fact they need to do, since we are producing more dry and medium-dry whites every year. This remains the core of our business.’
    Beaumont nodded slowly. ‘It does, but we are also producing more red each year. There seems to be a steady demand for it: a higher percentage of red wine from all sources is drunk in Britain each year, so we need to take account of that trend.’
    Gerry Davies nodded. ‘So far, we are selling all the red we produce. However, we have to push the “rough but fruity and characterful” aspect rather more than I like to do, and we take a smaller mark-up on the reds than the whites. We could do with something to rival the Australian Shiraz. But no one as far north as us has come up with a vine to rival them so far.’
    â€˜We should get some economies of scale on our reds from this year onwards,’ said Beaumont. ‘I calculate that we should increase our production of them substantially over each of the next five years.’
    â€˜Economies of scale will depend on us shifting everything we produce,’ pointed out Davies. ‘We’ve had to work very hard to clear all the reds in the last couple of years.’
    There was a tension between him and Beaumont which everyone in the room could feel. Beaumont was a man who didn’t like to be challenged too openly or too far, whilst Davies for his part was not prepared to let anything go which might cause him trouble in the future. The Welshman now said, as though making a concession, ‘The new sparkling wines have gone quite well. Quality and flavour don’t seem to be too important with sparkling wines.’ He glanced up at the faces in the quiet room, wanting to see their reactions. ‘A lot of the people who drink sparkling wines don’t seem to be wine drinkers at all, you see. It’s used mainly to celebrate family or group achievements, and everyone has a glass or two.’
    Beaumont knew that their latest champagne-type wines were better than that, but decided that he would not be insulted. ‘So long as we sell whatever we produce in the way of sparkling wines, we need not concern ourselves too much with what motivates the drinkers,’ he said affably. ‘How is the beer we agreed to stock selling in the shop?’
    â€˜The Dog’s Whiskers pump? Surprisingly well.’ Davies spoke eagerly, as if he too were anxious to move on from controversial ground. ‘The brewery gave us an astonishingly good margin because they were so anxious to get in here, so we couldn’t really lose on it. Nevertheless, it’s sold well. There are still quite a lot of real ale enthusiasts who come in here to buy our wines.’
    Beaumont nodded. ‘We are talking about the heartbeat of our business when we discuss shop sales. Everything else is driven by the profits from the shop. Are there any comments from our financial director?’
    Alistair Morton had spoken not a word throughout the meeting, confident that his expert view would be demanded if he bided his time. For better or worse, accountants controlled the finances and thus the policies of many businesses nowadays. He cleared his throat and said, ‘I think it’s time we began to distinguish between the retail activities of the shop and the mail-order business, which is increasingly important. It may be a better indication of the way we should plan for the future than the changing week-to-week takings in the shop. In my view, it is the orders we secure for many cases of wines at our