Meet The New Buyer
T
he music industry’s loss was Forth Wines’ gain when its new wine buyer Toby Sigouin had an epiphany. The Edinburghborn music graduate, who turns 37 this month, didn’t exactly fall out of love with music after his degree, but he was hit with the realisation that, of the two, wine was his greatest passion. Toby took up his current position as wine buyer for Forth Wines on the 1st March, but he’s been with the company for the past six years, as an account manager for the Lothian and Borders region. Toby is very keen to bring something new to the role and break with some of the more traditional wine buyer associations. He explains, “My role will focus on three main areas – list maintenance and sourcing new and exciting wines, a higher degree of sales force and customer interaction, and developing a Forth Wines’ specific training package, both internally and externally.” He continues, “Obviously, I still have to fulfil a large part of my remit around working with suppliers, while drilling down to the depths of the Forth Wines’ Portfolio to identify gaps and trends, and I’ll still have contact with key customers, while also supporting the sales force, and working with their customers. “It’s important for a buyer to keep up-to-date with what’s happening in the market place and to get to know our customer base really well. It’s all very well reading up on the subject, but you just can’t beat that face-to-face connection.”
Wine Portfolio Launch Event In terms of Forth Wines’ product range, you may have seen DRAM editor Susan Young reporting from the company’s annual wine tasting on www. barandpub.tv where she spoke to both Ian Cumming and George Thomson. Toby, meanwhile, is quick to underline the importance of customer feedback in informing new ranges. He explains, “Our 2013 portfolio launch at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh last month included100 new independent wines. In terms of market trends, some customers are looking more to Old World wines, so we have launched two new Bordeaux agencies, at the value for money end of the scale, after feedback from customers. Many of them, particularly the younger ones, had preconceptions of Old World wines being out of their price range. I think that this trend is likely to continue as Old World wines get their acts together and begin marketing their wines at a mid-level price. Now we are seeing customers cottoning on to the fact that they can get a good French wine at a reasonable price. “There’s also been an upsurge in matching wines with food, probably down to all the cookery-related programmes on TV. The wine trade and the licensed trade tend to see supermarkets as their arch-enemy, but in actual fact, we have them to thank for the growing number of people drinking wine.” If you’d like more information on Forth Wines or Toby Sigouin, please visit www.forthwines.com.
A couple of examples of the dynamic quality wines from our new 2013 Portfolio La Poderosa MaLbec - In 1952 Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara ventured on a magical journey through the wilderness of South America on his precious Norton 500, which he nicknamed ‘La Poderosa’ – The Powerful One. The journey was immortalised by the film Motorcycle Diaries and the bike features on this hearty 100% Malbec from Chile. santiago ruiz aLbarino - this superb Albarino with its distinctive and iconic label demonstrating a wine region in a unique and memorable way was one of the stars at our tasting last week. We are very excited about this wine… it tastes as stunning as it looks.
Our Team Scotland Forth Wines is all about the quality of our people and we believe that our committed, knowledgeable and enthusiastic team are a match for anyone in the trade. They are there to provide 100% customer satisfaction and help you grow your business.
Tom Clarkson , Regional Sales Manager Scotland 07801 456255
Drew Renwick Fife / Central 07785 763036
Richard Collie Morayshire 07825 129391
John Robertson , Inverness / Islands 07801 456250
Marna Farrell Ayrshire / West Coast 07801 456260
John Murphy Glasgow / Lanarkshire 07747 844765
Ewen Lamont Aberdeen / Tayside 07801 456251
Euan Thomson Edinburgh/ Borders 07890 442480
Crawford Place | Milnathort | Kinross-shire KY13 9XF TELEPHONE: +44 (0) 1577 866000 | FACSIMILE: +44 (0) 1577 866025 EMAIL: enquiries@forthwines.com | orders@forthwines.com www.forthwines.com
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