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THE CQ TALKS TO ATLAS FINE WINES!
I suspect most of us like drinking wine and, probably, buy wine on a
not infrequent basis. However I suspect few of us take professional
advice about buying wine, and even fewer of us about buying wine for
investment purposes.
So welcome to Atlas Fine Wines. They not only can sell you wine, but can
advise you on buying wine, can advise you on investing in wine and, frankly,
can help you with just about anything you want to know about wine. They,
through their team of experts, serve private clients seeking advice on buying
fine wine for their own personal consumption and for investment purposes
(as well as providing broking and reserves management services for their
clients). The bottom line here is simple. If you want to explore the world of
fine wine, want to buy some decent wine for your own consumption or want
to look into the fascinating world of wine investment, then Atlas is for you.
Contrary to popular belief it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to purchase fine
wine either!
Atlas are based in London, with an office in Switzerland too, so are not
exactly geographically local for those of us who live on the Wirral or in the
North West of the UK. However they are not a wine shop, nor an outlet that
you have to travel to, to visit, to either buy wine or to seek advice.
In todays world of technology they may as well be next door to you. They
are run by people with huge experience in the world of fine wine and in
Managing Director Simon Larkin have a renowned Master of Wine, who has
won the prestigious Madame Bollinger Medal for Tasting Excellence, who
has been interviewed and used to contribute to both Bloomberg’s television
channel and their news website for wine and wine investment and has been
described by Spears Magazine as one of the ‘new generation of British wine
experts.
For now though, rather than going on myself, I thought I would throw
the matter into the hands of Atlas themselves. I caught up with Richard
O’Mahony, Atlas’s Commercial Director and, on behalf of Wirral Life
Magazine, threw a number of carefully tailored questions at him!
As the name Atlas Fine Wines indicates – you are all about ‘fine wine’. For
you, what is ‘fine wine’?
There are many definitions (and abuses) of the term fine wine. For us, a
fine wine is a wine that has a secondary market, or tradable, value. To this
end we analyse changes taking place in the market, assess changes in wine
regions and with producers. We make our own judgements on value, both
for drinking and for future resale potential. For us the inherent quality of
the wine is critical since, without this, we do not believe that value is likely
to increase over time.
When talking about ‘fine wine’, what sort of price range do your wines
cover?
For us, prices are generally upwards of £25 per bottle. That’s our market,
our niche if you like. We don’t try to operate at all price levels. The most
important thing to consider though is value and not price. The price at
38 wirrallife.com
Pictured: Simon Larkin
which any given wine starts to distinguish itself as more than just generic
wine will vary from country to country, region to region. The crucial point
here is that we assess value whenever we taste, or offer, and communicate
that to our clients.
What services does Atlas provide and what sets you apart from other
wine merchants?
Atlas was set up to provide a first-class service to clients. We operate on a
broker-like model, which gives us independence and impartiality over the
traditional merchant model. We offer the wines we believe in, rather than
foisting unsuitable wines on unsuspecting drinkers. Simon Larkin MW
and I believe that by working to understand the preferences and interests
of individual clients we are better able to source wines that appeal and as
a result 90% of our sales are bespoke to a client. The services we offer are a
logical consequence of this. We build trust with our clients so we can help
them create a portfolio that will grow. We have created a niche for ourselves
based on impartiality and informed advice. We have elevated professional
wine storage, protecting stock in the client’s name, rather than holding it
in the name of the merchant. We manage portfolios so that their value is
preserved and grown; we believe it is as important to advise a client when to
sell as when to purchase. Too often the focus is solely on the latter.