In wine for promotion
It's not the easiest place to find, the Trengilly Wartha Inn. You happen upon it quite by chance after negotiating a labyrinth of high-banked Cornish lanes seven miles south-west of Falmouth. And it's not the quaint old pub you'd expect to find there, either; rather, a post-war reworking of a dilapidated farmhouse.
In the early days of pub trade this place wouldn't have stood a chance, as it's hardly on the main drag. But now, everyone has wheels and the pub has a huge Tarmac car park at the front. Besides, it's not just any old pub - the Good Pub Guide has awarded it the 1999 Pub of the Year title.
This is an honour that owner Nigel Logan is particularly proud of. He has run the pub since 1988 with his wife Isabel, partner Mike Maguire and Maguire's wife Helen.
Logan looks after the drinks side of things and the eight bedrooms above the bar, while Mike Maguire cooks. The pub has a fine restaurant, separate from the bar, serving an ambitious line-up, from £20 for two courses.
Wholesale and retail
Maguire and his team produce such dishes as Falmouth Bay scallops with a sultana and caper dressing and saffron-battered cauliflower; roasted wood pigeon with soft black pudding and redcurrants; and peach clafouti.
The drinks side of things has also grown from strength to strength in recent years: the innovative wine list now includes 250 bins, there's a wine retail business, established three years ago, and a new wholesale arm supplies local restaurants and hotels.
The retail business grew from selling the odd case to a few locals impressed by their wine at dinner to supplying a nationwide client base keen to stock up on the little-known and extremely well-priced Burgundy he has on the list, as well as his other finds. Local restaurants and hotels have followed suit. Logan is even writing their wine lists for them - "those that can bear the ignominy of buying wines from another restaurant, that is".
And why not? According to Logan, a visit to any five high-street restaurants will reveal, all too frequently, that they work from the same wine-tasting notes with vintages seriously out of date. "One of my major bugbears is the lack of care and attention that good restaurants pay to their wine lists. They buy their wine like toilet rolls," he says.
Logan and Maguire met at hotel school in Portsmouth. Logan's taste for wine began there, too, thanks to an inspirational wine lecturer who encouraged Logan to sit his Wine & Spirit Education Trust Higher Certificate. Logan then went on to work in the hotel industry, ending up as deputy manager of a large London hotel (now the YMCA).
The pair bought Trengilly Wartha back in 1988, refurbishing and extending it as they went along. The conservatory, for instance, was added to the bar five years ago, providing 35 more seats to the 45 already in the bar and 36 in the restaurant.
Boules piste
The partners restocked the seven-acre garden and lake, and turned the old piggery into a wine cellar. They also built a boules piste - there's a company team - and named the wine retail business after the little boules ball: Cochonnet Wines.
"Yeah, I suppose I am a bit of a Francophile," he laughs. In fact, 60% of Trengilly's list is made up of wines from France - mature northern Rhône wines are his personal favourite. One of his biggest sellers at the moment is Burgundy.
"I thought I'd never touch Burgundy," he says. "I was told it would never sell round here, and it's a minefield if you have limited cash-flow. But I was sent samples by an unknown producer last year and thought they were really good, so I ordered 200 cases. The wines are delicious, and I can sell them for less than £10 a bottle."
The wines are from Yves Girardin in the Côtes de Beaune, and include a Pinot Noir (£5.85), a Chassagne Montrachet (£9.95) and a Santenay Premier Cru (£10.75). Logan had sold out by Christmas.
"I've really tried to emphasise the French regions over the last few years, but I'm slightly disillusioned," admits Logan. "Things like Viognier sell well. But wines like Picpoul de Pinet, which I'm really enthusiastic about, I'm still trying hard to sell three years on. It depresses me when I have a really good wine and no one buys it."
Logan finds the wine-by-the-glass list is a good way of getting people to try these bottles. It also provides a useful way of finding out what sells.
"Rhône wines are sexy at the moment, and we've had a tremendous response with Spanish. Our two Toro wines are really going down well." Both of these are from Bodegas Frutos Villar, under the Miralmonte label, at £9 a bottle, and £12.50 for the Crianza.
Trengilly Wartha has a 16-strong wine-by-the-glass list that changes each month. It is available at the bar and in the restaurant. One wine that is selling well by the glass is from Navarra, a Sauvignon Blanc from Castillo de Monjardin (£2.75 for 175ml).
The wine-by-the-glass list has also prompted interest in Portuguese wines, adds Logan. May's offering was a Tinta Meuda from Quinta da Alorna at £2.56 for a 175ml glass. The accompanying tasting note described it as "full-in-your-face black fruit extracts and well-integrated French oak".
There are more gems, such as the Palha Canas 1997 from Alenquer in the Estremadura (£11.80) and Espor‹o's Aragonàs 1996 (£14).
Logan also believes that anyone who runs a half decent restaurant should have a good selection of half-bottles. "Not just for the older customers who can't manage a whole bottle, but people often want to start on white and move on to red." Logan has 30 half-bottles, ranging from a Juranáon Sec from Domaine Cauhapé, at £7.80, to 1989 Vi¤a Ardanza at £9.
Cutting edge
He has a passion for California, too. "The continued expansion of our Californian section defies all logic because they are painfully slow sellers," Logan writes in the retail list. It urges customers to take the plunge on the "cutting-edge wines that challenge our perception of the way things are". Logan lists Bonny Doon's superior Le Cigare Volant 1993 (£15.99), Ridge's Geyserville Zinfandel 1994 (£17.50), and he particularly likes Jade Mountain. He has the Mourvädre 1995 (£16.98) and La Provenáale 1996 (£13.60).
The retail list mirrors the restaurant list, except for a few wines that are in small supply and wouldn't deliver the continuity that Logan likes to offer.
Logan ships wine, too, at the moment just from France - such as the Gamay from Domaine de Fontenay in the Côte Roannaise (£9 a bottle). "Shipping wine is becoming easier and easier to do, and the wine trade is running scared," he laughs. "But there are minimum quantities that meet the economic watershed: 50 cases. After that, there's a significant price difference."
Although Logan admits that the merchant side of his business enables him to buy in much larger quantities, giving him very favourable margins, the prices that appear on the list must be sensible.
"Some of the margins I see in London restaurants are phenomenal. If we did that down here, customers would only buy the house wines, so what's the point? I'd rather make £6 or £7 out of a good bottle of wine, just to get them drinking better wines."
His turnover has grown from £100,000 to £600,000 (40% is liquor). In an average month, Logan will take £2,000 for wine-by-the-glass sales, and £4,000 for wine bottle sales in the restaurant and bar.
Raising the profile
Logan is a natural marketer. "I never say no to any opportunity to talk, taste, discuss and teach wine," he says. "It's all part of raising our profile."
There's a monthly newsletter called The Gilly Times, which updates regular customers with his latest finds, awards, refurbishment news and special offers.
There's also an annual wine fair, held over two days in November. Logan opens 100 bottles of wine (with a little support from his suppliers) and it's open house for his retail customers "and anyone else who wants to come", he says. "People will buy a bottle of wine after they've had a nice bottle with their meal. But getting people to trust you as a wine merchant is a whole new ball game. The wine fair is just one way to open up to people.
"I take every little opportunity, whether I'm selling a half-bottle or 10 cases. I've got to get out there and prove to people that we are as good as any other merchant in the area."
Logan and his colleagues have just exchanged contracts on a new place, the Water Mill, in the village of Lelant, near St Ives. They are going to convert the existing restaurant into a pub - Trengilly-style, but minus the posh restaurant. n
