Jourdan on #WineWednesday : 67 Pall Mall, the Best Private Members’ Wine Club in the World?

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There are some places in this world that have such dynamism and energy that you are swept up in them. London is one of those places and numerous English wine-lovers like to gather round some fine bottles during tastings. Less numerous will be those lucky enough, one day, to belong to the highly select 67 Pall Mall club but the privileged few who are admitted will get a chance to discover extraordinary vintages in a unique setting.

“Step into our safe,” CEO Grant Ashton says to me. Indeed the club will stock the equivalent of £5 million worth of wine in a former bank; some of the bottles are so valuable they are stored in the bank’s old vaults. Yes you really are inside a highly protected former bank. And on October 6, right in the heart of historic London, in the very chic borough of St James, for the first time ever this building hosted a major event featuring Gusbourne Estate’s celebrated English sparkling wines. Journalists, sommeliers and opinion leaders gathered to discover the estate’s new livery and a few new vintages. This was also an opportunity to meet those running the show – master sommelier Ronan Sayburn and Mr Ashton himself – and to explore 67 Pall Mall’s future rooms and cellars.

From November this year, members of the club will be able to choose from 500 wines by the glass and many wine-tastings will be organised featuring fine wines from old vintages and in exceptional formats. The margins on the 5,000 or so wines offered by the club will range from 20 to 40%. Club members will be allowed to keep 36 bottles at the club and have them delivered any time they like to enjoy with their friends. The corking fee is very reasonable at just £20 a bottle. The 1,200 members of the club will pay a membership fee of £1,000 plus an annual subscription, also of £1,000. This will also give them the chance to store some of their own wines in the strong-room.

Why so many wines in a place like this in London? Because this is a city to which many people from around the world who are both passionate about wine and have impressive purchasing power come. Why are there no clubs like this in Paris? First because clubs are not part of the French culture. And second because Paris does not have this clientèle. It is not by chance that Russian Yevgeny Chichvarkin chose London to set up his cellar, Hedonism. You are more likely to find a buyer for an exceptional Yquem or Romanee Conti vertical in London than in Paris. Furthermore, when asked about possible plans to develop the club by opening overseas franchises, the future projects Ashton mentions do not include Paris in an immediate future. “It would be New York, Singapore or Shanghai. Paris is a beautiful city but not in the immediate future,” he says. Well, no worry, I will spend some more time “wining” in London….

(*Since 2003, Guillaume Jourdan has been advising more than 200 prestigious wine estates for their international marketing & communication strategy incl. Chapoutier, Hugel, Dr Loosen, Famille Perrin, Cos d’Estournel, Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie’s Miraval…Write to info@vitabella.fr)