Passion for wine key to couple’s success

 Their love for food, wine and people helped make couple Gordon Allan and Corinne Joseph's wine shop become the largest wine distributor in Cebu.

With this success, the Josephs plan to expand and share their passion for wine to Filipinos across the country.

The couple has started building on that dream with their wine shop, Darras+Bowler Revolutionary Wines, which has 320 different brands of wine in its cellars.

The Josephs however took time to venture into the wine distributor business. They waited over a decade since they moved to Cebu from Manila in 1993 for the right time to start the business.

Gordon Allan said Corinne decided in 2004 to try the business after having seen quite a number of Cebuanos, who drink wine, and the steady flow of foreign tourists visiting Cebu.

“This is not my main business as I am a part owner of an insurance company that's based in Manila. My wife Corinne is the one managing this,” Gordon Allan said.

And so in December 2004, Darras+Bowler Revolutionary Wines opened along Foodland area in barangay Banilad, Cebu City.

The market for wines then was not as huge as today but the couple saw it as a growing industry.

And to help the industry grow, the Josephs taught young students taking up Hotel and Restaurant Management courses in some universities including one in Davao about food and wines.

“We have wine classes twice a year with 40 to 60 students. We do wine tastings and food matching classes for the students. And we do this because we're simply very passionate about wines,” he said.

Gordon Allan, who is by blood partly Filipino, American, Spanish and Syrian, grew up with wines. But his wife Corinne, who is French, is the wine expert.

He said Corinne is a natural when it comes to food matching and wines.

“All the wine brands that we have here must be pre-approved (by us) and should pass our standards. We have about 320 wines in the shop making us the largest distributor here,” said Joseph.

The couple said they already invested a substantial amount to set up the shop including the display areas and wine cellars.

“We invested at least P8 million to start the business in 2004 and we started with only 200 wine brands,” said Joseph.

Their best sellers are middle priced wines like Fat Bastard wines which are French wines made by Gabriel Meffre and Meerea Park from Hunter Valley in Australia. They also have a good number of wine brands from South Africa which is known as one of the best producers of the best wines in the world.

Their wine prices according to Joseph would range from P300 to P5,000 per bottle.

Cebu being their home is the main reason for setting their wine shop here instead inother well-developed cities.

“This is where we live and our kids, Morgan, 16 years old and Justine, 14, are studying at CIE,” he said.

Joseph said the wine shop had enjoyed a steady 8 percent to 10 percent growth in earnings every year since 2004 and except for last year where there was no growth because of the global economic crisis.

Joseph also see competition getting stiffer with more wine shops opening in Cebu.

The move from Foodland area to Crossroads in Banilad in June 2008 was well accepted by their customers, who find the new location more convenient for them to visit to buy wine.

Branding has always been a challenge for the Josephs, who wanted to set their shop apart from all other shops.

“Branding is still a constant challenge for us and we do that by making sure we sell the best products which will fit and satisfy our customers demands,” he said.

The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with seven customer service employees ready to assist customers.

Corinne also set up her office on the second level of the shop to make sure that she's there if clients need her.

“Whenever our customers ask us for recommendations we always speak from our knowledge about wines and we always tell them that wines are supposed to be enjoyed and more relaxed than all other alcoholic drinks. This is not the drink that one would drink if they want to get drunk, it's more sophisticated than that,” he said.

Despite the competition, the couple still see the wine business as an underdeveloped business.

They said they wanted to do more and make it more popular and acceptable to people in the whole country.

“We want to expand and spread wines across the country like having distributors in Manila and other parts in Visayas and Mindanao,” he said.

The Josephs are working on offering franchises as their way of expanding the business.