Throughout St James’s the window displays offer an enticing picture of festive life: cheeses from Paxtons, cigars from Foxs, hats from Locks, country clothing from William Evans. I wonder what will be under the tree for me…

As a lover of wine and food, I always look forward to Christmas with relish. I value the tradition of staving off the ravages of mid-winter with a long-running feast that runs the gamut from fish to meats of all varieties, fruit and savouries, cheeses, sweets and chocolate. And if somebody has to volunteer for the task of choosing wines to match such a variety of dishes, well, it might be as well be me.

I’ve got something rather special in store for our main meal this year. Christmas is a time for treating yourself to delicacies that you wouldn’t normally indulge in, so we’ll be starting with lobster and following it with roast goose. Goose has a richer, stronger flavour. It’s also a smaller bird than the turkey, which means we won’t be eating it in all manner of soups, pies and curries right through until Easter.

To accompany the lobster I’ve chosen a 2009 Grüner Veltliner, Lamm from Schloss Gobelsburg. This is an intense Austrian wine with the mineral precision you’d expect from Burgundy and a wonderful, white pepper finish. It’s superb with lobster and scallops.

The goose is going to get the benefit of Giuseppe Mascarello’s magnificent 2003 Barolo, Cru Monprivato, Castiglione Falletto. Again, choosing a Piedmont is a slight departure from the traditional Bordeaux but the Barolo is absolutely delicious now. It has classic notes of ripe cherries, roses, minerals, flowers and herbs, and very silky tannins make it a fabulous pairing with goose or duck.

I must make sure I don’t rush the main course just to get to the pud, but with a Malmsey 10-year-old Madeira, Broadbent Selection waiting for me, it won’t be easy. Madeira’s such a wonderful wine and this is a superb, full-bodied, wonderfully rich example that’s absolutely glorious with Christmas pudding or indeed Montgomery Cheddar.

Please accept my best wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This has been a momentous week here at BB&R.

Eighty seven years after it was born in the parlour at 3 St James’s Street, the Cutty Sark brand has been sold. For as long as I can remember the familiar yellow label has been part of our identity. Somehow this always seemed to be paradoxical: very few of our UK wine customers automatically associated BB&R with an international whisky blend, but the reality is that the wine division of our business would never have survived, let alone prospered, if it hadn’t been for Uncle Cutty paying the bills for forty years or more.

Cutty Sark itself was a bit of a paradox. It was invented by London wine merchants (including my grandfather) who rarely drank whisky. They decided it should be pale in colour because the best wood aged spirits – Cognac, for example – did not have to be darkened by caramel to hide their flaws. It was drunk, initially, in Prohibition-bound America, where its pale colour convinced suspicious eyes that tea – or at any rate a weaker dram – was being consumed. For a whisky with such a British heritage (including a royal warrant), it was strangely always an export brand: America initially, especially after Prohibition was lifted, but subsequently markets as diverse as Greece, Japan, and Spain. As it grew more and more successful, it seemed to shun its BB&R roots, appealing to a younger, international audience with little in common with a traditional St James’s wine merchant.

Nevertheless, Cutty was a huge success. In the 1970s, it was the largest selling brand in the largest spirits market the world has ever known: blended whisky in the USA. As it declined in America, it spread throughout the world, at one time being sold in over 150 separate countries. Financially, it was a gold mine for us. By the mid 1980s, it was contributing 90% of our turnover, and 105% of our profit. It could be accused of imparting to the Wine Division a sense of complacency. On the other hand it allowed us to maintain traditions and standards of service that were being swept away by the modernity of the late twentieth century (and if you want to know what I mean try calling British Gas to discuss your account!). To mix avian metaphors, the cuckoo in the nest was laying very golden eggs.

So what happened?

Basically, three things changed over the course of the past 15 to 20 years. Firstly the world-wide spirits trade began to consolidate and become much more competitive. Whereas previously we had been a nimble, independent squadron able to operate effectively against larger concerns like the brand-owning breweries, now the world is dominated by the super-powers of the drinks industry. Diageo and Pernod Ricard exercise such power that a family-owned business such as ours has little chance to compete when it comes to mass-market brands. Margins began to dwindle. You had to be massively powerful to survive.

Secondly the Wine Division decided to stand on its own two feet, and has done so remarkably successfully. Building on the values that Cutty’s success allowed us to maintain, the unprofitable ‘Home Trade’ (as it was called) transformed itself from a ‘dinosaur’ into ‘the best wine merchant in the world’ in a remarkably short space of time. The wine trade, and especially the fine wine trade, is a fickle industry, at the mercy of climate and fashion. However since 1993 the Wine Division’s turnover has increased from £5 million per annum to over £100m, and for the last 10 years has been in profit every year but one. Berry Bros & Rudd, the Wine Merchants, are now a multi-faceted business in their own right.

And thirdly, we have realised that, as far as Spirits are concerned, our strengths lie in fostering premium, niche brands. We invented the Glenrothes in its present form in 1994, and watched as it became the fastest growing single malt in the world. Yet we never owned it; we merely relied on a 10 year marketing contract. As we add to our spirits portfolio (the re-branding of King’s Ginger, and the imminent launch of Number 3 Gin being the first steps) it was important to make the Glenrothes ours and ours alone.

The Edrington Group, who have been our partners in Cutty Sark since they started blending the liquid over 70 years ago, were sure that the brand would prosper if they owned it outright. They have already achieved enviable success with Famous Grouse and the Macallan, and with Maxxium Worldwide (their international distribution alliance with Beam Global Spirits) they are certainly in a better position to take on the multinational mega-corporations. They also recognised our ability to grow the Glenrothes, which they still distil. So, finally, a deal was done which benefited – like all good deals – both parties.

I am sure that it will feel strange without Cutty Sark for a while. Certainly the business will change, with the Wine Division more focussed on profitability and the Spirits Division determined to build the assets of their new brands. However I am equally sure that the company as a whole is now playing to its strengths as never before. And that in times to come this momentous week will be recognised as central to the continuing success of Berry Bros & Rudd.

This year’s January Sale shelves are going to be heaving, but remember that if you want to grab a real bargain, visit bbr.com today – some wines are going to be discounted by over 50%!

Today also marks the start of our 2007 Grand Burgundy En Primeur Offer and you’ll be glad to know that it is as brimful of fine Burgundy as its predecessor.

21 years later, I am delighted to announce that we are bringing the style of our old list back for our 2009 Price List. Why? When even my father (now aged 93) has grown accustomed to the new one? Well, in many ways the world has moved on so far that its time has come again.

Ironically enough, it is the emergence of the internet that has revived the old-fashioned Price List. Our website bbr.com continues to win awards and is recognized throughout the world as one of the best sources of information available to the wine buff. Continually updated, with new wines as well as new snippets of information being added several times a day, the website requires a companion printed price list much more flexible and concise than the current model. Something that will give you an overview of the wines we have available for you to buy, but which will encourage you to visit our website to learn more and discover our full range. Something, moreover, that is less wasteful of natural resources in these ecologically conscious days. The more we looked for the perfect answer, the clearer it became that we were describing a wheel already invented: the pocket-sized list.

To celebrate its return, we are also publishing a limited edition reprint of our list from 100 years ago; our 1909 Price List. 1909 really was ‘a foreign country’, to use L.P. Hartley’s famous phrase. The list leads off with Sherry and Port, for example, and ‘pre-expulsion’ Green Chartreuse is over three times more expensive than 1869 Lafite or 1880 Romanée Conti. But even as we gasp at the prices of some of the wines from those days, it is comforting to realise that some good ideas never go away – they just need time for the world to catch up with them again.

View 1909 Replica Price List

View 2009 Price List

Many current members of BB&R spent time with Gerry in Bordeaux, learning about the region through his unique insights. Also unique were his driving skills (slow down the straights, fast round the corners), although they had the advantage of keeping the occupants of the rear seats awake after a good lunch at the Plaisance in St Emilion or le Mar aux Grenouilles in Lesparre.

His Irish background, coupled with an RAF/ ham radio vocabulary, and an adult life spent almost exclusively abroad, meant that Gerry’s way of talking was instantly recognisable. He relished the English language, and his ability to write meant that his ‘Vitsits’, sent vie the trusty telex, became a required read for anyone who wanted to know what was happening in the vineyards of Bordeaux.

His French, of course, was equally immaculate (he had a wine column in the local Bordeaux newspaper for many years), even if he resolutely refused to waver from his British accent. The message on the answerphone of the office in the Boulevard President Wilson – “Ici le Repondeur de la Maison Berry Bros and Rudd…” was worth the price of the call alone. He once, famously, tried to explain the rules of cricket, in French, to a group of Bordelaise vignerons. It didn’t catch on.

Of all the things we learnt from Gerry, we could never hope to replicate one of his finest achievements: the ability to spit wine at a tasting, accurately, powerfully, and without letting a drop spill! He claimed that the best practise should happen in the bath, with a mouthful of water aimed at the big toe.

Gerry spotted Francoise in the English section of the Bordeaux library, and they were married soon afterwards. The mainstay of his life, she helped him through his final illnesses with great dedication and good humour. She, together with their children Caroline and Jerome, and everyone who knew him, will miss him greatly.

I like to think that we succeeded, and even if technology continues to surprise us (and who would have envisioned videocasts even three years ago, let alone thirteen) we believe that it’s the medium that changes, never the message.

However one aspect of life at BB&R has not yet translated to the internet: the discussions that are an everyday part of our business lives. Wine is a subject that demands different opinions.

Whether it’s over a tasting, at a private lunch with producers, in one of our shops or a public dinner down in our cellars, there is always some debate going on. The relative merits of corks, or glasses, or new grape varieties, or fermentation techniques. Has one vintage developed according to expectation, or has another taken us by surprise? Do we agree with an opinion on the relative wine making skills of a father compared to a son, or that a particular wine is under-valued? How was wine appreciated in the past, and how will things change in the future? And with representatives in cities as far apart as Dublin and Shanghai, these conversations continue all around the clock!

Finally, this crucial strand of our existence reaches the internet! With the introduction of Berrys’ Fine Wine Blog, you will be able to read the opinions and the experiences of the people who make up our company, and to question them, agree with them, disagree with them or even put them right!