Champagne Warehouse - Buy Champagne online

Look who’s been talking about us!

Tony gets quoted in the Drinks Business 2nd February 2012

Speaking to the drinks business, Tony Stones, founder of Champagne Warehouse, said he was seeing more interest from hotels and restaurants looking for something different to offer in place of more famous names.

He said: “The on-trade is asking for grower Champagnes. With the likes of Morrisons always discounting brands like Veuve Clicquot, the on-trade is finding they can’t sell these Champagnes for as much anymore.”

As for what the on-trade is looking for, Stones said it was usually grands and premier crus and also vintage.

To read full article click on the link above.

 

Terry Kirby talks about our very own Jean-Paul Morel in The Independent Sunday 4th December 2011

Jean-Paul Morel Reserve

“Authentic, individual, artisanal champagne from Jean-Paul Morel, head of the co-operative in the Grand Cru village of Verzenay, most of whose grapes go to the big names. This is what he does with the remainder: aged for four years to allow the mellow, yeasty flavours to develop, this has real depth and the body to stand up to strong-flavoured nibbles or first courses. £23.99, champagnewarehouse.com”

 

Mike Tippings talks about our Stocco Prosecco Extra Dry Saturday 26th November in the Press

Stocco Prosecco Extra Dry

“Italy’s Prosecco is very trendy among the wine chattering classes. Try Stocco Prosecco Extra Dry which is available from Yorkshire-based online suppliers Champagne Warehouse. Soft and far too easy to drink, it suggests apples and pears with a hint of citrus.”

 

Terry Kirby talks about our very own G.Tribaut Cuvée de Réserve in The Independent Sunday 4th August 2011

Terry Kirby said: " G.Tribaut proves that great champagnedoes not always have to come from such famous names".

G.Tribaut Cuvée de Réserve

“I’ll mark my birthday today with a bottle from G Tribaut, a small family producer in Hautvilliers, where a certain Dom Pérignon once lived. Tribaut proves that great champagne does not have to always come from such famous names, delivering a refreshing mouthful of pears, toasted nuts and a hint of fruit. Great as an aperitif before a special meal. £24.99, champagnewarehouse.com”

 

Tony was in the Sunday Times Business Section ‘How I made It’ column 5.6.11

Tony's journey

Here’s what he said:

I went from a mining town to a life of champagne warehouse

The contrast between Tony Stones’ present life selling champagne and his younger years during the miners’ strike of 1984-85 could not be starker.  He was born and brought up in Castleford, a mining town in West Yorkshire, and witnessed the huge effect the strike had on his family.  His father, a driver for the National Coal Board, was on strike without pay for a year, as was his uncle.

He said: “My mum didn’t work, she was a housewife bringing up three children, so we were pretty dependent on friends and family.  Most people, certainly all the friends we had, were on strike.  It was hard to see my parents struggling.  Castleford was right in the centre of the strike.”

Cut to today, and his business, Champagne Warehouse, based in Boston Spa, Leeds, will have a turnover of £3m this year and employs six people.

Stones left school in 1983 at 18 and was offered a place at university but decided to take a job in the IT department at Rowntree Mackintosh, the confectioner, in Castleford.  He said “I did a lot of exciting things like introducing computers on to the production line.  It was all new stuff and we had to learn from manuals.”

After five years he left to join a software firm in Leeds and then moved to another firm in the same sector.  While he was there, Stones, then 34, went on a tour of the vineyards in France’s Champagne region.  “I did all the touristy bits and I had a few days spare so I drove round the villages and tasted some of the champagne from the smaller growers.  I was amazed by its quality.”

On his return to Britain, Stones tried to buy the champagnes he had discovered but couldn’t find them anywhere.  He contacted the vineyards direct, but they told him they didn’t export to Britain because it was too difficult.  This gave him an idea.  “I thought, well, if nobody else is doing it, I will do it.”

Stones and a neighbour, Alan Swain, took a van over to the vineyards and bought champagne.  They started the business in 2000 with £10,000 of savings each, running it in their spare time from their homes in Boston Spa.

Because they both worked in IT, they decided the natural place to start selling would be over the internet.  So they created an e-commerce site, champagnewarehouse.com, and spent the next three years building up relationships with seven little-known vineyards.

They discovered that when people bought the champagne, they liked it and would come back for more.  The problem was getting people to the website in the first place.  Another problem was that they had to do it all in their spare time because the business was not making enough profit to support either of them.

In 2006 the situation came to a head when Swain decided to leave to spend more time with his family.  Stones had to decide whether to quit, too, or take over Swan’s share and keep going.  At this point the business had a turnover of less than £100,000 and had amassed a debt of £12,000.  After much agonizing, he decided to keep going. “I looked at the repeat order rate we were getting and the enthusiasm that our customers were showing for the product and decided to give it a go,” he said.

However, Stones realised he needed to find another way of selling his champagne.  He approached some high street retailers and discovered they might be interested in taking some – provided he could find a producer with enough volume.  He could, and in 2007 got his big break when a large supermarket chain placed an order for 120,000 bottles worth £1m.

Delivering the order in three months was a logistical and financial headache, but Stones managed it and then got a big order from another supermarket.

His sister, Teresa, joined the business to help him, not least because she spoke better French than he did.  He finally left his job in IT in 2008 to devote all his energy to the company.

The business now gets 90% of its sales from well-known supermarket chains.  Last year, Stones, who buys from 14 champagne producers, also started selling prosecco and cava sparkling wines.

His one mistake, he said, was holding on to this day job longer than he should have – and not employing someone sooner to help him.  “I was cautious about taking on too much but I should have had the courage of my convictions,” he said.  “It would have allowed me to look more at the strategy of the business.”

Stones, 46, who lives with his girlfriend and her son, still owns 85% of the business.  He thinks the secret of his success has been being there at the right time with the right price.

He gives this advice.  “Accept that there are going to be setbacks from time to time – some of your making and some outside your control – and that you have just got to bounce back and learn from them.  Be flexible, be adaptable, and be tenacious.”

 

Tony was in the ‘This Life’  section: Yorkshire Evening Post Wednesday 27th April 2011

Yorkshire Evening Post 27th April 2011 -What make Tony tick

Here’s what the article said:

Tony Stones, 45, was teetotal up to the age of 25 and his first job was writing the words ‘After Eight’ on the underside of After Eight Mints- at least that’s what he told his friends.

These days he runs Leeds-based Champagne Warehouse, which last year turned over £3m.

He spoke to Neil Hudson about his transition from computer expert to champagne king and his mission to educate people about this exclusive tipple.

When I left St Wilfred’s School, Featherstone at 18 I did not go to university. I went to work at the Rowntree Macintosh chocolate factory in Castleford in an up-and-coming department called ‘I.T’. It was a bit of a new thing back then. It was amix of doing things like payroll and introducing PCs onto the factory floor. Onr of the things we made was After Eight mints and if you look at the underside you will see the words ‘After Eight’ printed lots of times. I used to jokingly tell my friends I was the one who wrote them all on – some of them believed me too. One of my first jobs was programming a computer to weigh the mints as they went down the conveyor.

I started the business because I wanted some other champagnes to drink other than Moet and Veuve Cliquot. I discovered there were hundreds of different champagnes, often of better quality for a better price. I made it easy for small growers to export to England- some of them only make 500 bottles a year. With us you are paying for quality, not the label or marketing behind that. We’ve even started supplying M&S, Sainsbury’s and some boutique hotels. Champagne Warehouse (champagnewarehouse.com) was awarded Best Online Champagne Retailer at the Harpers Champagne Summit at London’s Soho Hotel earlier this year. We are an online businessbut we try to educate people about champagne on the website, it’s my mission to introduce more people to champagne. Most of our bottles cost between £18 and £30. Our most expensive is £60 and that has just been awarded the Grand Cru, which is a much sought after French wine classification indicating ‘great growth’.

To relax I play guitar, write my own music. I also like to go walking and cooking. After that, I think it’s drinking wine and finding new wine.

Someting that might surprise people is that I was teetotal up to the age of 25 but I went to work in Frankfurt, Germany for about six years on a project for Barclays Bank and the only things to drink out there were beer, wine and coca-cola. I didn’t think drinking lots of cocoa-cola would be good for me, so that’s really when I was introduced to wine.

I am most proud of taking Champagne Warehouse from nothing to where it is today, with a turnover of £3m and we still only have five employees. I am also proud to be living in the same area I grew up in.

I had an interesting childhood, my dad worked for the National Coal Board during the miners’ strike, so that was a difficult time for the family because there was no money coming in. There was me, my mum and dad and I have a brother and sister. Mum and dad would do anything for us, we always had a holiday each year in Morecambe.

If I could give someone a piece of advice in business it would be to go into something you are passionate about. I have turned my hobby into my job. Also, have confidence in yourself. I set myself goals going forward, so at the moment, I would like to be in the position by the time I am 50 to have a place in Italy.

If I could meet anyone it would be Stephen Fry, who is extremely well versed on all subjects. I once heard him say he was allergic to champagne, so I’d like to ask him why he thinks that. I once went to watch a recording of the quiz programme QI, which was fantastic, some of the things that go on never make it onto the TV programme.

One thing I could not live without is my laptop, it’s got my life on it. I did once have a laptop crash on me and I was unable to get the information off it but nowadays I tend to make back-ups.

The last time I cried was a few months ago when I went to see my father, Ted, who is 83 and has Alzheimer’s and he was sat doing the crossword. I had a lonf battle to get him some medication which they said would not help him in any way but about three weeks after he started on it he was doing the crossword in the paper, which is something he hadn’t done for about three years. He’s a completely different person.

Yorshire Post 20th April 2011 - Award winners

Yorkshire Post 20th April 2011

Published on Wednesday 20 April 2011 11:44

TURNING your hobby into your business is everyone’s dream. For Tony Stones, it became a reality. Catherine Scott reports.

It was a visit to the Champagne region of France which changed IT consultant Tony Stones’s life.

“I’d always loved Champagne, but then I went on a tourist trip to the Champagne region and I fell in love with the Champagne produced by some of the smaller producers,” explains Tony, from Boston Spa.

“When I got home, I tried to find some of the Champagnes I had enjoyed so much on holiday, but couldn’t find them. It was then that I got the idea for the business.”

In 2000, Tony started the Champagne Warehouse, which he ran alongside his IT work.

The Champagne Warehouse became so successful that Tony was able to give up the day job and concentrate full time on his business.

Tony and his partner, Helen Hall, supply supermarkets, including Sainsburys and Marks & Spencer, as well as restaurants and have a thriving on-line business.

They have just beaten off competition from the big boys to be named Best Online Champagne Retailer at the Harpers Wine & Spirit Champagne Summit.

Their family-run business won the votes of industry leaders and experts and beat competition from the likes of Laithwaites and the Wine Society.

“We are absolutely delighted to have been given this prestigious award,” said Tony.

“Over the past 11 years, we have worked closely with the wine-growing community to source the best quality champagnes and sparkling wines, and have steadily built a reputation for the personal service we offer our clients.

“We are also proud that our website tries to educate consumers about the world of sparkling wine and Champagne.

“I have built up this great relationship with the smaller producers, and they have been very loyal to me,” he says.

Tony explained that despite the recession, the Champagne business is booming.

“The smaller artisan producers are slightly cheaper than the big-name brands and we are finding that once people taste our Champagnes, they come back time and time again.”

Tony has also branched out into supplying Cavas and Prosecos but keeping the same ethos as with the Champagne.

“We have been looking for the smaller producers in both Italy and Spain, which has proved quite difficult, but we are getting there.”

The Champagne Warehouse team specialises in selecting distinctive and exclusive Champagnes and sparkling wines from small, artisan producers and growers who are passionate about their products and often produce them by hand in small quantities.

Although at the moment the business is totally on line, Tony hopes to open a venue in Leeds or York where people can go to taste.

www.champagne warehouse.com