Full name: Andrew James Bennett

Role: Co-Owner and Wine Meister at 3D Wines

DOB: 20/10/62

Birthplace: Nottingham

Twitter Handle: @3DWinesUK / @andrew3dwines

Website: www.my3dvines.com / www.3dwinesexperience.com

Fun Fact: “Ask me to recommend delicious wines to go with your meal by all means. But don’t ask me to cook. I once blew myself up in a freak BBQ accident. I survived (obviously), but the sausages sadly did not. And Miggins the cat was whiskerless for the remainder of his days…”

OK, so it’s 20odd years you guys have been going strong now, right? How did you, yourself, get into the wonderful world of wine? Were you in the industry beforehand? I assume you’ve had a passion for vino for quite some time…

My background is in hi-tec. I worked for 15 years for a Cambridge-based technology company. During that time I did a lot of travelling, especially around Europe. In the days when you were able to bring back armfuls of duty-free home on the ‘plane, I sort of built up a nice cellar collection. My love of wine stemmed from that really.

I then left the cut and thrust of industry and bought a pub restaurant just outside of Lincoln. It quickly developed a reputation as a wine-themed venue and during our 10 years there I studied for my various wine exams culminating in a WSET Diploma in wine in 2003. I did contemplate doing an MW after, but my brain cells were just about exhausted by then and I’m not a masochist!

Leading on from above – how did 3D Wines come about? What’s the name mean, exactly, and what do you guys do in a nutshell?

3D wines was formed out of a hobby, by the previous owner, David Dickinson, an ex-M&S director. He started the first ‘Rent-a-Row’ of vines concept nearly 24 years ago. The name 3D comes from him. However, nowadays it means the 3 key dimensions dear to our heart – of Wine, People and Place!

Essentially, we offer the opportunity to get up close and personal with your winemaker. We offer beautifully crafted wines (mostly French), made exclusively for our clients (called Partners). You can go and collect your wines from the vineyard, meet the winemaker and indulge in a memorable VIP tasting and tour with them. It brings wine to life and ensures that your wine drinking experience will never be quite the same again.

We do lots of wine-related events to the key regions of France and our Partners can join us on these. All this starts with a gift of a row of vines in a French vineyard. Some people claim that their lives have been transformed since they became Partners of 3D!! Their wallets certainly are as the wines collected in France are not subject to UK duty – a big saving when buying several case!

You’ve got some pretty impressive wines in your portfolio (lots of award winners, by the looks of it!). Though I see you have the likes of Tuscany and New Zealand too, the bias seems to be towards France at the moment – any reason for that?

Well we started out as French-only. The idea was that you could easily nip by car across the Channel and go and visit your vineyard and collect your wines. However, when I joined 3D in 2007, I had just come back from a NZ Winegrowers trip down-under and I was sufficiently inspired to persuade David to diversify.

Many of our Partners told us that they would really like to do something in Italy too, so after much research and exhaustive tastings, we introduced 3 fabulous estates from Chianti into our range 2 years ago. We are eyeing up other parts of Italy as we speak…

On that note, how do you go about finding a vineyard to partner with and how does that work? You have a fair few exclusive bottles, right?

It all starts with samples and the quality of the wine. I taste with the team. We are small, but exacting! Once we’ve filtered out the wheat from the chaff (there’s an amazing amount of chaff out there, by the way!!), I will narrow my list down to ten or so vineyards and then go and meet them. So the wine always comes first.

Then it’s all about the winemaker and how interesting a place it is to visit and how welcoming they are. The three dimensions as it were. You can imagine that very often the wine is great, but the people or the place don’t quite live up to the same standard, which can be frustrating. In my experience though, it is often a case  where the place is wonderful and the people completely engaging, but the wines are…shall we say, so so?!!

Many of our popular wines are exclusively made for Partners, coming from old vines, a particular plot or barrels etc. We are really chuffed that many of them win top medals at the IWC and Decanter Wine Awards, which is testament to the quality…

Where do you see wine going in the next few years? Any trends we should be looking out for?

When we started out 24 years ago, France was very much the number one wine choice in the UK. And the number one destination for holiday makers. It’s had a rather bumpy ride for two decades. However, my view is that we will gravitate once again to the gorgeous, savoury, balanced, food-friendly wines of this country. It fills me with deep joy to see the renaissance of Cru Beaujolais, for example. 

Heavily oaked, high alcohol wines are all very well, but after a couple of glasses, you find yourself searching for something a little more subtle. Well I do anyway! Enter France….Italy and New Zealand!

I read you guys once say “our wines are the antithesis of brands and mass produced liquids.” Could you elaborate a little on that?

You can make wine nowadays without any grapes being harmed – in other words with chemicals, tannins, acids and the like. There are plenty of wines up and down the country in supermarkets, restaurant chains and bars that taste as if they are made in this way – using chemistry sets rather than sweat, toil, passion and talent. 

France has great terroir and some great winemakers, who make wine because they want to do something great that people will enjoy, rather than just to make money. Of course France is not unique in this respect, but it is their trump card. And it is ‘terroir’, passion and talent that will put them back in their rightful place in time. Most things are cyclical. France will have its day again, I’m certain.

On that note, what can the industry do to get the ‘average’ British consumer to get more involved with wine? Do you feel that this is necessary or even possible at this point?

Interesting question! One could say that we have always had a very strong food culture in this country. Our appetite for food programs, cooking competitions and bake offs etc on tv has never been more fervent. I think that a good wine programme on TV would go a long way to stimulating interest amongst the public.

But it needs a Jamie Oliver type of character to communicate the beauty of wine to viewers, without being elitist or patronising. Also wine companies like us, who very much promote an active participation in wine can do a lot to help get people motivated and involved.

We had a TV producer attend one of our events in the Loire Valley this summer and they seemed really keen to do something about us, our winemakers and our Partners and the interaction that takes place. Watch this space….!!

What’s a ‘day in your life’ like? Could you give us an insight into the wine business?

Well we’re not a conventional wine company I suppose, so perhaps we do things differently. Throughout the summer months I spend a lot of time in France – mainly leading our events to the regions. These are normally for 25-30 Partners maximum. I (and my colleagues) will help them have a great time and I will try and help paint a picture of the region we are visiting.

Not only the wine scene, but also things of cultural and historic interest. Our Partners are often very well-travelled and are wanting more than just a ‘tourists viewpoint’ of a region. Once they have returned home, I stay on in the area and visit all our winemakers. Depending on the time of year, I will taste next year’s releases and also help do our exclusive blends with the winemaker.

This is for me the best and most rewarding part of the job!   

What’s your greatest/most memorable professional moment been, so far?

When I first joined 3D Wines in 2007 I helped make the blend for our exclusive Margaux 2006 made by Chateau Mongravey. It’s a Cru Bourgeois and it won a Trophy at the London International Wine Challenge in 2009. I was quite chuffed to play a part in that (albeit a small one!).

It’s also enormously rewarding and gratifying to read the feedback and comments our Partners give after they have attended an event or have drunk one of our wines and felt moved to write to us! It keeps us going for sure!!

Where do you get your ideas?

In the bath.

What’s your philosophy, summed up in a sentence?

Balance. The hallmark of all good wine. That’s what we strive for and it is something that the French in particular can and should excel at. However, we need to keep an eye out on some of the big strapping wines that are appearing out of Bordeaux in particular.

This is partly down to global warming – with alcohol levels creeping up to 14 and 14.5%. With over ripe fruit and swathes of oak, they can morph into monsters!

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had, how did you overcome it, and what did you learn from it?

Wow. Another deep question! When I owned a restaurant I built up a huge portfolio of wines on our wine list. There were some 300 wines on the list and about 25 wines by the glass! That was quite ambitious for Lincolnshire in the noughties!! Although we won La Routiers Wine Pub of the year in 2005, I learnt that size wasn’t everything.

Commercially, it was incredibly difficult to manage. I found myself throwing a lot of stock away, or drinking it! Nowadays, I often remind myself and our winemakers that however beautiful and artisanal winemaking can be, it is a commercial venture too, and one should not forget that. Striking a balance between your art and craft and paying the bills isn’t always easy!

Who’s the person who’s most inspired you in your work – food industry or otherwise? Is there anyone that you draw inspiration or strength from? Do you have any specific culinary influences?

I learnt an awful lot from one of the worlds most experienced Masters of Wine called Derek Smedley. He was very inspirational to me in my early days and he taught me a huge amount in his subtle way. He was my initial inspiration I guess. Nowadays, I draw inspiration from our winemakers. They exude such passion and commitment and it’s very infectious!!

From a culinary point of view, I don’t go in for a particular genre or guru chef – I love simple food, good wine and memorable company. Like my Anjou Villages rouge and fouées moment, a killer combination of food and wine can often be found in the most humble of surroundings….

What do you enjoy most and least about what you do?

I enjoy meeting up with our winemakers. They are an inspirational bunch. I also enjoy meeting our Partners. They too can be incredibly interesting and inspirational. Indeed many have become friends. Most of all I enjoy doing tastings. I love to see our Partners enjoying the wines, having fun and asking lots of questions.

I least like the rather conservative, predictable and formulaic approach to the wine industry, the pretence and the Parker point mentality. Many wines are touted like luxury brands, and indeed that is what they are. I greatly respect buyers that seek out humble wines that taste special and don’t cost the earth. There is still a market for these!

What advice would you give to aspiring wine entrepreneurs who’d want the kind of results that you’ve had?

Don’t be swayed by Parker Points or pretence! If you find wines that you really like and taste really good, then make sure people know about them and talk about them passionately!

If you can’t be passionate about wine then go into banking! But remember it’s a business too, and you must be able to make it commercially viable. Get yourself a good Financial Director!

If you weren’t doing what you do now, what would you be doing instead?

Flying aeroplanes for a living. Opening the batting for England. Or drumming in a very loud rock band. Not very similar I know, but….

If you could get anyone to try your wines (fictional or real, living or dead) who would you pick and which of the vines would you like them to try? Assume that they go on to be your brand ambassador…

Ooh. Another crikey. I think that one of the ultimate, eloquent modern day communicators must be Stephen Fry. He would enjoy many of our wines I would think, but he strikes me as a Burgundy man.

A row of vines in our Cotes de Nuits Villages Blanc from Domaine Desertaux-Ferrand would be just the thing. Made from Chardonnay and old vine Pinot Blanc, beautifully balanced, rich, elegant and mineral, this would appeal to him as it’s from a humble address yet tastes like a full blown Meursault at a fraction of the price!

He can be our ambassador any day!! I suspect he would enjoy it over a classical Burgundian meal that may last many courses. The conversation would be stellar! 

What’s your ultimate aim and goal for the business? If you could achieve anything with it, what would you pick? Money and reality are no obstacle, so shoot for the moon…

A real impetus for our business came in 1999 when we appeared on the BBC Good Food show with Gilly Goolden and Oz Clarke. We were doing a grape picking event at Domaine de la Chevalerie in Bourgueil when Oz Clarke and film crew turned up. The rest is history.

Suffice to say that memberships more than doubled in a very short period of time. It would be great to get such media coverage once again! We are champions of great wine, passionate winemakers, beautiful locations and having fun. We’d love to share that with even more people!!

Where next for you and 3DWines?

I’d like to explore a few other regions of France (such as the South West and the Languedoc). And the south of Italy really appeals. We have a franchise in Sweden (they love the concept there) and we have recently branched out into the USA.

I get the sense there is a resurgence of interest in decent French wine over there and the strength of the dollar has helped in recent times. We have strong interest in Canada and someday soon, there may be a market for our concept in the Far East.

And we always ask three customary ridiculous questions…

You have acquired a pet T-Rex and are morally obliged to look after it. It is 13 ft tall at the hips, eats half a ton of raw meat a day, and likes taking long walks. What would you call it and what would you do to keep it entertained and housed?

Gosh. I was asked this just the other day…

I would call it whatever it wants. Probably something macho, as shouting for ‘Molly’ or ‘Lucy’ might be slightly embarrassing. I’d play it Toy Story movies (it would relate to Rex of course) but avoid showing it Jurassic Park!

I’d take it on days out to the natural history museum to see its ancestors and it would travel with me in the car during rush hour. Might clear a path ahead rather swiftly.

If you had to have any character from Egyptian mythology come and work with you at 3DWines, who would you employ?

One of the most popular wines I sold in our restaurant many years ago was called Anubis. It was a Malbec made by Susana Balbo. It was a terrific wine then (10-15 years ago). I wonder what it’s like now?! So, naturally it would have to be Anubis.

If 3DWines was forced to change from purveyor of delicious wine into a martial arts dojo, what style would you guys teach and what music would you play in your gym to get people fired up?

Well we are a peace loving bunch here at 3D. However, as it’s an office of mainly girls, it would have to be something suitably feisty. Probably Karate as I’d like to see them do that brick thing. Music would have to be suitably rousing – Fools Gold by Stone Roses would be perfect. Or Subdivisions by Rush. Just to see the scratching of heads…

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