COMPANY PROFILE LITMUS

THE TOTAL PACKAGE

Litmus is a one-stop shop consultancy who can offer a everything from through to marketing, says Adam Lechmere. Its greatest asset is its founder, who can claim to have 2/15 MEININGER’S WBI 2/15 MEININGER’S played a role in shaking up the world.

When he set it up in 2008, Worontschak saw Litmus Wines as a natural progression of his consultancy business. “I envisaged it more as a sales company, leveraging my existing consultancies and advising them on how to market and sell the wines. Now we’re heading more towards a model where the production side is greater than the sales side.” Litmus turned over £400,000 ($600,000) last year and is aiming for a £1m turnover within two years. How realistic is that? “I think it’s going to be quite straightforward. It’s based on two large in the UK, and every aspect of the business is growing, at 200% in some areas.” It’s still a very small operation – his two other shareholders are general manager Mike Florence and winemaker Matthieu Elzinga – Mike Florence, John Worontschak and Matthieu Elzinga of Litmus but he says he envisages there being a team of five within the next couple of years. ohn Worontschak can be forgiven for to to sales. We talk to the customers, being more ebullient than usual as he whether they’re independents in London or South Africa calling Joutlines his plans for Richard Branson’s multiples in Holland.” new venture, the lovely Mont Rochelle winery Other consultancies will offer winemaking The deal with Virgin will consolidate in Franschhoek. It’s a beautiful estate even by services, or management, but there growth. Litmus was originally asked by VLE South African standards, and he’s just been are none which cover so many bases. It’s a managing director Jon Brown to do a due handed control of it. business model used in other areas of the diligence assessment of the estate that they Worontschak is an Australian winemaker industry: the UK distributor Bibendum, for were thinking of buying to complement the with a pedigree stretching back an implausible example, not only sells wine to restaurants but other eight properties in their portfolio. Mont number of decades (he’s only in his early designs their menus and advises on storage, Rochelle was owned by the late Congolese 50s and has been making wine since he was on merchandising, glass size, shelving, businessman Miko Rwayitare (it was the first in short trousers). How his company Litmus training and so on. It’s a model particularly black-owned wine estate in South Africa) and Wines came to partner Branson — or, more well suited to an age of austerity. As companies bought by Virgin two years ago. The 39-ha precisely, Branson’s luxury property group look for ever more imaginative ways to cut staff estate has 12 ha of vineyard planted mainly Virgin Limited Edition (VLE) — in Mont costs, to be able to outsource everything, from to , Shiraz and , Rochelle is an interesting example of modern, winemaking to sales, to one company is a boon. , and Sémillon, fast-moving and adaptable business practice. Litmus has clients in Mexico, Portugal, “all beautiful Franschhoek mountain fruit, Litmus Wines is a consultancy based on Israel, and China, offers contract and a beautiful little winery,” Worontschak a very modern ‘cradle-to-grave’ concept: it winemaking at Denbies, vineyard services, says, making about 80,000 bottles in all. supplies the total package, from vineyard sales and marketing, and has a partnership What delighted him, and Litmus (“this is management to end user. Based at Denbies with biotech company Lallemand for supplies the most exciting thing that’s ever happened Wine Estate in the south of England, Litmus of yeasts and enzymes. The business breaks to us”) was the invitation to come in on the not only makes the wine but sells it as well, down into rough thirds, Worontschak says – project as a joint venture. VLE runs the hotel and “fills in all the marketing gaps” that the “thirty per cent consultancy, 35% sales, 20% while Litmus runs the winery, and they are estate doesn’t have the staff for. contract winemaking, and the rest yeast sales both shareholders in the joint venture. It’s a “We cover the entire business,” Worontschak and so on.” Denbies is the “most significant” new direction for the company, and one that says, “from management structure to staffing part of the business. shows it can be flexible – “we can either take

24 Denbies Wine Estate over or become an integral partner and work He says the same of Russia when he ITALIAN with the existing company.” first started working at Myskhako Winery The great thing about Mont Rochelle, on the coast in 2002. “Russia WINE SPECIALISTS Worontschak says, is that VLE took over was producing 25m bottles and they were the estate in excellent condition, spending all undrinkable. They had eight milligrams for no more than R5m ($408,000) in getting per litre dissolved oxygen, so I brought in a GOOD WINE LOVERS it up to hotel standard. The vineyards were nitrogen-generating machine and got the O₂ planted in 1995 and are “well-maintained – levels down. Anyone could have done it.” Now, Fall in love with our selection of traditional we’re doing a leaf analysis to see what sort of he says, he’s just succeeded in getting one of Italian wines. Choose from our rich variety nutritional state they’re in.” his Russian wines, Cru Lermont of still, sparkling, white, red and rosé, in bulk Litmus has inherited some wines in from the Fanagoria winery, into Hedonism, tank – including “some gems” – which the ultra-exclusive Mayfair wine merchant. or bottled even with your own private label, can be bottled and sold under the existing He makes no claims for revolutionising while still always guaranteed by the high quality label. The winery has six variable-volume the industry, but Julia Trustram of the Sgarzi Luigi brand. tanks, humidity and temperature control, Eve, marketing director of the English Wine and there will be an ongoing investment in Producers trade association, reckons he more temperature control tanks. The style played “a significant part” in shaking up of the wines will be brought up to date, England. “In 1990 he was a brash young the Chardonnay given less and more Aussie, but he was convinced of the potential freshness, for example, but there won’t be of English wine and our marginal climate. He any major changes. was making Pinot Noirs when no-one else was – he was very forward thinking.” Aussie revolutionary Nowadays Worontschak is carrying the torch for English still wine at a time when In that sense, Mont Rochelle is a departure most of the industry believes its future lies from Worontschak’s modus operandi, which only in sparkling. Litmus Wines produces a is to shake things up. After graduating in range of still wines, including a White Pinot winemaking in Australia in the early 1980s (also stocked by Hedonism, one of only four he was taken on by Brian Croser of Petaluma English wines on its shelves). “I strongly and from there embarked on a career that took believe there’s a future for top-end English 14-18 June 2015 him from Barossa to Burgundy via California still wine,” he says. “It will catch on.” The Hall 1 /Stand A-86 and Alsace. Settling in the UK around 1989 he reasoning behind this belief is that production started the Wine Consultancy and – will outstrip demand for sparkling, such is before building a client list of wineries in just the rate of vineyard expansion in England: about every winemaking region of the world in four or five years there will be a glut of – he decided he was going to revolutionise Chardonnay and that will not be the English wine scene, which was then very needed for . much a cottage industry. “There’s going to be a lot of sparkling on Working at the Thames Valley Vineyard the market in a few years and the growth in (now Stanlake Park) near Reading, “I was sales may not keep up,” he says. “I hope it the only one who knew what he was doing,” does, but if it doesn’t, then I think making he remembers. “I went round tasting all serious high-end still wines may be a little the English wines and they were crap, so I bit clever.” gave up tasting and started making blends. The jury is out on the viability of English I made dry wines because no one else was still wine, but 15 years ago no one would have doing that, I made the first botrytis wine. It predicted the trajectory of English sparkling. was easy to be revolutionary. I couldn’t have Worontschak has been right before, and he www.cantinesgarzi.com done that in Australia.” may well be right again. Watch this space. W

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