Pushing wine to next stage

So, you've got your wine offer up and running, your staff know how to uncork a bottle without looking stupid, and your sales figures show customers are happy with what you're recommending. What next?

You should find the answer at Wine+ - the UK's only dedicated on-trade wine event - where there will be a host of advice on how to push your wine offer up to the next level.

All the major wine suppliers and trade bodies will be present.

Here's a sample of what they will have on offer.

Education

The Wine and Spirit Education Trust's (WSET) Level 2 Intermediate Certificate is a vocational training course in product knowledge for drinks industry professionals who already have basic wine knowledge, but want to build on that. It is a good base for moving onto the WSET's Level 3 Advanced Certificate.

The intermediate course includes training in:

• Wine tasting: Taste and describe wines using the WSET's system

• Labelling: Decode and understand wine labels

• Factors influencing the style of wine: What determines the style, quality and price of the wine in the production's early stages

• Key wine-producing regions: Learn about all the main areas, from France to Chile.

Five top tips from Rhona Cullinane, national accounts manager at distributor Eurowines

• Propose a glass of wine as an aperitif while customers are selecting food. This inevitably leads on to a bottle

• Staff tasting is key to confident proposal of wines - encourage brief but frequent tastings. Staff should memorise three key points on each wine: a grape variety, flavour, or texture

• Teach staff to match at least two good value wines with all the dishes on the menu. As the menu rotates, get input from the chef in selecting new wines

• Use the line 'If you like this, you should try…' Up-sell by substituting the classics - chardonnay, pinot grigio, merlot - for quirkier wines

• If presenting the bottle at a table, ask who wishes to taste, never assume.

Know your styles

You will be able to research the production of popular wine styles. For example, sparkling wine is produced by trapping CO2 in the product. While in soft drinks this is usually done by adding CO2 in a gas form, for sparkling wine the fizz is created by a second fermentation. This takes place either in a tank or a bottle, depending on the style the producer wishes to achieve.

Champagne can only be made from three grape varieties, chardonnay, pinot noir and meunier, using the 'traditional' method. This is a form of bottle fermentation where the wine is produced and sold in the same bottle.

Cava (pictured) is a sparkling wine from Spain also made using the traditional method.

Wines produced via the tank method are usually intended to taste like a sparkling version of a still wine. For these wines, the second fermentation occurs in a sealed tank which prevents the CO2 escaping. Asti and most brands of prosecco are examples.

Wine+ is the UK's only dedicated on-trade wine event, and takes place on February 3 and 4 at London's Olympia.