Bordeaux-based wine company Peuch & Besse (P&B) has joined forces with International Diplomatic Supplies (IDS) to supply selected French wines to 60 embassies worldwide.
The new partnership follows a meeting between P&B Managing Director Sylvain Combe and IDS Chief Executive Patrick Doyle at last year’s inaugural Moodie Davitt Virtual Travel Retail Expo.
Doyle created IDS in 1997. It is now the global leader in the supply of groceries, duty free liquor and household goods to the international diplomatic community. IDS has purpose-built temperature-controlled warehouses and offices in London and Dubai and, as reported, opened a new Miami, Florida operation to target US embassies worldwide last year.
According to the partners, IDS has almost 50 P&B wines in stock in Dubai and the UK. The partnership will include the Miami hub and will also be extended to other regions, with IDS ready to announce plans to expand its network.
[Click on the YouTube icon to hear Patrick Doyle talk about the tie-up with Peuch & Besse]
Peuch & Besse was established as a family wine merchant in 1904. It has been a winegrower in Saint Emilion, Bordeaux since 1978 and now exclusively represents other family wineries. Peuch & Besse first revealed an innovative digital ‘One wine, one story’ concept via The Moodie Davitt Report in 2011. Now refreshed and updated, One Winemaker introduces customers to the wine they are looking to purchase through just one click on their smartphones. A QR code opens the door to a video with the winemaker, bringing to life not only the wine but also a story of passion for its appellation and its terroir. As reported, Rajiv Bhatia, the highly respected former regional director at William Grant & Sons, joined Peuch & Besse as Advisor Business Development last year. He is working closely with company leaders Sylvain Combe and Isabelle Gec-Peuch to drive business growth in travel retail as well as domestic channels. |
P&B is already a supplier to the French diplomatic corps and will channel much of that business through IDS, giving French embassies access to both the P&B wines and the extensive IDS duty free portfolio.
The IDS wine offer includes expressions from all the major wine-producing countries, along with a selection of craft beers and international spirits brands.
“Plans for expansion, and maintaining a range of the very best wines for our customers, have been challenging during the pandemic,” Doyle said.
“Global logistics have been hit hard; not being able to travel to discuss new ideas and meet new people was difficult. However, with digital communication, and the wonderful Moodie Davitt Virtual Expo, Sylvain and I were able to implement a mutually beneficial agreement despite never having met each other.
“We shared information, we treated each other with great respect and IDS now have a much-improved French wine offering that benefits diplomats in 60 countries around the world.”
Combe underlined the long-term benefits of the new partnership. “The global diplomatic community now has access to a wide range of our wines on the IDS website, with links to videos that offer the opportunity to experience a journey of ‘storytelling’ with the winemaker,” he said.
[Click on the YouTube icon to hear Sylvain Combe discuss the spirit and aims of the partnership]
“Patrick and I share the same philosophy in terms of investing in our people, thinking for the future, being flexible, having the ability to adapt, offering exceptional logistics services, and last but not least, in giving back to the community.
“These are all key factors that have helped us negotiate the COVID-19 crisis and to establish this special relationship.”
Readers can discover three of the outstanding winemakers represented by Peuch & Besse in the videos below.
Footnote: Patrick Doyle’s outstanding work as an entrepreneur and philanthropist was featured in The Moodie Davitt Podcast last July (below).
The compelling interview with The Moodie Davitt Report Chairman and Founder Martin Moodie plots the IDS journey from start-up in the spare bedroom of Doyle’s South London home through to a flourishing global business that still flourished through the COVID-19 crisis.
[Click on the icon to listen to Patrick Doyle chat with Martin Moodie on The Moodie Davitt Podcast]
A selection of IDS’s key CSR programmes, which include Gentle Hands and Shamida Ethiopia are profiled here.
