INNOVINO: importer of French and Italian boutique wines

INNOVINO imports delicious, honest boutique wines from France and Italy. Boutique wine is crafted in the traditional way by family winegrowers. Manager and sommelier Gunther De Grom knows the winemakers he works with personally. He visits them and knows exactly how they produce their wine. He offers a unique and high-quality selection of wines for you and your guests.

INNOVINO mainly supplies boutique wines to top-tier hospitality businesses and wine bars. But private individuals are certainly welcome too. At INNOVINO, you can also find corporate gifts or unique, tailor-made wine events.

I spoke with manager and sommelier Gunther De Grom about his passion for wine, the impact of corona, and a hopeful future.

What is the story behind INNOVINO?

I’ve had a great passion for cycling and wine for a long time. On every trip we took, I tasted the local wines. But I had no knowledge of wine production. That’s why I decided five years ago to take a sommelier course. Purely out of interest, not yet with the idea of starting a business. During this training, my love for French wines grew, because until then I was a real Italophile.

I had a career of more than thirty years in the electrotechnical industry. I wanted to take my life in a different direction, both professionally and personally. I decided to use my commercial experience to bring French and Italian boutique wines to the market here. That’s how INNOVINO was born.

What is the impact of corona on your business?

On Friday, March 13, I organized my last event: a Chianti Classico evening in a restaurant. The next day, everything closed. During the first lockdown, non-essential travel was prohibited, and I received a relatively high number of orders from private individuals via my webshop. I delivered those orders to their homes myself. This went very well for a few months, which helped me survive that first lockdown.

After that, the hospitality industry reopened, and I mainly had a mix of private and business customers. But during the second wave in October, very few orders came in through the webshop because non-essential travel was allowed then. I want to thank the government for the support measures, which enabled me to bridge a difficult period with minimal turnover.

I also looked for a solution to attract private customers again and opened a pop-up wine shop. A shipping container converted into a pop-up glass unit, richly filled with a select wine assortment, is proudly displayed in my front garden. Passers-by see the wines in the window and find it an attractive, modern concept.

How do you see the future of INNOVINO?

A combination of B2C and B2B. Before corona, 90% of my clientele consisted of hospitality businesses. These contacts are still very close to my heart. The contact with my hospitality customers is very informal; we’ve built a good relationship of trust. So, on the one hand, I definitely want to keep working with them.

On the other hand, I don’t want to just let go of the private customers who have now found their way to me. Soon the pop-up glass unit will disappear, and we’re going to make an adjustment to my home so that I can open a permanent wine boutique and continue to serve private customers. This way, I can keep advising local wine lovers about wines. I can tell a story with every wine, because for every wine, I’ve visited the place where it was produced and I know the local winegrower.

Hopefully, the hospitality industry will open again from May 1. So it’s high time to stock up on wine, because as soon as the measures are relaxed, there will definitely be a wine shortage! (laughs)

You’re right, Gunther!

I encourage all hospitality businesses to discover INNOVINO’s unique range of boutique wines for themselves at www.innovino.be!

Warm regards

De Schone Schrijfster

De Schone Schrijfster

-where words awaken-

As a freelance copywriter, I offer hospitality businesses first aid in (re)writing or correcting texts. Menus, recipes, flyers, brochures, posters, websites, social media… I’m happy to check for language errors and iron out any kinks. Or I can mix your words into a delicious text that makes your customers’ mouths water. Call or write to me. For a taste, take a look at my website www.deschoneschrijfster.be and follow me on facebook