Supermarkets lead the way in shaping British taste for wine

Angela Mount's taste buds were not on top form yesterday. They were suffering from the effects of laryngitis.

Angela Mount's taste buds were not on top form yesterday. They were suffering from the effects of laryngitis.

While this might be a minor inconvenience for many people, for Ms Mount and her employers it is the kind of thing that could be disastrous. The Somerfield supermarket chain, for which Ms Mount is the senior wine buyer, have just insured her sense of taste and smell for £10m.

The figure underlines her importance to Somerfield, which has been struggling to survive in competition with bigger players such as Tesco and Sainsbury's. But its wines sales are rising by 16.5 per cent annually compared to a national increase of 5.5 per cent; they make up 10 per cent of its total turnover.

Ms Mount was quick to point out that, despite being hoarse from five days at a food and drink exhibition, she could still distinguish a sauvignon from a chardonnay.

"I've tasted wines when I've had colds and sore throats before without any problem because it actually doesn't affect the palate too much. But it's also about the nose as well, because the aroma is what hits people first,'' she said.

To qualify for the insurance Ms Mount, 40, had to undertake a rigorous medical examination and what she described as a "scratch and sniff" test to confirm she could distinguish cinnamon, cloves, leather and caramel.

In her 11 years with Somerfield, Ms Mount has overhauled its range of wines, introducing customers to the New World and southern Italy.

Not only does she deal with the shippers and producers, she also selects and blends the chain's own label wines.

More than half her wines have won medals at the International Wine Challenge and, possibly more significantly, received regular plaudits from wine columnists in quality newspapers, helping to attract more well-heeled consumers into a chain considered slightly downmarket.

Insuring her senses was Somerfield's idea, not Ms Mount's, but she is confident she is worth it: "When I arrived, this was not a supermarket known for its wines but we have now developed a range with a reputation for high quality.''

Ms Mount is part of a select band of people shaping the British taste in wine.

They, and the supermarkets they work for, are largely responsible for the increase in domestic wine consumption over the past couple of decades and the variety of wines available, which are greater than in any other country.

When the nation began drinking French regional wines and their boisterous counterparts from the southern hemisphere it was because the supermarkets believed we would like them.

More recently they have introduced plastic corks and screw-caps and, by heavy discounting, increased champagne consumption, including their own label brands. Supermarkets now control 65 per cent of wine sales in the United Kingdom.

Quentin Rappoport, director of the Wine and Spirit Association, said: "The wine buyers are absolutely crucial to the industry. Supermarkets develop their reputations in wine because of the people in charge.

"But when they make bad decisions it can reflect on the business as a whole.

Adam Lechmere, editor of the wine website Decanter.com, said: "Their political power is massive. And I don't think you can accuse them of 'dumbing down' wine tastes, some of them are very clued up people who have been good at opening up public taste.'' In the larger chains, the wine buyers will be responsible for purchasing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of wine.

At Sainsbury's, the wine turnover has a bigger share of its total budget than packaged groceries. Allan Webb, head of beers wines and spirits at the supermarket, said: "Our total budget is now not far off a billion pounds.''

Mr Webb, a former wine buyer, oversees a small team comprising some highly qualified Masters of Wine and others who, like him, have come up through the supermarket structure. They carve up the world between them, travel and forge relationships with the big combines such as the newly merged BRL Hardy and Constellation Brands - which own many of the most common labels in the supermarket - as well as small independent producers for whom e-mail remains an impossibly hi-tech form of communication.

Mr Webb admits that the job has few pitfalls and many obvious pleasures. "People are amazed when I tell them I'm paid for this,'' he said.

COVERING THE PARTS

* The fashion for insuring celebrity body parts is believed to have begun in Hollywood in the 1920s when silent movie star Ben Turpin, famed for his cross eyes, took out a $20,000 policy against them uncrossing. Comedian and singer Jimmy Durante insured his famous snozzle, or nose, for $50,000.

* Female stars got in on the act: Marlene Dietrich insured her voice for $1m and Betty Grable her legs for the same amount. By comparison, Fred Astaire's pins were said to be worth only $75,000.

* Celebrity insurance has continued in more recent years. Comedian Ken Dodd insured his buck teeth for £4m, Australian cricketer Merv Hughes valued his famous handlebar moustache at £200,000 and actress Jamie Lee Curtis insured her legs for $1m when she was advertising stockings.

*A ngela Mount is not the first person to have their taste buds insured. Food critic Egon Ronay insured his for £250,000 and television chef Antony Worrall Thompson insured his fingers and tongue for £500,000 each.

* Rumours that Kylie Minogue and Jennifer Lopez have both insured their rear ends for around $1m each have been officially denied. However, it has been confirmed that a performer known as Mr Methane, who sought coverage against the loss of his talent for performing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" using his body's naturally produced gases, was turned down by insurance companies.

Interesting? Click here to explore further