Chefs Blog in Sydney

Les Grands Vins Mercure

Hi all,

I am the Food and Beverage services manager at the Merure Sydney and in this week’s blog I would like to talk to you about our Les Grands Vins (means great wines in English) concept, from where it started to current wine selection, hope you enjoy…

How it all started….

Very first Les Grands Vins Mercure list started in France in 1983.  At a time when fine wines were often associated with gourmet food, specialist restaurants and high prices, the Mercure hotels showed that it was possible to offer fine wines at very attractive prices in their Hotel Restaurants. To do so, Mercure decided to abandon the multiplication ratio principle in favor of fixed margin profits.

Across the boarders….

From 1990, due to the success of the conceptin France, the brand began to establish the Grands Vins Mercure policy throughout the Mercure network. Since the brand’s philosophy is based on respecting local and national cultures, the wines lists are primarily composed of major appellations that reflect the country’s wine production (with the exception of wines lists in Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland, which are composed of French appellations). In 2011, there is a Grands Vins Mercure wine lists in 18 countries across the world.

Les Grands Vins Mercure ... in 2011

Today, the concept is changing to embrace the new trends in wine consumption. A new pleasure-intensive, sensory approach has been implemented to make the wealth of the Grands Vins Mercure offer available to all clients in all countries.

The wines are classed into four main gustative families, each associated with a set of bright, fun colours and symbols: "Fresh & Tasty“, "Fruity & Light", "Balanced & Elegant“, "Spicy & Full-Bodied “.

Les Grands Vins list changes every 6 months Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter. Process starting when regional Grands Vins champion collecting the wines from regional wineries (i.e. Mercure Sydney can only use  NSW wines). Once the wines are in Panel of wine experts (i.e. food and beverage managers/ restaurant managers etc. from other hotels) select the wines in a blind tasting (bottles are covered aluminum foil) to find the best of the best wine in each category (In our last tasting we had around 120 entries to select 12 wines).

The success of Grands Vins Mercure is also the result of a pricing policy that is adhered to in each country. when choosing a wine, value-for-money as well as the pleasurefactor is taken into account, since consumers are no longer willing to pay extravagant prices for wine. The Grands Vins Mercure on our wine lists are sold at a minimum reduced margin.

This is a brief summary of the Les Grands vins concept and I would love to see you all at our Four Elements & Bar to try out a glass (or a bottle) of your favorite Grands Vins wine.

Sanjaya Karunathilake
Food and Beverage Manager

Posted on Monday, September 05, 2011 - Permalink