Mr Crawford and business partner Daniel Blatchford are bidding to bring the best small-batch, handcrafted Champagnes from a growers’ world that has recently opened up.

The firm, Sip Champagnes, seeks to sell the stories of individual producers, their history and technique, as well as their fine wines. They claim to have UK’s largest collection of 60 Champagne producers and over 236 individual cuvées from across 25 villages in their range.

“We started the company in the middle of Covid, with all the trials that that brings,” said Mr Crawford. “But Champagne is such an incredible product with such an amazing history, and it speaks to a lot of different types of people. On itself it is one of the most prestige products in the world, and it is all about celebration.

“But there is a bit that sits beneath that which is basically a magical place where you have got basically just farmers. Yes, of course their product is grapes and they are grapes that are worth a lot of money, but ultimately they are just farmers.

“They are farmers trying to do the best thing possible for the land and their product. We wanted to grab that and communicate that to people.”

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Balmerino-based Mr Crawford said: “Beyond the Moets, the Bollingers, the Veuve Clicquots, there is this beautiful layer of amazing producers who are producing outstanding quality cuvees and wines but at much smaller volumes and with a real sense of the land, and of what they are trying to achieve to better the land.

"It means the growers can be more experimental.

"I’ve been travelling in the region for the last 20 years, in amongst my other lives that I’ve had, and it has always been a bit of a hobby.”

The former professional polo player said small producers previously had a limited supply chain and access to high-end restaurants, bars, hotels and wine boutiques, leaving less choice.

Mr Crawford said: “We captured it at a really amazing point. It was this perfect trifecta of things. People were at home and couldn’t spend money on their usual things like dining out, on top of that we are at this amazing moment where the story of the small trader is being talked about a lot more … and the third part of it was that for the first time in a generation we had producers who were suddenly either at end of contracts or their land had been handed down.

“With that you had this period where lots of people started making their own Champagne. We have captured that in names like Delouvin, Georges Remy, Domaine Vancey and many more, who didn’t exist five years ago.

“We are giving them the vehicle that shouts quality, understanding of soils, about respect of soil and all those other factors, and, most importantly, the wines taste incredible.

“They are a true expression of the farmer doing his or her thing.”

Sip Champagnes - high res - founders Peter Crawford and Daniel Blatchford. Picture: Sip Champagnes (Image: Sip Champagnes)

He continued: “I want to learn about them, and what he or she is doing and why they are doing it, what makes their grapes so special, what is it about the terroir, or soil, in this area.”

Against a backdrop of rising inflation and costs, some aspects of development have been slower to grow. “We are breaking into hospitality, but it is tricky.

“The industry has been hit hard and that is something we need to work at and support them. I am in the process of talking to James Snowdon at the Palmerston to get a few more wines in there, and are doing a portfolio tasting on October 31 at the Palmerston in Edinburgh.

“We work with Killiecrankie House up in Killiecrankie and the owner and the chef are both passionate about Champagne.

“So we are breaking in but it is a hard world right now. We are very much present in a couple of key retailers, St Andrews Wine Company share the same values as us, with small producers, and take a number of our range.”

He added: “One of the big drivers in the last year was to bring on Champagne beneath the usual (price) bracket with still outstanding wines.”

Mr Blatchford, who has a background in technology, said there are markets to be further explored, and hailed te firm’ breakthrough in North America.

“Outside of the UK we are in discussions to start exporting to a US importer and that is important, initially in California and a handful of other states.

“We’ve had a fantastic couple of years.”

Their efforts so far have been recognised. The firm has just been judged the UK’s Champagne & Sparkling Specialist Retailer of the Year by Decanter, as well as landing the Drinks Business’ Specialist Online Retailer of the Year Award for 2022.

Q&A

What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?

I still get an incredible buzz travelling to Champagne, France, every single time. The opportunity to meet new amazing producers and learn new things is so exciting. For pleasure, it’s New Zealand. It is a beautiful country and the people are amazing. I really felt at home there.

When you were a child, what was your ideal job? Why did it appeal?

I can’t remember one individual job I was excited about. I found everything exciting! 

What was your biggest break in business?

It is more a culmination of multiple points that have got me to where 
I am today – the ability to continue to reinvent yourself when required.

Who do you most admire and why? 

Some of the Champagne producers. They are, when it comes down to it, just farmers who happen to create a world-leading prestige product. When you meet them, they are almost all humble and focused in a way few others are. A number of them, especially the ones we deal with at Sip, do everything from harvesting the grapes, to pressing, vinifying, bottling, marketing, selling. It’s a fantastic job, all whilst maintaining this incredible Champagne image behind it.