The wine merchant: 'We’re all shattered by the time we close at 3pm on Christmas Eve'

It’s perhaps not terribly surprising that Tom Ashworth ended up running Yapp Brothers. His stepfather’s regard for wine had led him to start an importation business in 1969 almost by accident: Robin Yapp, a dentist, was fond of buying too much wine in France and began selling it from his garage in Mere, Wiltshire, via an advertisement in The Sunday Times. Nonetheless, Mr Ashworth, who worked in the City in legal and compliance, has taken rather a circuitous route back to his roots. ‘From the age of seven, I grew up in the wine environment,’ explains the 54-year-old CEO of the company that he manages with his stepbrother, Jason Yapp, employing 18 staff, including four Masters of Wine. ‘However, in the early days, I wasn’t that interested in it.’

Yet, he enjoyed drinking wine and got more involved in buying it when Jason — who had previously worked for chains such as Oddbins — joined the family firm in the early 1990s. Then, Yapp Brothers was doing a roaring trade selling wine from a quaint set of old brewery buildings in Mere, as well as supplying 400 of the UK’s top restaurants and hotels, such as Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, London W1, and The Newt in Somerset.

‘We specialise in fine wine — our Sancerre is best in class — at sharp prices that you can’t find on the high street and work with some of the top sommeliers, but we are not snobby about wine,’ explains Mr Ashworth. ‘All of our winemakers are pretty grounded — they’re farmers, custodians of the land — such as Domaine Jean-Louis Chave, a family-run estate in the Rhône valley that’s been passed from father to son since 1481.’

Christmas is obviously hectic — ‘we double our output’ — especially as Yapp prides itself on delivering its wares countrywide the next day (until December 18). Although Mr Ashworth lives in London with his family (wife, Isabel, and nine-year-old twins, Arthur and Amber), he makes regular trips to the firm’s new HQ at Sparkford, just off the A303 in Somerset, at the old print works to which it moved this year after 55 years in Mere.

‘We’re all shattered by the time we close at 3pm on Christmas Eve, but I’ll have some good bottles lined up to drink over the festivities.’ These include a ‘magical’ blend from Domaine de Trévallon produced by Eloi Dürrbach, a former architect and Picasso’s godson. ‘It’s a bit of a rebel that makes for a fantastic marriage of grapes, with rich mint, cassis and pepper from the Cabernet Sauvignon and wild raspberry and rosemary from the Syrah.’

Christmas treat ‘A really crisp glass of Champagne: either Krug or our own label produced by Gilles Dumangin, whose family has been growing grapes in the Montagne de Reims for 350 years.’ www.yapp.co.uk

This piece is extracted from an article in Country Life's 2024 Christmas double issue — see what else is inside and order a copy here