Oliver’s Wines, the online wine information and retail platform created by internationally renowned wine critic Jeremy Oliver, is moving into bricks and mortar, in partnership with one of Australia’s leading liquor retailers, Tony Leon.
Having operated exclusively in the online space for just over 12 months, Oliver is now focused on developing strategically placed and highly visible landmark stores tightly connected to the Oliver’s Wines online platform. With Leon, whose stellar career includes taking Dan Murphy’s from a single store to 88, he is currently searching for the first physical location for Oliver’s Wines in Melbourne’s inner suburbs.
“A high-profile bricks and mortar presence can drive sales via our online platform in a way that is too hard to deliver when purely online,” says Oliver.
“But a physical multi-purpose operation featuring a wine bar plus event and education spaces will greatly help us create and nurture customer relationships. Visitors to our stores will discover our unique brand story and experience the depth and truly personalised nature of our online/offline presence.”
Oliver and Leon are united in their conviction that it’s the ideal time to offer a high-quality and high value range from makers large and small, known and lesser known, supported by a strong emphasis on customer engagement, experience and service.
“The major retailers are cutting back to smaller ranges of core products from major brands, while the smaller independents are struggling to create a point of difference. So our timing couldn’t be better,” suggests Leon.
“We can fill this niche and we have a story to tell.”
Oliver also believes a consolidation of Australia’s wine retail landscape – and a reduction in range – presents an opportunity for agile, mid-sized retailers with plenty of wine knowledge.
“This creates massive opportunities for those like us who don’t believe that’s what enthusiastic wine drinkers want, whatever their level of knowledge. We can do things at a store level that are too hard for the big guys and too challenging for most of the smaller ones.”
Leading by experience
Launched in early 2024, Oliver’s Wines is an online wine platform designed for the wine enthusiast and buyer. It combines free access to the regularly updated body of work Jeremy Oliver – one of Australia’s most renowned independent wine critics – and generates income via its online store, curated carefully by Oliver at various price ranges.
The Oliver’s Wine platform includes a website, iOS and Android apps. It is also available in Chinese and has a presence on WeChat with an H5 store.
Oliver – who was rated by Sopexa as one of the World’s Top 100 Palates – is thrilled to work alongside Leon, a stalwart of Australian liquor retailing.
“Tony tells everyone how old he is, but he looks as fresh and as engaged as ever I can remember him. He loves developing retail brands in Australian liquor and to be honest there’s nobody I’d prefer to handle our commercial operations. And it’s a quirky thing we both had our starts in this industry working for Dan Murphy himself.”
Having commenced at Dan Murphy’s in 1985 as a wine buyer, he went on to become a partner of the business, and then general manager for 23 years until 2008. In that role he spearheaded Dan Murphy’s rise into the most dominant liquor superstore chain in Australia, with 88 operational stores by the time of his departure. He then became managing director of Liquorland Australia, before becoming joint owner of Steve’s Liquor, an independent chain based in Victoria and Tasmania.
While Leon and Oliver are currently scoping out a Melbourne site for their first bricks-and-mortar store, the long-term plan is to follow this up with locations in Sydney and Brisbane.