Man Of The Year
Award Winner
Roger Gabb, Chairman, Western Wines
Roger Gabb, chairman of Western Wines, has fulfilled the ultimate business fantasy. He started his company in 1980 at his kitchen table in Shropshire, created a killer brand in 1995, then sold the whole shebang for an exceedingly cool £133m last year. By the time Canadian outfit, Vincor International, snapped up Gabb’s company, it was the largest independent wine importer and distributor in the UK and Kumala was the only top 10 wine owned by a private company. Last year the brand achieved UK sales of 2.4m cases.
But Kumala is only part of the story. In 1986 Gabb formed a partnership with Italian co-ops which ultimately resulted in Western Wines being responsible for one bottle in every case of Italian wine sold in the UK off-trade. The highly regarded Da Luca brand is one of his too.
An ex-captain in the Welsh Guards who did special forces services in Borneo and Kenya, Gabb is a keen sportsman and does a great deal of charitable work. In 2003 he climed Mera Peak, the highest of Nepal’s designated trekking peaks, and in the process raised over £25,000 for charities including the Wine & Spirit Benevolent fund.
Gabb lives in Shropshire with his wife. He has two sons and a grandson. Gabb has led Western Wines from being largely an importer and supplier of private-label wine for the UK multiple grocers, to become one of the UK’s largest branded suppliers of South African wine and a leading supplier to all retailers.
Partner Content
The Shortlist 2005
KARAN BILIMORIA, CEO, COBRA BEER
Cobra beer was founded in 1989 by Karan Bilimoria, then aged 27 and £20,000 in debt.A Cambridge law graduate and a qualified chartered accountant, Bilimoria launched Cobra as a smooth, less gassy beer more suited to drinking with Indian food. A Parsee married to a South African, Bilimoria’s business acumen is legendary. Cobra Beer is one of the fastest growing beer brands in the UK, with a current turnover of £56.9m at retail value.
SIMON HALLIDAY, MD, RAISIN SOCIAL
Simon Halliday has been in the wine business since 1975. Simon has made a huge impact on the South African wine industry in the UK and has helped to establish wines such as Beyerskloof, De Wetshof, Historic Wines of the Cape, Kanonkop,Westcorp (then Vrendendal), Neil Ellis, Landskroon, Swartland and Yonder Hill. Simon is an unsung hero (until now) of South African wine and has worked phenomenally hard to take the category forward.
JOSÉ ALBERTO ZUCCARDI, MD, FAMILIA ZUCCARDI
José Alberto’s achievements in Argentinean wine span 20 years. His pioneering nature has led to great innovation in the vinyards, in both viticutural and vinification terms. José Alberto is recognised as one of Argentina’s leading business men and has been awarded the ‘Business Man of the Year’ accolade three times by Los Andesnewspaper. Part of his success story is his ability to create co-operation between competitiors, sharing techniques, information and business pratices with fellow wine makers to benefit the whole category.
Roger Gabb, Chairman, Western Wines
