Andrea Marino joins Cru Wine as Managing Director
New leadership at Cru Wine: Andrea Marino joins as Managing Director
Andrea Marino joins us as Managing Director, and our founder Gregory Swartberg becomes Chairman.
Andrea Marino joins Cru Wine as Managing Director, taking on the role of Cru Wine Managing Director from our Mayfair headquarters. Our founder, Gregory Swartberg, becomes Founder & Chairman and remains based in Dubai. He will focus on strategy, producer relationships and our growth across the Gulf.
It is the first time in twelve years that Cru Wine will be run by someone other than the person who started it.
Where we began
Cru Wine made its first sale in 2014. Gregory grew up in France alongside a family of collectors, and he could see that collectors everywhere faced the same three questions with no reliable answer: when to drink, what their wine was worth, and how to sell it. For those seeking rare and exceptional bottles, trusted guidance was just as scarce. Provenance and transparency the things that matter most were rarely a given.
What began as one person in London, sourcing wine from Bordeaux for a handful of collectors, has grown considerably. Today, we serve collectors, investors and connoisseurs across 50+ countries, from Mayfair, Bordeaux and Dubai.
The last three years
After close to a decade of rapid growth, the Fine Wine downturn that began in 2022 was felt across our sector. We felt it too.
We chose to invest through it rather than pull back. We migrated our ERP, built our mobile app and real-time portfolio tracking. We also rebuilt parts of the team. We also moved the business closer to the people who drink and collect the wine. That meant building deeper relationships with producers across France, Italy and the United States, while giving our private clients more attention.
Last year the business delivered a record profit, and it does so carrying no debt. That is not a common position in our sector at the moment, and it is the work Gregory stayed to finish. With it done, this is the right time for someone else to take the business forward.
“That is precisely the moment to hand over not when you are in trouble.”
Why Andrea Marino
Andrea Marino joins us from Petersham Cellar, where he served as Managing Director. He delivered two consecutive years of positive results, growing revenue by 20% and expanding the portfolio of agency brands represented by the business.
He brings real depth in Burgundy and Italy, built over many years in the market. His experience spans both the private client and trade sides of the business. and he has built businesses on both the private client and on trade sides. Those are the two directions in which we intend to grow, which makes him not simply a capable Managing Director but the right one for this particular moment.
Cru Wine’s high trading standards, global reach and ambition for growth are what led me to join the company. The market is constantly evolving, and every day presents an opportunity to expand across new channels while strengthening our existing customers.
“Fine Wine is a market built on trust and provenance, and very few merchants have earned both at an international scale. Cru Wine has done it while remaining a business where a client speaks to someone who knows their collection. My job is to protect that as we grow.”
With thanks to Philip Yates
These changes also mark the end of Philip Yates’s four years as our Chairman, and we want to mark it properly.
Philip is one of the most respected figures in international finance. He was formerly global head of mergers and acquisitions at Merrill Lynch and founder of the European business of Perella Weinberg Partners. He is now Vice Chairman at Jefferies. That he gave his time so generously to a fine wine merchant in Mayfair says a great deal about him.
He arrived when the business was growing at a pace that created as many problems as it solved. He stayed through the far harder work of rebuilding it. Through both he was steady, direct and unfailingly generous with his counsel. Philip understands businesses, but what he understands best is people and there is no substitute for that in a Chairman. He has been a mentor and a friend to Gregory throughout, and Cru Wine is a better company for having had him. We thank him for all of it.
What Andrea Marino's Appointment Means for You
Nothing changes in the day to day. Your account manager remains the same. Your collection is stored and insured exactly as before, and the way we source for you is unchanged. What changes is the depth of leadership behind it all and, we hope, how much of it you feel.
Our priorities for the year ahead are straightforward. We want deeper direct relationships with producers across France, Italy and the United States.
We also want to grow our private client business across the UK, France and the Gulf.
Finally, we plan to extend into the on-trade while continuing to invest in the technology you use to acquire, store, track and sell your collection.
Andrea will be with us at our September Wine Tasting Evening on 9th September and looks forward to meeting as many of you as possible: Event Link.
As always, if there is anything you would like to discuss, your account manager is a call away.
