Fernando Berry

Fernando Berry is the founder of Otros Vinos, a London based wine importer and online shop selling natural wines by small artisan growers. 

Fernando spent much of his life working in hospitality in Australia and London. He began importing wine alongside full time front of house work, before finally being able to go full time with his own business. 

Fernando speaks to QFAB about the highs and lows of the industry, the gift of being queer, and why everyone who told him not to get into wine importing was probably right (but he still loves it). 

Introduce yourself…

My name is Fernando. I am based in London in the United Kingdom, specifically Hackney. I run my own wine import company called Otros Vinos. I've done that for about six years now. I import wine, specifically natural wine from Spain, and from the South of France and wholesale to bars, restaurants, shops, etc. I sell online as well, but actually that's just something I set up in the first couple weeks of the pandemic because I thought like ‘shit, I am utterly fucked’.

How do you identify and what are your pronouns?

I identify as queer and...(long pause) male, but I also happily identify as they/ them or he/him. And If someone called me she/her I would also be absolutely fine with that. I really like that as well.

Where else have you lived and worked in this industry?

I've worked in the hospitality industry since I was 14 years old. So quite a while now. I have also lived in Australia, that’s where I was born and spent the first 25 years of my life. I moved to Argentina after Australia, but I didn't work in restaurants there. And then I moved to London, I worked on and off in restaurants and pubs in London since I arrived in 2010.

“I started importing wine as a hobby, basically. Then that hobby kind of mutated and grew out of control. ”

What is your job vocation/role/title?

Well, I guess I'm the director of a very impressive company (laughs). I'm also the sole employee of that company...

I started Otros Vinos with my friend Alba six years ago, then about a year later she moved back to Andalusia, and I took the reins. But it's actually something that I was doing for the first five and a half years as a sideline whilst working in restaurants. I was working like 70 hours a week,  full time in a restaurant, and then 30-40 hours on my business. I was just killing myself. Then finally, I was able to quit and go full time.

What does your average day look like?

I think that's why I like the job so much, because you don't really have an average day as a wine importer. My average day pre COVID could be so varied and different. 

I could be doing admin at home doing orders and sending emails etc. But then also a lot of it is going to customers and tasting with them face to face, so I might do between 4-10 tastings a week. I usually go around London on my bike with bottles of wine in my bag, clinking away.

I also get to drive around the UK and that’s really cool, getting to visit cool people that have really cool projects and because my business is small and I only sell to small businesses. 

The fun bit is that I get to travel a lot to Spain and France and then visit the producers. I'd say probably normally four times a year I will be going to do producer visits and wine fairs. I think this is why the job suits me really well is because I don't like doing the same thing, repetitively. I'm not very good at that. So for me, it's cool to have different stuff to do all the time.

How did you get to where you are?

I worked in an ice cream shop from when I was 14 to 17, which I loved. Then I went into restaurants, cafes and pubs as well, always front of house. I actually have zero formal wine training. I always just worked in front of house as a sideline while I was studying. Then after that I was pursuing photography for a while and always just like working late nights and weekends to get a bit of extra money. 

Then in 2011 I started working at Elliott’s in Borough Market. A woman called Isabelle Legeron came along (founder of RAW WINE), who is a fabulous queer woman seen as the queen or the Beyonce of natural wine in London by lots of people. She took over the wine list as the consultant there and completely rewrote it fully natural. 

I had never had a natural wine before and I hated it at the start. And then about a month later, I loved it. I really just switched. I think it's just like a big assault on the taste buds when you're not used to that. And then, yeah, I got into it through that. 

About four years later, after working at Elliots and another restaurant called the Rooftop Cafe which also only did really great natural wine, I started importing wine as a hobby basically. Then that hobby kind of mutated and grew out of control. 

Did you expect to stay in the industry when you started out?

I always thought I would do something else, something more creative. I thought I wanted to be a photographer. And then I think the funniest thing was working in commercial photography, I realised that actually the hospitality industry is so much more creative. Because in the photography industry you're really churning out a product. You are always just being told by some boss what they want, and you're just trying to make that person happy. It's not very creative. I was always working in a restaurant at the same time and I hit that point where I felt I'd rather work in the restaurant, actually. I think at that point, I just started saying no to photography jobs. And then one day I almost like... came out as liking working in restaurants.

What has been your experience of being queer in this industry?

That’s a BIG ONE, that’s a really big one, shall I start the book? It's been both wonderful and traumatic at the same time. There's a lot of queers in this industry. And some of the people I've met have now become friends for life. Then also there's a lot of people who are homophobic, misogynistic and transphobic in the industry. It’s still a very straight male dominated industry, even though there's a lot of queers in positions of power now. I think I'm lucky that I'm male as well, people weirdly respect that. 

“I always say being queer is like a real Ugly Duckling kind of thing. Your formative years are so hard and you just see all those straight people, you know, all the cute ducklings and you’re just like, I wish I was like them so much. You just pine after this like existence, which isn’t yours and then you get to our age… the golden years! Being queer is a gift! ”

What advice would you give to anyone who's trying to get into your line of work?

DON’T! (Laughs) I remember when I started my company I told a lot of other wine importers that I was going to start and that’s the same reaction I got from all of them. Because you have to work so hard, and you don't get any money out of it. And I was like... they're all exaggerating. 

I also thought a lot of those people in the wine importing industry were (and are) posh white boys. So I thought maybe they have different ideas of what money is. I’m not from a wealthy family. Like maybe they can’t buy a Maserati or whatever. But I have always grafted in one way or another so I’m sure I will be fine. 

Then, you know, the reality settled in maybe two years after I decided, when it stopped being a hobby. I'd started investing so much more time and energy in the little savings that I'd made in restaurants, put it all into this beast that chewed up money. It was growing really rapidly but I still wasn't making any money. And I was just like, okay, now, I understand what they meant!

You just really pour your whole life into this and you don't get any money back. But also, that's partially because if you're passionate about natural wine it is not an industrial product, so there's no real business model that you can make money off it on. It’s very finite, you know, you're not making Coca Cola, you can't just get an order for 10 million units and be like, cool, great, I'm gonna give you a really great deal because you put in such a big order. The reality is knowing this winemaker and he makes 2000 bottles and I get 200 in the UK. So once it's gone, it's gone. 

My advice would be just really know what you're gonna get yourself into. 

The best and worst things about this industry.

Best thing would be the people and the worst thing would be the people (WE BOTH DIE LAUGHING!) For me, that really sums up the best and the worst things about industries. Some of the best people in my life I've met through this industry, but also there's a lot of unbridled egos out there. 

What is the one of the best meals you have ever had? Where was it it? What was it? Who was it with?

The first one that comes to mind was Lyles (in Shoreditch), about a year and a half ago. I was lucky to have a friend who worked there as a sommelier and she invited me and a friend Joanna to come and have lunch there. It was just one of those lunches where working in the industry really pays off because you sit down and you're taken care of to the umpteenth degree, full VIP treatment. 

You know when you're looking at the menu and everything looks amazing and they just want us to choose for you. So then the Head Chef rises to the challenge of sending out the most amazing food. I just have to say the food at Lyles is amazing, really beautiful British food cooked sumptuously. One of the dishes that made me think about this was this lobster (and I don't even like lobster that much) which came out that had been halved and chargrilled and was swimming in butter. They had made a sauce from the head of the lobster with loads of brown butter and then served it with toasted brioche. It was amazing!

What is your guilty food pleasure?

Chicken cottage but I’m not guilty! Cheap fried chicken but not KFC. For me, it has to be like Chicken Cottage or PFC or whatever, just be one of the regular scabby high street ones. And it has to be midnight, or afterwards. And then it just tastes delicious! 

Give us your top three places to eat and drink?

1. Weino BIB (@weinobib) in Dalston is probably the place I go the most. Just because everyone’s amazing who works there and Kirsty who runs it is incredible and her partner Zee is just amazing as well.

2. Duck Soup (@ducksoupsoho) in Soho is just like a classic favourite. I always feel like I'm rubbing shoulders with like the who's who of like theatre, or just really lovely bougy cultured people!

3. Elliots (@elliotslondon) in Borough Market, I just think the food is exceptional and really uncompromising and good, and the wine is always great. On my way there I go to Richard Haywards Oysters in Borough Market and down 6 oysters, which are amazing and cheap, and then go on to Elliots.

Favourite Banger to play when you’re working?

Q Lazzarus- Goodbye horses

What advice would you give to a younger baby queer self?

It's so cliche but just probably things like… you are wonderful! And so are all those other little Faggoty Dykey people that you love and pretend to not like. Just go and speak to these people because they're the best people you will ever meet. And they will make you love yourself! 

I think just trying to be heteronormative is probably what's held me back more than anything in my whole life. I always say being queer is like a real Ugly Duckling kind of thing. Your formative years are so hard and you just see all those straight people, you know, all the cute ducklings and you're just like, I wish I was like them so much. You just pine after this like existence, which isn't yours and then you get to our age… the golden years! Being queer is a gift! 

Do you feel it’s important for the LGBTQI+ community with the food and beverage industry to have a network, and if so, why?

I think it is. There's so many queer people in the industry and despite this it's still dominated by straight white men and your trucker cap wearing bros, or this very heteronormative kind of identity. And there's actually so many amazing queers who are really behind this industry.

What are your top queer food and beverage related accounts you follow?

• Nuria (@nuria.renom) a queer female Argentinian Catalan winemaker who no one realises they need in their life until they start following her. She was head sommelier at Bar Brutal for 7 years before going full time winemaker.

• Jadeya (@jadeyaofficial) a friend of mine who I met because she is a bartender at The Spurstowe Arms. She's a young musician, hospitality worker, sex worker, trans icon, spokesperson for the community and just all round amazing human being.

• Isabelle Legeron (@isabellelegeron) this woman is the reason I work in wine. Before I met her I didn't know what natural wine was and would still happily drink a bottle of Campo Viejo by myself and think I was classy for it. She's everything that I never thought the wine world was - female, a foreigner, queer and utterly uncompromising about her identity. She taught me that wine can be punk.

• Radam Ridwan (@radamridwan) just an obviously hot non binary babe who is a pleasure to follow. They talk quite a lot about the abuse and trolling that trans people constantly have to face online. Their feed is eye opening and educational, whilst also just being really cute.

• Vinyes Tortuga (@vinyestortuga) if you're at all interested in the winemaking journey of a couple of young people who very often are still learning and making it up as they go along then you should follow. It isn't queer but they're just really great people who are really open and transparent and want to share their winemaking journey with the world. They also happen to be making some really delicious wines and started making a pretty cool demystifying podcast if you're interested in biodynamic winemaking at all!

• Tracy (@ya_rly) I met Tracy while we worked together at a little Spanish deli/wine bar in Dalston called Furanxo. She teaches me volumes about race politics and I feel like I am constantly learning while I see her posts on social media. Follow her account! And if you're white then READ ONLY don't comment.

• WeinoBIB (@weinobib) the Dalston deli and wine shop where you can stock up on the best artisanal products and have a little gossip at the same time. In times of non-COVID it's also one of my favourite wine bars and places to have a civilised boogie. Queer and female owned and run.

What is your gift for the community?

I have curated a STUNNING playlist for you all here

You can find Fernando on Instagram @otrosvinos or buy wine from www.otrosvinos.co.uk