Nick | The Estate at Home
Nick Hargrave– Webb’s Director of Beverage
Introducing the next profile in our The Estate at Home series
Our in-house epicurean and Director of Beverage Nick Hargrave is a regular at The Estate where, among other things, he sources glassware, bar paraphernalia and decor to furnish his Grey Lynn apartment. We visit Nick’s place to find out more.
What does a Director of Beverage do?
I run the wine and whisky department and look at the strategy behind what we're doing, how we're doing auctions, what we're bringing to auction and how we can make the team happy.
We also have a retail space, The Cellar, in our gallery, where clients can come and purchase Champagne, Wine & Whiskies.
Some regulars know there is always a whisky open as well. We also try and elevate our beverage offerings for our guests during preview nights, whether it is negronis in our Wellington Gallery, or summer mojitos in Auckland.
How did you get into the world of beverages and what were you doing before coming to Webb’s?
I started off working in bars when I was 17, and continued through university. This led into a passion for wine & spirits and into distribution in Asia.
I have just finished my WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) Diploma in Wines, so this summer I can switch the textbooks out for some lighter reading!
Before Webb’s I was living in Hong Kong and working for a hospitality group. We spent a lot of time opening new bars and restaurants so there was a big search for interesting cutlery and crockery, glassware and various different things that we would use in those venues.
We would go around searching Shanghai Street in Hong Kong or across the border in China, trying to find sort of new interesting ways to serve food and drinks.
So the search for perfect objects hasn’t stopped, we hear that you are a regular at The Estate, what attracts you to their auctions?
They get some very interesting glassware coming through. It's quite exciting going to The Estate every fortnight and looking at what's there and thinking: ‘What can I do with that?’ There have been things that have come through there, which have absolutely nothing to do with beverages or food, but I get quite excited by figuring out what I can do with them.
Tell us about some of the highlights you have purchased from there.
I have a very simple but delightful Rumi drinks trolley and I keep a wine rack and some beverage equipment on it… like a mini barrel, shakers, and a very cool Möet & Chandon ice bucket which is actually a top hat. All of which I bought at The Estate. Also a green ceramic decanter which is stylised with cut glass style decoration. I bought a Dick Frizzell Tiki to Mickey (Reversed) which lives in my lounge and an Ottmar Horl Style, Non-Conformist Gnome. Of course there are a few glasses and a cheese platter that's from a barrel from Hawke's Bay which is quite cool. Not everything I get from The Estate is related to food and drink, but it heavily leans that way.
What are you drinking at the moment now that the sun is starting to come out of hiding?!
When the sun comes out, I tend to move towards Champagne and a good rosé. But the good thing about working at Webb’s is that you come across so many different types of wines and whiskies that we would never see anywhere else in the market. That means I can try different things because there is quite an eclectic mix of wines and whiskies and spirits and things like that.
I quite often buy wines for under $50 from countries like Spain, Italy, or other countries or grapes that are hard to find in New Zealand, or that I haven’t tried before. Since it is under $50 I can try it out, and if I don’t like it I haven’t lost much, but if I do like it, I then I have found something I really enjoy. Quite often these wines are absolutely fantastic. If I am buying wine for cellaring or an investment, it is a different story. At a bar or restaurant you could never have some of these bottles because people don't know what they are and won’t take a chance ordering them, but at auction you can try them… and we do.
Are you very a very particular how you serve your alcohol… does every tipple need its own designated vessel?
I’d say 50/50. Things like champagne saucers are out for me. They are great decoration and in photos but they are terrible for actually drinking champagne out of. When it comes to wine I tend to stick to the same wine glass so that you are not changing the flavour of a wine. Now, with cocktails you can do absolutely anything you like and that's what make cocktails quite interesting… You can play around and have a bit of fun and serve it in so many different styles of glasses and what not.
What about the wider tableware and serving presentation, is that something you can source at The Estate as well?
Absolutely. When you're looking at a bar or restaurant or even at home, you have to think about what the DNA is. It comes down not just to the food and the drinks, but how it is served, the ambience, the décor. Everything down to things like chopstick holders and plates and cups and how they all sort of work together. At The Estate you can get all those things. Although at auctions you get a huge variety of things and nothing matches a specific style, you can find things that you, personally like, and that match your design DNA and you can play around with them at home and make it sort of more to your own taste. So yes, it is a great place to find unique and personalised objects that match your food presentation style.
Have you seen things at The Estate that you have missed out on?
Hundreds of them! There's a lot of artwork that comes through there and that I miss out on quite regularly. I go down there every two weeks, partly because the set ups are so beautiful… so whether I miss out or not, it’s nice to just go and have a look around and just maybe get ideas or even have a think about what you may or may not like in terms of your own design DNA.
