Sir; After the most successful FWD Drinksummit ever in wholesalers' and suppliers' view, I was disappointed to read your headline Blueprint "useless" in the face of hefty discounting of wines' (The Grocer, May 19, p10). The article did a grave injustice to the conference, Phil Brown, the speaker quoted, Blueprint, and the Independent trade. Phil Brown undoubtedly was the star of the event, giving a hard-hitting, powerful presentation of good and bad in our sector. He praised the Blueprint concept, but yes, he did, as part of his constructive criticism, criticise the competitive position and availability of some brand recommendations. This illustrates the true impartiality of our attempts to give the right guidance in the Blueprint and not self-serving attempts to sell lines we, as wholesalers, already stock. The wine sector offers a massive opportunity for independents and we are determined to give the right advice. In doing so we need to work with suppliers unused to working with wholesalers or independents to get the right levels of availability and price competitiveness for the future. Phil was very clear in his presentation that he had already had major success in growing his wine business as a result of his own hard work, backed up by Blueprint, his wholesaler (Booker) and expert advice from Ray Donelan. Drinksummit was a huge success in debating the opportunities and successes possible in the independent sector. I will be very disappointed if reporting which selectively focuses on a few negatives obscures our efforts to move the sector forward. Steve Parfett FWD chairman {{LETTERS }}

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