Category — Loire

Sympathies to the guys at Le Bon Vin; this Sheffield based web and premises wine merchant has suffered badly during the recent floods. The warehouse and shop suffered an estimated £250,000 of damage.

Web-sales though have been unaffected.

We have just launched our all new website with new features and even more wines than before. Please take the time to have a look at www.lebonvin.co.uk We have some excellent prices for branded champagne as always and a massive selection of wines that are top quality. As our main business is to the trade we pass on big saving to retail customers who want to buy the wines without the restaurant mark-up. We specialise in French wines but we also have decent offerings from around the world.

They have created a great little website. Fully search-able they have plenty of special offers, pre-mixed cases and a wine range that encompasses the world. Champagne is a big feature with 40 wines listed but Australia, France, Spain and Italy are all well covered.

There is a reliance on stocking the full range from a single estate (New Zealand for example) and a tendency to the lower end of the price scale but you are sure to find plenty of interest. A few spirits - around 110 different products - pop up in the search results to complete the offering.

Le Bon Vin
340 Brightside Lane
Sheffield
S9 2SB

French, Italian and Spanish wines from BRW - with a distinct leaning towards the reds, as the name suggests! But just two estates are listed for Spain and four for Italy. France is obviously where the strengths of this company lie. (Oh, and sneaking in is an “Honorary French - owned by Jonathan Maltus of Château Teyssier”, an Australian wine!)

“We are direct importers of specialist, award-winning red, white and rosé wines from France, Italy and Spain with a reputation as one of the UK’s leading importers of wines from the Rhône Valley.

Looking at France Alsace, Champagne and the Loire all get a look in but it is the wonders of the Rhone that make the biggest splash. Each producer has an entry listing their wines while each specific bottle has a tasting note and recommendations from the Le Guide Hachette des Vins, Parker and other writers.

Plenty of interesting wines, backed up by a knowledgeable and passionate manager.

The Big Red Wine Company
Barton Coach House
The Street Barton Mills
Suffolk IP28 6AA

Operational since 1988 Surf4Wine was one of the pioneers of the internet-based mail order wine merchant scene in the UK.

It’s a dynamic little operation and while they admit that the website has lacked in the update department recently a chat with Andrew Chapman indicates that things are about to improve. Not only is an expansion of the Oxfordshire warehouse and offices about to begin a new ‘backend’ of the website is soon to be launched. Coupled with a new staff and a range of new wines things are going from strength to strength for Surf4Wine.

The wine range is world encompassing with a slight slant of favouritism to the new world. There are many gems on the list ranging from Brokenwood, Bremerton and Qupe through to Kim Crawford and Vergelegen. Plenty of gift packs - such as a seasonal six pack rosé case (£36) and gift packs for Father’s Day, a smattering of spirits and some unusual beers completes the range.

Delivery is £7.50 per order regardless of size (up to a case) which is pretty much standard (and at cost). Personal service is vital to the success of the company shown through Chapman’s professional staff and attention to detail. Buy with confidence.

Surf4Wine/Andrew Chapman Fine Wines
Unit T2-27 & 28,
Milton Park,
Near Abingdon,
Oxfordshire OX14 4TA
United Kingdom

The store just opposite the railway station has a wine bar above. This is Five Reasons Wine, a mighty fine looking shop offering 400 or so wines. All are listed on the website but sadly there is no online ordering.

Owner/manager Irene writes

Our approach is to operate a one in one out policy at our optimum number of 400 wines This means that we aim to ensure that our range is continuously improving over time rather than expanding willy nilly, and our customers aren’t met by a bewildering wall of wine, creating the illusion of choice, but actually risking alienating all except the most dogged wine enthusiasts.

This discipline ensures we can keep in touch with how our wines are tasting, and give knowledgeable advice - following a high quality service rather than largely product-driven/cult-wine-chasing model of an independent wine merchant.

Tastings are at the heart of what we do. We’d like to think we are getting a pretty good local reputation for our fortnightly tasting events.

This rolling wine range has resulted in some choice pickings from New Zealand, Alsace (Zind Humbrecht, Clos Wintzenheim, Gewurztraminer for example), Australia (Coriole Shiraz amongst many choice bottles), the Americas, Spain, Italy and across the regions of France. On the bubbly front the Billecart Salmon and Jacquesson bottles would be my recommendations.

Prices are generally in the £10plus range with many in the super-fine league of £30+ a bottle. Delivery is free locally in Tunbridge Wells while overnight delivery elsewhere in the UK is £10.80.

FIVE REASONS WINE
7 Vale Road
Tunbridge Wells
TN1 1BS

Based in Matlock in Derbyshire, The French Wine People are importers of wines from across the regions of France.

What sets The French Wine People apart from the dozens of other smaller French specialists, apart from a nicely designed website?

Some of the more eclectic wines include a Savagnin from the Jura, a good range of aged Armagnac’s and Cognacs and I notice, of all things, a Cave amongst the sparkling/Champagne listings. The dessert wine section has a few non-French infiltrators - the Brown Brothers range from Australia and stickies from Germany and California.

Nice to see a pink Sancerre and unusual blends from Cabardes too.

Prices range from £4.50 right up to £100 plus for the top Clarets but generally sit below the £15 mark. The range is not huge but does appear to be very selective and personally chosen.

Postage is ‘at cost’ working out at £9.95 per parcel fro most of the UK but is free within 20 miles of Matlock.

The French Wine People
Hopton Courtyard
7 Snitterton Road
Matlock
Derbyshire DE4 3LZ

The Nicolas chain, is a French company owned by Casel, the same parent company of Oddbins. They have only recently broken out from their London heartland and now list 51 stores in the UK.

Several branches of Oddbins have or are in the process of being converted to the Nicolas brand (Henley-on-Thames, Beaconsfield for example); a shame in my opinion as the range is vastly smaller and, apart from a smattering of New World wines, is nearly exclusively France focused.

The website, has an English language version, (I dread to think what they mean by “Caution ! We do not go up the goods in the floors !” though) with prices listed in Euros.

All the French regions are covered - Champagne, Rhone, Alsace, Bordeaux etc - with good ranges across the board, although nothing from Pic St Loup is listed. Several pages of fine wines and Armagnac’s are available if you are feeling flush, while at the other end of the scale there are many special offers.

Each wine has basic details attached - a brief suggested food match, grape composition and perfunctory tasting notes (simply full bodied and the like). One indication of a wines popularity are the user votes. A pop-up box allows a grading of 1-5 grapes. I do wonder how many people can be bothered to go back and vote on a wine once consumed mind.

Many of the cheaper wines are listed with a six bottles minimum purchase, more expensive products are not restricted. Delivery to the UK costs 1 to 6 bottles : 19 EUROS TTC which I assume means multiples of 6 bottles attract the charge. No mention of free delivery with large orders.

The on-line wine list appears broader and more in-depth than the UK based stores. While not familiar with the wines listed the new store opening near me will be an excellent opportunity for exploration. Keep an eye on Spittoon for specific wine tasting notes.

Artisan Wines has a simple approach: authentic French wines produced by small passionate producers, delivered to your door complete with informative tasting notes. My fellow internet wine writer Chris The Wine Doctor has crowned them ‘the best retailer of 2006′.

Artisan Wines concentrates on supplying wines in the £6 to £10 bracket, where the price to quality ratio is particularly strong. Only the Sparkling wine category (listing just one wine) and the rose selection (two wines) seem a little lacking.

The Rhone fills the red wine (virtual) shelves with whites from the Loire and the Rhone. Not a huge/daunting selection by any means.

You might be more tempted by the mixed case selections (ranging from £70 to £105) or the ‘first-come, first served offers‘ of hard to get wines. Special offers - clearance lines - are also featured. Currently a special Spring sale is under way with various price reductions.

Delivery is free of charge for orders over £150 on the UK mainland. For orders under £150 an additional charge of £5 will be added for postage & packaging. Which is very reasonable.

A beautifully designed website - just a touch of animation/flash to keep things interesting. Did I see somewhere that there are 800 wines on their list? All the boxes are ticked with good representation from Chile, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Australia etc etc. Impossible to pull out just a few recommendations, especially when you take into account the 45 strong range of spirits, various special offers, mixed cases and 40 odd ports!

Prices begin at £5.99. You can down load the price list in a PDF file for printing and off-line perusing. There is also a very entertaining PDF magazine that combines staff recommendations, producer profiles and loads more. All very professionally produced.

Next working day delivery is fixed at a rate of £8.50 per delivery address for all quantities from 1 bottle upwards for those who cant make it to the store. Oh, and don’t neglect the series of wine tastings over the coming months.

Overall a great looking company and worth investigating.

The Secret Cellar
43-45 Church Road,
Tunbridge Wells,
Kent TN1 1JT.
ENGLAND.

Discovered via a recommendation on fellow UK wine blog Grapefan.

The Yorkshire Dales is one of the most beautiful regions of the UK (I used to live there) - such a large rural area is not over-populated with too many good specialist wine merchants. The Angel Inn at Hetton is a favourite Bar, Brasserie and Restaurant with rooms in the Dales near Skipton, and its offshoot The Wine Cave is an online Burgundy specialist.

“At the Wine Cave we have a simple philosophy that is to make Burgundy accessible to as many people as possible. By virtue of buying good quality wines from small, lesser known producers, we are able to pass on to our customers a level of quality and value for money that is otherwise unheard of in the UK. This is highlighted by our offering no less than six Grand Cru Burgundies for under £36.00!”

The Wine Cave
c/o The Angel Inn, Hetton, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 6LT

Tel: 01756 730415 | Fax: 01756 730363 | email: info@winecave.co.uk

What marks out The Winery is the individual wines listed. Each is personally sourced and imported with almost all being exclusive to the company. The wine list is packed with ‘unknowns’ - Mittnacht-Klack from Alsace, Tarlant Champagne, Wild Hog from California and Cheveau from Burgundy.

Strengths are in France - each region well represented by wines worthy of exploration, plus Spain, California and Italy. There is a superb list of dessert wines, mostly from Germany. New Zealand and South America are absent and Australia is poorly represented by just one producer though.

Unlike many London independents the wines are more than affordable with most coming in at under £20 a bottle. Delivery, if you can’t make it to either of the stores, costs £10 per case of 12, or free with 3 or more cases. Sadly no online ordering.

(pull)The Winery At Liberty 2nd Floor Liberty
Regent Street
London(/pull)

From the moment the site pops up in your browser you can feel the class and quality of WineDirect. The site is the on-line arm of Hailsham Cellars, an UK Wine Merchant based in Hailsham, East Sussex.

We’re passionate about wine and believe that knowing more about where the wines come from, the grape varieties and wine styles, can enhance your wine drinking experience and embolden you to experiment with the wide selection of wine styles and grape varieties on our list. That’s why we’ve added a lot of information about wine on the site in the Wine & Food and Wine Companion sections and why we are selling great wine books in our Books section.

The wine range is wide reaching - they list 35 wines from often overlooked Argentina, 100 wines from ever-popular Australia and 69 from New Zealand. But it is not just the New World at WineDirect - Spain with a list of 54 wines, Italy (187) and the regions of France (258) hold many interesting wines.

Prices are generally in the £7-£14 range although more expensive wines are of course listed. Minimum purchase is 6 bottles.

Pre-mixed cases, with prices ranging from £65 and upwards, and various regular wine club offerings complete the picture.

One thing I noticed is the embracing of customer feed-back they ask that their customers send in wine reviews and recipes for great dishes to accompany wine for publication on the site. Very Web 2.0!

Yapp Bros at Mere are holding a series of informal tastings on the following Saturdays in 2007 between 11.00am and 1pm - so even though they are in Mere in Wiltshire, you could make a good day out of it - and learn much from this very knowledgeable merchant. There are probably few who know the wines of the Loire and Rhône as well as Yapp!
Sat 14 April - Wines from the Loire
Sat 12 May - Rosé Wines
Sat 2 June - wines of the Languedoc-Roussillon region
Sat 22 Sept - Introduction to Food and Wine Matching
Sat 13 Oct - Reds from the Rhône
Sat 1 Dec - Wines for Christmas
£15 per person
You need to book - 01747 860423
www.yapp.co.uk

In genteel Buckinghamshire, at Bourne End to be precise, there is a “local” off licence which has a pretty ghastly website (see above), but get beyond the colour scheme (or through the shop door) and you’ll discover a truly superb wine list at Bertrand & Nicholas with all sorts of French gems - fine Bordeaux and Burgundy for sure - but also an eclectic selection from South West France, Alsace, Jura and Savoie. Loire, Languedoc…… My selection would include Menetou-Salon AC from Henri Pellé (Loire); Cahors AC Clos Triguedina, Madiran AC Domaine Berthoumieu, Irouleguy AC, Domaine Abotia(South West); Bandol from Chateau du Pibarnon (Provence).
You can order by phone, mail or email - download their list from the website.

BERTRAND & NICHOLAS
14 FURLONG ROAD, BOURNE END, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE SL8 5DG - see map
TEL :01628525202

Down in rural Sussex n the centre of Hurstpierpoint High Street, 10 miles north of Brighton, just off the A23 you’ll discover South Downs Cellars - and behind the modest facade you’ll be greeted with an excellent choice of wines. My own predelictions lean towards the wines of South West France so its always a good start to see some really classy and classic producers such as Chateau de Cedre in Cahors (one of the very best); Madiran and Pacherenc du Vic Bilh from Bouscassé. There are equally good wines from the other French regions.
At the other extreme in style and location, their selection of Californian wines is superb, including Bonny Doon and the extraordinarily intense wines of Ridge - the 2001 Geyserville (a stunning Zinfandel blend) being one of my favourite wines of all time.
Their selection from the Old and New Worlds indicates a judicious selection of some of the best producers sprinkled with interesting lesser-known offerings.

They have a shop, online ordering and a wine club. Their Christmas tasting is on Sat 25 November 2006 - not to be missed I’d say.

For more info see www.southdownscellars.co.uk

Leon Stolarski, one of our favourite independent merchants (especially now he has added both Madiran and Jurancon from SW France to his list) has been asked to assist in a sale of some of the world’s finest wines - indeed, a veritable “Who’s Who” of growers from Australia, Bordeaux, Rhone, Burgundy, Italy and Spain, plus some gems from the Loire Valley, Champagne, southern France, California, Lebanon and many more. The collection has been fostered over the last 16 years by a Nottingham restaurateur.
See www.lsfinewines.co.uk