Category — Spirits

The Channel4 sponsored Taste festival comes to Leeds Milllenium Square from 5-8 June 2008, offering visitors a great opportunity to taste fine foods and wines available in the region.

Imagine a picnic in a park. Now multiply it by thousands of people. Invite all the best restaurants in the area to contribute the food, and discerning vintners to bring the bottles. Make sure some of the guests are famous chefs happy to help out with cooking hints, and organise live music to eat and drink by. This is a Taste Festival.

Amongst the wine exhibits will be Bordeaux Wines, Wines of Chile, Faustino Rioja, Wines of South Africa and Playford Ros representing Villa Sandi - Italian Proscecco producers.

Leeds Brewery and Goslings Rum will also contribute to what promises to be a great cocktail of wine and food.

For more info and tickets see www.channel4.com

The Channel 4 sponsored Taste festival comes to Edinburgh (The Meadows) from 29 May - 1 June 2008, offering visitors a great opportunity to taste fine foods and wines available in the region.

Imagine a picnic in a park. Now multiply it by thousands of people. Invite all the best restaurants in the area to contribute the food, and discerning vintners to bring the bottles. Make sure some of the guests are famous chefs happy to help out with cooking hints, and organise live music to eat and drink by. This is a Taste Festival.

Amongst the wine-related exhibits will be the Edinburgh School of Food and Wine, Portobello’s Fine Wine Co, New Zealand’s Jackson Estate Winery, Champagne merchants Lovely Bubbly, highly-rated Scottish Merchant Valvona & Crolla,Bordeaux Wines, Wines of Chile, Faustino Rioja

Being in Scotland there is also a Food & Whisky School!

For more info and tickets see www.channel4.com

Oddbins and Nicolas come together for their annual wine fair on 17th & 18th May 2008 to be held at Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea Football Club in west London.

Offering a whole host of vinous delights to taste and an opportunity to meet, in person, winemakers from all around the world.
It’s the perfect occasion to sample the Oddbins & Nicolas ranges of wines, in a professional yet fun environment, with the chance to learn more about the products on our shelves and the people behind them.

The event includes masterclasses on “Discover Argentina”, Bruichladdich whiskies, d’Arenberg winery (McLaren Vale, South Australia), Bordeaux, Champagnes and Anakena Ona winery (Chile)

Among many others, highlights at this year’s event include: d’Arenberg, Dashwood, De Bortoli, Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Bollinger, Pernod Ricard, Paragon Vintners, Chapoutier, Montana, Lindauer, Cellar Trend, Masi, Cave de Tain, Gerard Bertrand, Taylor’s Port, Cillar De Silos El Quintalal, Jourdan Bordeaux, Cordoniu Wines, Bruichladdich Distillery, Inverhouse Distillery

Book your tickets (£25 11am - 5pm) ONLINE

Cooden Cellars is an independent wine merchant established by Colin Barnes and Ian Jarman in 1997. In May 2001 we opened our retail shop in the Grand Hotel Buildings, Compton Street, Eastbourne. They were awarded Independent Merchant of the Year 2007 as well as Regional Wine Merchant of the Year in the IWC Awards for the last three years, in 2003 and 2004 as runner-up and in 2005 outright.

For those not lucky enough to live within the bounds of Eastbourne they maintain a very functional and informative website. Registered users can login and leave their own tasting notes. The only thing that is lacking are images of the wine bottles (perhaps they should engage this budding photographer?)

The range is excellent across the board - lots of interesting wines from Argentina and Australia, New Zealand and Portugal are particularly interesting with several wines we are yet to discover. Regular offers, a regularly updated blog section and a decent range of spirits plus a regular payment wine club complete the picture. Perhaps the perfect wine merchant?

FRIDAY 16 - MONDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2007 - The Annual Salon des Vignerons Independents (indpendent winemakers) holds its annual show in the Grand Palais in Lille. Over 400 winemakers from every corner of France will be offering tastings of their wines with the opportunity to buy at vineyard gate prices. Makes a great weekend in the exciting city of Lille with its medieval centre for shopping, dining and drinking!
See www.frenchduck.co.uk
London - Lille by Eurostar in 100 minutes

In the very heart of the Cotswolds Bennetts Fine Wines looks every inch the old-fashioned traditional wine merchant - small, atmospheric shop with stone floors and a slightly hushed atmosphere.
Situated on the High Street of the charming Costwold village of Chipping Campden (Glos), the shop does have an impressive array of top quality (and top price) Claret, Burgundy, Champagne and Port. However delve only a little deeper and there are many exciting finds from regional France, elsewhere in Europe and the New World - especially New Zealand.
I have a particular passion for the lesser-known wines of the French regions, and I tend to judge a wine merchant by their discoveries from non-classic France - partly because some are too dismissive of such wines, and also because whilst there are many fantastic wines here, the merchant has to be selective to choose only the better producers, and this can take some work.
Hence Bennetts Fine Wines passes my test with flying colours - not because of the volume of French regional wines, but because their selection looks excellent. I would not have expected to see a Cotes Roannaises AC, a Gamay from the Upper Loire (Robert Serol £6.99). Great to see Madirans from Chateau de Viella, Pic St Loup (Languedoc) from Chateau de Lascaux and the wonderful Jurancons from Domaine Cauhapé. Another rarity are the Collioure AC wines from Domaine de la Rectorie and Domaine Pietri-Geraud!
Well, if the rest of their list is as thoughtfully and adventurously chosen as these, then this has to be a shop worth visiting and a list worth exploring.
The old-style shop is complemented by an excellent website (see www.bennettsfinewines.com), mail order service, nationwide delivery, bottles open for tasting in the shop every Saturday and a series of wine tasting events held throughout the winter.

Bennetts Fine Wines
High, Street, Chipping Campden, Glos GL55 6AG
T: 01386 840392 F:01386 840974

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

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

From their Eastbourne base the Sussex Wine Company are rather active on the tasting/gourmet dinner front. Their calendar brims with delights, that quickly sell out by all accounts.

We’re an Independent Wine Merchant based in Eastbourne supplying quality wines from boutique producers around the world. We have a comprehensive selection of whisky, spirits, Champagne, organic wines, and luxury goods such as caviar, foie gras and handmade East Sussex organic chocolates. We deliver to the UK and now the EU, offer free (UK) delivery over £100 and feature many discounted mixed cases. We also produce a monthly newsletter with further subscriber offers.

The range is strong on France, Italy and Australia. Other areas are a bit light but offer ’selected quality’ - Millton Opu Riesling an organic wine from New Zealand or Quinta da Boavista Espiga Tinto from Portugal for example.

For the gourmet the deli section holds many, mostly French, delicacies plus a wide range of caviar for those with deep pockets. Glasses, gift packs and gift certificates complete a good, broad range. Nothing wrong with the website either - easily navigable, clear and with just the right level of details on the products.

Delivery for orders under £100 is charged at £6.95.

The Sussex Wine Company
47 South Street
Little Chelsea
Eastbourne BN21 4UT
Tel/Fax: 01323 431143

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.

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.

An award winning merchant with a mighty fine range, well arrange in a spacious store. Although a few under £10 wines can be found, prices are generally above this level; so not a store for those use to supermarket ‘bargains’.

With awards such as Regional Wine Merchant of the Year and, in 2004, Independent Wine Merchant of the Year you should expect a top level of service and an interesting range to boot. The team don’t disappoint. Consumer wine tastings are a regular feature (both free and fee based) and a weekly email covering the latest additions and offers keeps everyone informed of events and specials.

An email today was requesting orders for bottles of fully mature port sourced from an Oxford college for example. Now this might sound elitist but the hushed tones and rarefied atmosphere, that I fine so off-putting and found in many of the top independent merchants, just doesn’t exist here. Sadly the website is a little lacking - there is no online ordering, no fully searchable list just a PDF download. At least this seems to be kept up-to-date with correct prices (others take note!).

The range is world encompassing but strengths include the Rhône, Burgundy, Australia and South Africa with good coverage of New Zealand and America. A smattering of interesting beers and various spirits complete the package. Wine recommendations can be viewed on Spittoon.

The Flying Corkscrew
Leighton Buzzard Road
Water End
Hertfordshire
HP1 3BD
telephone: 01442 412311
fax: 01442 412313

It couldn’t claim to be the most salubrious street in the capital but it is just a stroll from Tottenham Court Tube to Planet of the Grapes in New Oxford Street. It is also quite an unassuming frontage but it is the wine on the shelves that are of interest, or in the bath… for they have a one in the window.

The website came first, I believe, but there is little information to be found about the two guys who run the company - Matt and Marc. If they were the two chaps in the shop during my visit they seem pleasant, chatty and knowledgeable. Not a large shop by any means, so not frighteningly imposing but it does offer a very interesting range; there were more than enough wines to easily break through my self-imposed £15 limit.

The website though doesn’t seem to offer the full range I saw in the shop; the Chilean Sauvignon Gris and the Spanish Grenache are both absent from the website. There are some interesting wines listed though, a changing collection of end-of-lines and a selection of spirits complement a range of fine wines, decent dessert wines and a smattering of wines from across the world.

Delivery in Central London is free but elsewhere in the UK it is £10. I couldn’t spot a minimum order quantity. No overall specialisation for Planet of the Grapes but a world encompassing range.