Wine of the Year
My wine of the year is Digby Fine English 2013. It was made by Dermot Sugrue, who used to make Wiston. I've poured it a lot in the last few months, and no other aperitif I have poured, including any Champagne, has resulted in such effusive remarks of delight. It won 'Sparkling wine of the Year' at the Wine GB awards both this year and last! That's after being tasted blind! It was awarded 'Supreme Champion' 2023. It beat Dom Perignon and Krug in a blind tasting conducted by the late Steven Spurrier, who conducted the greatest blind tasting of all time, known as 'The Judgement of Paris'.
Special mention to
I have to make a special mention of Althorne Chardonnay, from Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, which has been so much fun to show blind against Meursault and Chassagne-Montrachet of famous producers from Burgundy, that cost many hundreds of pounds a bottle, and Althorne has been the favourite every time.
Good news - we've won!
We won runner-up 'Online Merchant of the Year '(midsize), having won it the year before last, at Decanter awards. We didn't enter last year. We are grateful, and we know we could do a lot more to improve our range and service.
We were short-listed for Italian Merchant of the Year. This is a delight for me, as I spent a lot of time in Italy in my formative years in the trade as a buyer for a large importer. We are very excited by the way our Italian list is developing and determined to make it one of the best.
We were, however, awarded South African Specialist of the Year which makes us very proud!
Thank you
I thank you so much for your continued interest and care for us. Wine is such a saturated market and we do appreciate every order hugely. We are a small team of James, Kate, Amjuly and myself, along with the warehouse crew, and a small but very important supporting act.
Well, what a year 2023 has been. Lots of new exciting discoveries, awards won, tastings and unwavering support from customers, which we are truly grateful for.
