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01/08/2008 - Fabien arrives, John leaves - 01/08/08
We have a new member of staff! Fabien Lemarchand has joined us as a full-time shop manager. Fabien has extensive experience in the on-trade, having been head sommelier at both Hakkasan and, more recently, Gary Rhodes. This has given him wide experience in michelin-starred levels of service, as well as plenty of knowledge about all things vinous, and now he's down here in Brighton we can hopefully benefit! Although French he is by no means tuned in solely to French wines; Hakkasan's list especially shows a very multinational nature. So pop in, say hi, and try him out!
John has decided to leave us for personal reasons after working here on a part-time basis for two years. Onwards and upwards to a real job, good luck John!
7/7/08 - What's your favourite wine ever?... - 07/07/08
...is a question i am asked almost every weekend at one of our Hen Do tastings.(Those of you who have been in on a Saturday avo will know that we regularly hold tastings for the better class of Hen Party!)
My stock-in-trade answer is that i am a bit of a wine whore and that every wine has its moment, depending on variables of where, when, who with, what food, what mood, etc. However this particular party weren't having any of this and wanted to pin me down. I qualified this in two ways; my most amazing glass, and my wine for a desert island.
The best glass I ever had was a typical wine trade moment, really. I was trooping around Central London flogging my wares, and needed to pay a call to Crockford's. This is one of those smart gambling clubs on Curzon St, where you pay a quarter million a year entry fee, or whatever it is, and then everything else is supposedly free for the year. So if you go to lunch there, you really go to lunch! You are then, of course, smoothly decanted onto the roulette wheel to lose everything you possess. So, at about 4pm on a rainy midweek afternoon, the sommelier I'm there to meet casually brings a glass over with a grin, saying half a good bottle had just been left on a table.
Now, I'm in Crockford's, where very good wine is drunk every day, and the 'smelly' is familiar with serious plonk, so I know he wouldn't bother unless this was a good wine. So maybe I'm thinking, decent claret, nice burgundy, I don't know. But nothing prepared me...this sarted fresh and vibrant, still delicate, and light on the tongue. As I moved it around the mouth a little the flavours developed, opened out into the essence of summer, with just a hint of developing forest floor vegetal thing, and the mouthfeel was like silk, the wine had no edges at all, it was just gloriously rounded and cultured and yet still fresh. After I swallowed it, the flavours kept coming and coming, for whole minutes. I hadn't eaten anything, I wasn't in special company, I was sitting in a dingy back office on a rainy, wet afternoon, so none of the usual bias factors applied, and this wine, whatever it was, blew me away, left me literally speechless. And you know what? It remains I think the most valuable glass of wine I've ever drunk, so maybe there is a correlation between price and quality after all! The wine was a good, mature but not old vintage of DRC's La Romanee Conti.
My desert island wine? Good vintage champagne, and I'm not qualifying it more than that. Krug maybe (vintage or not), Cristal if it's got some age, Pol's brut vintage, Salon, any of the usual suspects. One of two of the lesser known might might be a top Vilmart cuvée, or Philipponat's Clos des Goisses, but really, I'm not fussy. There is more prosaic logic behind this...if I'm on a desert island, it's hot and I want refreshing, and i'm likely to be eating a lot of seafood, so good champagne fits the bill. Or maybe German riesling, but that's such a bloody typical wine trade response I don't know how I dare say it.
Tasting this week with the legendary Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon - 28/06/08
Just had to write to mention a tasting I went to this week with Randall Grahm. He's an extraordinary man. For those of you who don't know, he set up about 25 years ago as one of the so-called 'Rhone Rangers' - a group of Californian winemakers looking to grow Rhone valley varieties and make versions of those wines. Consequently his wines have names like 'Le Cigare Volant', and 'Old Telegram'. The latter is a direct translation of Vieux Telegraphe' one of the most renowned Chateauneuf-du-Papes, the former an homage to the fact that it is still a local by-law in CNDP that flying saucers (le Cigare) may not fly over the village!
However, he has spread his wings over the time he's been making wine, and now produces wines from the Italian pair of Nebbiolo and Sangiovese, Muscat, and the Spanish Albarino, and a host of others. In more recent times he has also enthusiastically embraced biodynamic principles. Even after this time he is still constantly tinkering, playing with new, totally original ideas, far too many to mention here.
The crucial thing, though, is how the juice tastes in the bottle in the end. It is here that Randall really delivers. I have rarely been to a single-winery tasting where so many wines rang my bell. Out of, I think, nine wines tasted, something like seven or eight were simply stunning. The whites, Albarino, Muscat (a dryish version, 10 g/l of sugar but with plenty of acidity from a small addition of loureiro), and Le Cigare Blanc, all showed a lovely balance of clean fruit and edgy, precise minerality. Le Cigare was fantastic, a Roussanne based blend that showed it best at the buffet lunch afterwards. The reds (the Italian pair, Le Cigare Volant, a Syrah) all showed ripe fruit without overblown alcohol levels and, well, plenty of European-ness in terms of elegance and finesse. Now we're not necessarily Europhiles here at Quaff, but we do like our wines to be drinkable without needing a ladel. Stewy Californian reds these certainly were not.
I knew about Bonny Doon before this tasting, of course - everyone does. We've had one of Randall's entry level wines - The Big House blend (he's just sold this brand to focus more on Estate wines) - in the shop since we opened. But I had not appreciated what an original thinker he is, and just how he translates this into such a fantastic range of wines. Suffice it to say we will be stocking many, many more of his wines very soon; from next week, in fact!
Apologies for lack of blogs! - 28/06/08
Humble apologies for the lack of blogs in the last few months; we've taken our eye off the ball the somewhat recently here - Mrs P has been very busy at home sprouting our third boy, which is now a molelike ball in the corner of the room! Anyway, hopefully it'll be back to business more from now.
21/11/07 - Article featuring us in the Wine & Spirit Mag - 21/11/07
Chris and Toby are featured in an article in this month's Wine & Spirit mag about careers in the Wine Trade. The ongoing joke about this is that if you want to make a small fortune in the wine trade you should start with a large fortune and get out quick...anyway, here's the link....http://www.wine-spirit.com/articles/52346/Independence-day.aspx Enjoy!
10/11/07 - Thanks to Ronnie last night, the Lapostolle tasting. - 10/11/07
Ronald Janssen came, saw and enlightened our little band of drinkers. He confirmed what I already suspected; Lapostolle are in the very top flight of Chilean producers. It wasn't, however, the established stars such as the merlots and Clos Apalta that won the punters over. The best wines of the night by general consent (and according to those who voted with their wallets, always the acid test) were the new Semillon and the Pinot Noir, which is in only its second or third vintage. Ronnie - who claims credit for the semillon! - reckoned the semillon had been made with the Cuvee Alexandre range in mind (ie it should have gone in at £10-£12), but at the last it was decided to play safe and put the wine in the classic range. However, the wine would be fully justified at the higher price, showing great depth, body and texture, with a steely streak of acidity. It's serious food wine. Coming from 80 year old vines in the fabled Apalta vineyard, the fruit quality easily carries the attentions of oak barrels which give the wine layers of creamy complexity.
The pinot noir, too, was a revelation. The only other pinot I can think of that shows a similar combination of ripe fruit, elegance and sheer drinkability is the Au Bon Climat we list (at £23), so at £17 this is looking good!
26/10/07 - Where's the best restaurant in Brighton? - 26/10/07
Well, the poor summer's weather claimed its first high profile casualty last week. One Paston Place, not long ago seen as Brighton & Hove's leading fine dining restaurant, put up its shutters for the last time. Rumours of bad meal experiences had been circulating for a while, but it's still a great shame when somewhere well-established closes. Many in the Brighton on-trade have called it the worst summer's trading in a decade or more, blaming the bad weather, the smoking ban, lots of last minute foreign holidays, the bad weather, and the bad weather.
But does it also show a slight malaise among the eating habits of Brightonians? It seems that Brighton is still a good place to start what could be termed excellent neighbourhood restaurants - Terre a Terre, Seven Dials (despite its grandiose pretentions when it opened), La Fourchette, The Gingerman, etc, but when it comes to real attempts at Michelin-quality Fine Dining, we just don't seem interested here, which is a shame.
Look at The Gingerman's latest venture as an example. The Ginger Pig has been on fire for coming up to a year now, serving good, solid comfort food in a friendly atmosphere, backed up by the reputation of the original restaurants. They infuriate all and sundry by refusing to take bookings, but if it results in all your punters turning up at 6.30 to ensure getting a table before nine, and drinking £40 worth of booze before even sitting down, then why start any time soon? Good luck to them, I say.
Nevertheless, it'd be nice if someone stuck their neck out again, and really aimed for extraordinary in our town. One Paston Place tried, probably came closer to getting a Michelin star than anyone else for a while, but then lost momentum and eventually the plot, too.
We should be a big enough city to support a real, Michelin level restaurant; God knows there's enough crappy trattorias kicking around hoovering up cash. And it'd be great for everyone if we had the kind of destination restaurant that actually started dragging people into town to dine there, stay in the hotels, and then eat in other neighbouring places, too. The halo effect of a real flagship, that's what we're missing in Brighton.
10/10 - Autumn is here...strange how everyone gets thirsty...thoughts on the sense of smell - 10/10/07
Well, after the last blog where we'd suffered somewhat with the cancellation of summer, it's great to come to a new season. Yes, autumn's here; sales of rosé have stopped in their tracks and suddenly people are queuing up for robust, gusty reds to go with stews and whatnot. I must say I love this type of food; the default go-to grub in the Peirce household at this time of year is sausages (good ones; wild boar, or beef and herb, or boerewors when we've been to the South African butcher), chopped spuds/parsnips, mushrooms, chickpeas, carrots, tin of tomatoes, any other leftovers, a handful of rosemary, garlic, all bunged in a pot about 5pm and left there until the kids finally go down. Wash it down with a Rhone or Languedoc red - something really spicy/herby and warming - and that's it, job done.
Having said that, the wine I most associate with this time of year is pinot noir. I don't know why but ageing pinot smells for me very like autumn - a sweet, leafy smell, brambles, bonfires, forest floor, mushrooms - all very evocative of childhood (the bonfires, not the booze!).
Amazing thing, the sense of smell. Having fish and chips the other day, I encountered a bottle of Sarson's vinegar, and thought, wow, it must be years since I saw that. I opened it and got the smell - Sarson's has a peculiar pickled onion-cum-molasses whiff to me - and was taken immediately to the exact moment I last had it - school! My brain suddenly transported itself back 20 years or more to waiting in line, the unique boiled meat and cabbage smells of the canteen (showing my age here?), the chip butty sarnies...it was extraordinary, my eyes saw the bottle of Sarsons long before my nose smelt it, but the latter sense induced by far the more powerful reaction. Which I guess is why we're all still in business in the wine trade...happy days...
1/8/07 - Thank the Lord that bit of weather's over! - 01/08/07
Well, if we were ever in any doubt as to whether bad weather is bad for business, we know now! We've never been sure if rain meant people bought less wine - after all, the foul Autumn months before Xmas are some of our best of the year, on the whole, whereas the summer months of July and August can be pretty slow. There is another valid reason for that, mind you; 1 in 4 customers is away on holiday, after all.
But if we were ever unsure before, we know now. This month of horrific weather has been a real downer for us. It's almost as if, in ordinary circs, those who aren't on holiday in July make up for those who are by going out more, having barbeques, etc., and generally drinking lots of wine. But this month, it really has been as if everyone's retreated back into January/February hibernation mode due to the incessant downpours and constant bad news of floodings.
The good news is...the weather's over for the minute, and almost immediately we've been much, much busier! What a business it is, trying to work out where your next customer is coming from...
26/5/07 - LIWSF - dreaded initials for those of us in the wine trade... - 26/05/07
Thank Christ it's over! When we set this blog up I promised a little look inside the world of the independent wine merchant. Well, this week we've just endured the biggest trade tasting of the year, the London International Wine and Spirit Fair (hence LIWSF). Now, for many this would seem manna from Heaven - 20000 wines all open simultaneously to taste in one place, end everyone begging for you to drink their wine! If you chose, you could spend the entire day drinking champagne and nothing else. In fact, by the sound of it I think John and Chris (my assistants here) spent the entire day doing just that! It's also a great opportunity to catch up and have a drink with all your old wine trade mates, some of whom you will barely have seen since the last LIWSF.
In truth, though, it's a bit of a nightmare. Just getting there is a mission; it's out in East London in a vast, soulless conference facility called Excel, and you have about three or four changes to get there even if nothing goes wrong. The last piece of the trip is on a tiny line called the DLR that means thousands of you are packed in worse than on any other line - and I've done my time on the Victoria Line at rushhour, too.
I have to say that nowadays, as a buyer, it's rather easier, but in days gone past I used to man the stands for an importer. Then you are chained to your stand for three days, serving all comers constantly whilst never, ever getting to sit down all day, and knowing perfectly well that 95% of the people trying your wine are only tenuously linked at best to buying. How much responsibility does the Thresher assistant manager have? None, of course; all their wine is bought by just two people, whose diaries are full with appointments four months before the thing even starts. You know you can't leave, though, just in case someone who matters - or even one of your own customers - does come along, and if they do sod's law says they will arrive at the same time as someone who is very loud and very unimportant (in professional terms, at least) who gets in the way.
As I say, as a buyer it's now miles better, but you've still got to be careful. If you don't create a strict list of who you are going to visit - and where they are - you're history. To give you an idea of the size of Excel; it's a building probably 1km long by 200m wide, literally full of stands. It's a little like a giant, but very concentrated, car boot sale. It's easy to get lost, and once you're lost, you get sucked in by stands that may be slightly interesting (because let's face it, we all like tasting new wines!)but aren't why you are there. Then an old mate calls you over, and so on, and the next thing is you've spent half a day doing nothing but talking about irrelevant wines and gossiping about nothing at all.
Having said all that, it is the one event of the year where many if not most of my suppliers will have a stand, so in one day I can simultaneously try new products, check new vintages on current products, or taste the wares of possible new suppliers, in a way that would take ten times as long otherwise. So that is what I do; get there early, give myself a strict order of stands to visit (and even which wines to taste, and stick to it, with only the briefest of stops to snack at lunch). I've also adopted an extremely fast walk between stands, so that if someone sees me whom I know, I'm past before they can stop me to try something!
Nevertheless it's a relentless day when you try comfortably more than 100 wines, while walking upwards of ten kilometres on the strength of a soggy sandwich, with a four hour commute. You leave, half pissed despite spitting all day long, with blackened gums aching from all the tannin and acid, thoroughly relieved to be going. I know it sounds churlish, really I do...if anyone wants to come next year, sign up now!
15/05/07 - Thanks to Gary Jordan, and David Smale at Coriander - 15/05/07
Just a swift one to thank Gary Jordan of Jordan Estate, who fitted us into his hugely busy diary (he only landed in the country at 6am on the morning of the event) and hosted a very successful night at Coriander restaurant. David's food was as always excellent - he came in with some big South African specialities such as Cape Malay Curry, a richly spiced bobotie, wors, and a cinnamon-infused milk tart for dessert. Gary's wines held up to the exotic spices admirably. The reds were undoubtedly fantastic, especially the mighty Cobbler's Hill blend . The Mellifera Late Harvest would probably get the punters' vote as the delightful surprise of the night (however, so few people bother to drink good dessert wine these days that it always seems to amaze them how much they like it when a good one does come along).
However, for your correspondent the star of the night was the Nine Yards Chardonnay. So often one finds these much-lauded 'superstar' chardonnays (and this is undoubtedly one of those) are in fact merely overoaked, heavy, rather clumpy wines with little by way of fruit character, elegance or finesse. Frequently one suspects this may be because the orginal fruit does not have the inherent personality or quality to cope with the close attentions of new oak. However, in this case, as one plonked one's nose in the glass the first hit was pure, creamy melon and stone fruit. There was loads of richness on the palate, sure, but it was underlined by a streak of minerality and freshness that stopped the wine from becoming remotely heavy. It was an absolute joy and was genuinely one of the first times I've come across this kind of elegance outside of the big burgundy villages. Thanks again, Gary!
03/05/07 - Vega Sicilia, Valbuena, Ch Trotanoy, d'Yquem 1979 and 1989, Murrieta 1970 and others... - 03/05/07
...We have just taken a delivery of some iconic wines, especially the legendary 1981 Vega Sicilia Unico (as well as some 1986 of the same wine), d' Yquem 1989 (and 1979), and Ch Haut Brion 1988. We 've also got some 1993 Vega Sicilia Valbuena, the 1983, 1986 and 1996 vintages of top Pomerol Chateau Trotanoy, and 1989 Chateau Leoville Las Cases.
Others are
Chateau Haut Batailley 1985
Marques de Murrieta Reserva 1970, and their white Gran Reserva 1970, too.
Chateau Lynch Bages 1985.
(These are all in the £50+ bracket, and will be appearing on the site in the next couple of days.)
03/05/07 - The Rosé has arrived! - 03/05/07
Yes - it's that time of year when we suddenly start to hoover through the pink wine of all types! Accordingly we have stocked up to the gunnels on all these wines, especially our staff fave:
Villa Wolf Rosé de Pinot Noir, Dr Loosen, Germany, £6.99.
This is an absolutely vibrant pink, and heaves with ripe summer fruit character. It is definitely in the softer, rounder, 'kiss-me-quick' style rather than the drier, more minerally types of rosé, but it's hugely popular and worth a go if you haven't yet!
20/04/07 - New wines in... - 20/04/07
We're particularly excited about the new champagnes we've got in:
Pol Roger Brut NV 'White Foil', £25.99 - a good price nowadays, and the 10% mixed case price at £23.39 is even better!
Pol Roger Brut Vintage 1998, £38.99 - many think this is the best vintage champagne of all for laying down.
Gosset Grande Reserve NV, £34.95 - the King of NV champagne.
Gosset Brut Rosé, £38.99
Gruet Vintage Rosé 2002, £18.99 - didn't know this one but it seemed cheap. We've tasted it and it gives a good strawberry and cream kind of character. We won't tell you it;'s better than the Gosset, but it's OK and great value.
Perrier Jouet 'La Belle Epoque', £75.00 - the prettiest bottle in the World of Wine!
Vilmart Grand Cellier d'Or 2000, £35.99 - and sensational!
Krug Grande Cuvée is back in.
So is Roederer Cristal.
So are our English fizzes - both Nyetimbers (the Classic Cuvée and the Blanc de Blancs), Ridgeview Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia, Breaky Bottom.
Other new bits:
Langhe Arneis 'Blange' 2005, Ceretto, £11.99 - see David Crossley's review on the wine's detail page. He recommended it to us, and he's right to like it!
A Mano Greco/Fiano blend, £6.99 - back in after a 9 month hiatus, this wine flew out last year until the importers ran out of it. Fiano is such a sexy variety!
Muscadet de Sevre et Maine sur Lie 2006, Domaine de la Roche Renard, £6.99.
14/4/07 - English and French Sparkling tasting night - 14/04/07
So, we put the best of ours up against as selection of theirs. The wines tasted were:
Breaky Bottom Cuvée Remy Alexandre 1999
Ridgeview Bloomsbury 2004
Bookers Vineyard 'Bart's Bubbly' Rosé 2001
Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2000
and
Marie Demets Brut NV
Pol Roger Brut NV
Gruet Vintage Rosé 2002
Gosset Grande Réserve NV
...and on this showing, at least, the crown stays with the French, I'm afraid. Each English wine had its fans, but the champagnes universally were more consistently popular. The acid test for is is what people actually buy at the end of the night, and by this measure (and despite being the most expensive wines on show) the Gosset and the Pol roger wiped the floor with everyone - as, to be fair, they should have done. Even Nyetimber, for us the established King of England, showed a little rich and, well, old, on the night.
It'd be fair to say that whilst the English have perhaps five producers capable of making a decent fizz, it remains the case that the Champenois have dozens. Even the Marie Demets at £18.49 showed better than most of the English wines - although to be fair it has embarrassed many other champagnes at far higher prices too in the past (look away now Moet, Veuve Clicquot). The South Downs Movement may be exciting, it may be creating some hoohaa at the moment, but it's still totally in its infancy. Don't for a second think there isn't an awful lot of srength in depth across the channel too.
That said, I'm aware there's a lot of crappy champagne out there - it's just that we don't have it in the shop, and it's a long time since I bought cheap fizz in the supermarket, so perhaps I'm just spoilt! On suspects, too, that the English flavours will become more elegant, less idiosyncratic, more consistent and more uniform, with every vintage that passes. Many producers here are barely past their fifth vintage on this lark, remember; Gosset are approaching their four hundredth!
At the end we'd found we'd raised £500 for The Big Issue Foundation out of the night, too, so that was good.
16/3/07 - South African night - 16/03/07
Good night last night - the South African night. The wine was great - the Vin the Constance blew everyone away, just like it was always going to. The boerewors was the star of the night for me, though!
15/3/07 - Sideways tasting night - 16/03/07
It was Natasha's (my wife) turn to pick the book for her bimonthly book club. In her wisdom she decided upon Sideways - both book and movie. She then announced it would be held in the shop and that I would crack open wines from the book to accompany the evening! Thus I found myself offering her pals Veuve Clicquot on arrival, moving on to a few bottles of a San Luis Obispo Pinot Noir (the Avila), and finishing with the Comte Armand Pommard. Hmmm...well, the VC was predictable, which I guess is why they sell so many bottles, but for me it's still too green, acidic and straightforward for such a highly priced and reputable champagne. We stock it just for the corporate dudes who need to send it to their clients and want something that is instantly recognisable, but frankly we sell more of almost every other champagne because we never, ever recommend it. At least the Avila was much, much better, providing a perfect example of what good entry-level Californian pinot should be like. it was full and soft with ripe fruit character, but decent freshness and no sign of too much alcohol or stewed fruit. I'm not sure it's actually in the book, but frankly Miles' tastes are pretty pricey and I wasn't opening Au Bon Climat as well as the Pommard! Anyway, San Luis Obispo is hardly a million miles from Buellton, where the book is based. The final wine, the Pommard, makes an appearance when the guys are trying to impress the girls in the restaurant on their first date. It was true to form, initially very tart after the swet fruit of the Avila, but it opened out beautifully and in true form the best glass was the last, all refined, perfumed nose and silky texture with beautiful length.
The feeling was that the book was more blokeish, the movie more for the girls, and that the movie finished very well what the book started. Many of our favourite scenes from the movie, such as the post-dinner conversation Miles and Maya, weren't in the book at all. Both, though, should be on your next present wish list if you're interested in wine.
10/3/07 - In the Telegraph Today - 10/03/07
Jonathan Ray has given us a lovely review in the Telegraph today...to see the web article go to www.telegraph.co.uk and click on Food & Drink to see my ugly mug, or the full link is http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wine/main.jhtml?xml=/wine/2007/03/10/edray110.xml .
2/3/07 - Iberian Night, with pics - 09/03/07
One of the first tastings of the year, and always one of the more popular! Jean - our caterer at The Creative Cooking Company - did us proud with her tapas. The wines showed pretty well, on the whole. The A2O Albarino showed well, and the Murrieta Blanco 'La Capellania' - the single vineyard white rioja - was sensational. Of the reds, the Castillo Ygay - again, from Murrieta, was suitably iconic, but your correspondent's own favourite was the Duas Quintas Reserva from Ramos Pinto. It's got such richness and texture, massive depth and yet beautiful balance. I love the fact that it's still foot-trodden, still made in a stone trough somewhere way up the Douro Valley. The winery in this case is a tiny whitewashed stone building, perched up on a vertiginous hillside above heavily terraced vineyards careering down into the Douro river far below. There's a tiny plunge pool at the adjoining house, with a 150 year old terraced olive orchard, from which the views are panoramic and simply breathtaking. It's the perfect place for an early evening snifter. Hey ho, dreams are free...but that's what tastings are about, for me!
20/02/07 Jonathan Ray of the Telegraph reviews Quaff - 20/02/07
All very exciting last week...Johnny Ray, who is a local man, came in to give us the once-over for an upcoming article in the Saturday Telegraph. I shouldn't say too much, but he tasted a few wines, asked plenty of questions, and apparently the article goes out on Saturday 10th March, so watch this space!
10/2/07 Info about the website re-design - 10/02/07
We've redesigned the site, with the chief aim of making it simpler to use, and easier to find the wine of your choice. The wine pages have been improved to give you a description and photo, plus any deals, all on the one page, for each wine. The overall design has been kept deliberately simple, again with the purpose of speeding up the site's useability, and to improve your ability to navigate around swiftly. There are no pop-ups, super graphics or fancy typefaces that look lovely but slow the site down to a snail's pace. I think it's definitely much better to the very anoraky, bookish and slow site previously, but I would say that, wouldn't I??!! If you have any recommendations, queries, or criticisms, let us know. What do you like? What do you find tricky? If we can possibly afford it, we'd implement all your suggestions; as it is, we'd love to know what you think.
There are lots of new developments coming in soon; for one, the RSS feed will send these blogs back to you, should you wish to sign up. It'll also send out details of tastings, so you get the info first on upcoming events . If you buy online, you will automatically get a personal purchase record, for you to view (and, in time, give reviews for) wines you've bought. We are also looking at extending this service so that customers who come into the store on Portland Road can also view their purchase histories online, a service we already have available for you in the shop.
Happy shopping!
Toby
10/02/07 New Site re-design, including the start of this blog... - 10/02/07
Welcome to the Quaff blog! This is a new feature for us, so I'm still deciding how to use it. Of course, we'll make you aware of new wines or particular favourites, offers coming out, tastings we've been to, great meals we've had or restaurants we've been to, and all the usual stuff you'd expect. However, I'd also like to bring you inside the world of the wine merchant; to tell you the gossip, to give you an idea of how this shop (and business) works. It should be something of a personal diary, in truth. I hope you find it interesting! The other guys who work in the shop - John Boyden, Chris Seymour and Kwan Tsui - will also have full access, so expect some nuggets (probably about me) from them, too.
Toby Peirce.