In this article Peter finds a new wine shop in his home town of St Albans, or 'Snorbens' as the locals call it. He finds they're tempting shoppers into the store by advertising Cloudy Bay.

I've got used to wine shops closing so was surprised to pass what looked like a new shop, and not a branch of one of the national chains.

Without a fanfare, off the Vine opened at Easter. It is the first shop opened by a couple of ex-Threshers managers, but they've been busy since and now have two further stores, one in Bromley with the other on the coast at Brighton.

The shop hasn't stinted on the shopfitters bill. Around the wall are waist-high glass-fronted temperature controlled wine cabinets. Above are polished wooden compartments, the whole shop using a light coloured wood, including the floor.

It is situated between Majestic and Unwins in Victoria Street. Owner Morgan Hay told me that his research had shown the location was excellent for a wine store. He knew the recently closed Bottoms Up was one of Threshers most successful branches which closed only because its lease had ended.

Morgan says he wants to operate "a good wine shop, with a nice environment, stocking good wines as an alternative to the big brands that dominate the chains." While they cannot stock every wine, they will try to get any wine a customer asks for.

Among their New Zealand wines I noted

It's great to welcome a independent wine store to Snorbens and I wish them every success.

CLOUDY BAY AGAIN
First time I visited off the Vine a placard in their window announced they had Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc at £25 a bottle but were limiting them to two per customer.

Regular readers of this column will be familiar with the great English hunt for Cloudy Bay, and I'm beginning to wonder if the thrill of the chase is becoming the primary attraction of this brand. £25 was too rich for my taste, but others were charging even more.

Then just a few weeks ago I got an email from a friend in London that their local Tesco had some Cloudy Bay at £12. As soon as I could, I visited the two large Tesco superstores nearest to me without success. I told my partner of my fruitless trip, she told her friend at the gym who told her husband. He was a little smarter than me: he phoned one of the stores I'd visited and managed to speak to the wine department manager who admitted they'd had a delivery of three cases, 36 bottles. I went back to the store and hung around the wine aisle until at last someone came to restack shelves. She was the wine manager and so I whispered I'd heard she had some Cloudy Bay. "Oooh - the word has got out," she laughed and asked how many I wanted. I asked for 6 bottles. She had to check how many she could spare. A few minutes she beckoned me to the door to the store and passed me a box with six bottles.

Was it worth it? Yes. I was disappointed with 2002, but 2003 is right back on form. Great nose, lots of crisp acids and ripe gooseberry flavours with long aftertaste. And only £12.03 per bottle.

Why £12.03? Last year it was priced at £11.99 and since then we've had another 4p tax on wine.

AND AGAIN
I was disappointed the 2003 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc was closed with a cork. It seems rather old fashioned after I've got used to enjoying fresh clean New Zealand wines under screw caps. However a consumer in Canada reported their wine was closed with screw cap. What happened? Did the deliveries get switched, as the UK seems much more open to screw caps than the Americas.

AND AGAIN
Last year I reported my surprise at seeing a pallet load of Cloudy Bay in Tescos and asked is the Cloudy Bay Drought Over?. I got the back story from the friendly wine department manager. They had a trainee store manager who asked how much Cloudy Bay they should order. The wine department replied that they could sell all they get, so the manager replied he'd order two pallet loads. They thought this very amusing, knowing just how hard it is to get hold of the wine and were utterly amazed when two pallet loads actually arrived. But this year, as I say, they got three cases.

If you have been, thanks for reading.

© Peter May
4 September 2004

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