Some said Pinot Grigio and Viognier do well. It is heartening to know that, with the right education , customers will be more adventurous . Theatre of Wine in Greenwich sells larger quantities of Riesling than any other variety due to tastings .

e Cooden Cellars in Eastbourne, Independent Wine Retailer of the Year at the 2007 Drinks Retailing Awards, is the first of our independents to be profiled. Colin Barnes and Ian Jarman opened the store at the rear of Eastbourne’s Grand Hotel in May 2001 after recognising a niche for a quality regional wine merchant in the town. Since then the business partners have built up…

e The rural village of Nether Wallop has to be one of the most unusual locations for an off-licence. In the heart of the Hampshire countryside, Trout Wines shares its surroundings with a handful of stunning period buildings, an idyllic Saxon church and a herd of contented cows. But even more unusual than its location is the fact that Trout Wines is the only off-licence,…

To take some of the pressure off Howard-Sneyd, Andrew Shaw, a former buyer at wine merchant Stone, Vine & Sun, joined the buying team in January 2007 to work alongside Dee Blackstock MW and Nick Room. Shaw will be responsible for wines from South Africa, Bordeaux, Germany and Italy, while Howard-Sneyd will stay in charge of buying from the Rhône Valley, south of France and…

It’s often claimed that, without Tesco’s strong performance, the wine trade would be in decline, and with sales up by just under 9 per cent it’s a statement that stacks up. Beer was up 11.5 per cent and spirits 8.2 per cent in value terms. The Wine Club now has 550,000 members and more than 4,000 of them turned up at fairs in London and…

Celebrations continued at Christmas when sales of its Taste the ­Difference Vintage Champagne rocketed after the bubbly came top in Which? magazine’s blind taste test. The Taste the Difference brand was extended into wine , with 30 wines adopting the name as a replacement for the old Classic ­Selection fine wine label and, in September, another beer – a Franconian-style dark lager – was added…

Licensed trade director John Spurs says: “At Christmas we sold an awful lot of The Best range. It’s doing very well, so we’ve got another 10 wines coming in the range and there will also be more spirits such as brandy, Cognac and whisky being introduced too.” Spurs says Morrisons is seeing growth through it s own-label ranges. The Butterfly wine range, which includes wines…