In a week that saw the French government condemn wine on health grounds, one story shook me like no other. In a bid to make room for the promising 2009 vintage, it seems that several New Zealand wineries are considering pouring away hundreds of thousands of litres of wine from the vats, rather than selling [...]
Monthly Archives: February 2009
Mentioning no names
Monday 23 February 2009 – 11:27
Several of our competitors set great store by offering unfeasibly large savings from cases of wine, often own-label, and in exchange for signing up for repeat purchases later on at full price. We’ve always found this approach a little irritating. Unlike those competitors, which have little of no retail presence, our 150 or so stores ‘keep [...]
Congratulations, South Africa
Tuesday 17 February 2009 – 8:08
No sooner does South Africa’s wine industry celebrate its 350th birthday, than we are presented with a superb opportunity to sample the fruits of its labour – excuse the pun – as a leading New World wine producer. I have to confess, I had often been sceptical of South African wines, due in part to [...]
Is it worth ageing cheap(ish) wine?
Monday 16 February 2009 – 15:51
Majestic’s first foray into the en primeur market was in 1995 and, keen to at least start a ‘proper’ wine collection, I bought two cases of Chateau La Tour St Bonnet for not much more than £50 a case. It sat relatively undisturbed in our depot after arriving in the UK, and I took the [...]
Globally Heart-Warming
Tuesday 10 February 2009 – 21:27
Britain might have come to a standstill in the recent barrage of snow, but it seems a little producer in Spain decided to make the most of the bad weather and created a rather historic ice-wine, the first to come from Rioja. (I’ve penned a translated summary for the non-Hispanic). While the English vines are [...]
For cross-channel shoppers
Tuesday 10 February 2009 – 8:38
Confusingly used as a web-marketing term, cross-channel shopping (or the practice of shopping with a retailer by offline and traditional methods) has a more literal meaning for us. Shopping across the channel means visiting one of our three French stores to take advantage of the low tax on drinks in France. However large the savings, and [...]
You don’t wait ages, then 12 turn up at once
Wednesday 4 February 2009 – 13:18
Whilst wandering through the leafy north London suburb I call home at the weekend I was ever so slightly shocked to spy a number 144 bus carrying a large advertisement for Majestic. “You don’t wait ages, then 12 turn up at once” it boasts; a clever and catchy reference to our free delivery service. As E-Commerce [...]
We Are The Champions…
Wednesday 4 February 2009 – 9:35
Please excuse the flagrantly self-congratulatory title, but we’re all rather chuffed at having picked up a brace of awards at last night’s Off Licence News Drinks Retailing Awards. In addition to High Street Chain of the Year we were also named Online/Direct Sales Retailer of the Year. We are also very pleased that former Majestic [...]
What’s the Points?
Tuesday 3 February 2009 – 11:05
Not simply embarrassing, this gem of a story is a wake-up call to us all. It’s interesting that it’s popped up now, because it addresses a point that I sometimes wonder is often forgotten in a particularly media-fronted, sometimes overly prescriptive wine trade. Of course, it is very easy to rely on what other people [...]
