It’s a frequent frustration that some of our most interesting wines are the hardest to sell, simply because customers don’t instantly recognise them on the stack. For that reason I have instigated a new feature on the site in which we’ll feature interesting or new wines which might struggle to push up through all the well [...]
Since the budget sales have soared, and it’s clear that our competitors are experiencing a similar uplift too. While the increase in duty is significant, and will have a very real effect on wine prices, the size of the uplift has taken us by surprise. Is this a sign that the consumer doesn’t like a wagging [...]
The big news this week will obviously be the amount of extra duty Alistair Darling dares to put on wine. Over the last few years the Chancellor has largely chosen to leave spirits and sparkling wines alone, but has consistently loaded the duty onto still wine. This year however we are expecting a hike on everything as [...]
An article by Victoria Moore in last Saturday’s Guardian newspaper has sparked an interesting conversation on Tom Cannavan’s popular Wine Pages forum surrounding returns of faulty bottles, particularly in the fine wine sector. It centres on whether we, as a retailer, should be held responsible for faulty bottles of fine wine, bought and then stored [...]
You may may read in the financial press (or if not you can read the official statement here) that Tim How, our chief executive of many years, has decided to retire in the near future.
I joined Majestic just a month or so before Tim, and my career in the wine trade has been entirely under his aegis, [...]
There is an undoubted trend towards wines with less obvious oak and more aromatic fruit, but I couldn’t resist recommending this.
Rioja is in some respects slightly confusing at the moment, with some producers veering towards a modern, rather ‘international’ style, while others are resolutely traditional. Well, this Marques de Murrieta Blanco Gran Reserva 1998 is certainly in the [...]
Reading Jamie Goode on white Bordeaux I was struck that he has reached the same conclusion as us on this unfairly neglected wine style; that there is some excellent quality and really interesting wine available for very modest prices in Bordeaux. On one buying trip we’d tasted far too many tannic reds during the day and decided to [...]
It’s one of the minor frustrations in being a wine-seller that sometimes the wines we’re proudest of are the most difficult to sell, either because thay are available only in small quantities, are from lesser-known regions, or perhaps appear esoteric and obscure.
One such wine that I’ve drunk recently (having returned to it again and again) is Sassaiolo from the Marche [...]
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