Buy Wine with A Little Help from Your Friends

THE WOODWINTERS WEBSITE SHOULD EXCITE THE APPETITE OF ANY WINE LOVER. IT STATES, "DRINKING WINE IS ABOUT PLEASURE...THERE IS SIMPLY NO ROOM FOR SHELF-FILLERS...OUR AWARD-WINNING WINE LIST IS A ROLL CALL OF MANY OF THE BEST PRODUCERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD."

Exciting stuff and in March, WoodWinters won the coveted award, Independent Retailer of the year 2010, from The International Wine & Spirit Competition; consumers across the UK are asked to vote for their favourite wine merchants who are then short-listed and judged. The award was collected by MD Douglas Wood at Mosimann's in London.

WoodWinters was started in Bridge of Allan five years ago by Douglas Wood and wife Cara Winters and the Edinburgh store has been in Newington for almost two years. The shelves do not disappoint. When I visited, shop manager and former Valvona & Crolla wine buyer, John Ritchie, gave me a tour and I was wowed by all the wines that are just not available elsewhere. The shop layout is also one of those simple but great ideas. Wines are categorized by style rather than by country. Thus you don't have to dot about the place looking at each country's Chardonnay to best decide what will match your dinner.

This niche wine merchant is filling a need. People want the traceability with wine that they increasingly have with their food. Go to a store like WoodWinters and the staff will be able to tell you where the wine comes from, who produced it, how many bottles there are, etc etc. By contrast, ask these questions in your local supermarket and see what reaction you get.

I took home a Provencal Rose, which was, just as I like it, bone dry and pale salmon in colour and a Sangiovese was full of sunshine and red fruit; both were under a tenner.