One of Scotland’s leading sommeliers has just launched a new wine club offering hand-picked bottles to wine lovers without the hefty restaurant markups.  One Great Bottle www.onegreatbottle.com is the brainchild of Canadian-born Phil Provart who made his name in Edinburgh as Fhior restaurant’s head sommelier.

“The inspiration for starting up this wine club was that when working at Fhior I noticed how expensive the wines I really liked were becoming in a restaurant context – usually over £100 per bottle on the restaurant list – which made me sad” says Provart.  “I wanted to share these wines with wine lovers at retail, rather than restaurant, prices.  I also noticed that a lot of wine clubs just focus on price-point wines, rather than the really great bottles that excited me as a sommelier”.

Provart has 25 years experience working in wine in both Toronto and Edinburgh.  He says his interest in wine came from his father, who served him Penfold’s Grange Hermitage, as it was called then back in the late 1980s, when he was just 14 – ‘an informative experience’, he says.  Provart ended up working in restaurants in Canada, whilst writing a novel (he is also a writer).

He says he prefers white wines with a stony, mineral or saline quality and racy acidity and points to Mosel Riesling, Champagne or wines from Wachau, Santorini or Loire as his favourites.  He says he prefers reds “with elegance, lift and a savoury quality – ‘reds that whisper and beguile and keep revealing new aspects” – his favourites are Pinot Noir from anywhere, new wave Spanish reds, Cru Beaujolais and Piedmontese Nebbiolo.

What I like about Provart’s new wine subscription club is that not only is the wine quality extremely high – but he is completely transparent about what he is offering in the 4-pack case (£150).  Another plus is that you don’t have to commit to every monthly release – this gives people a chance to see if they trust his palate.

He also differs from other wine clubs as he offers a highly personal service with a social element.  “There is a small monthly event at which I discuss and pour tastes of the wines alongside cheese & charcuterie; this is free for OGB members or people who have bought the release”, says Provart.  He is also planning dinners with a chef-friend and priority for booking will be given to members.

Provart’s first release included superb Muscadet Gabbro from cult Jerome Bretaudeau alongside a rich complex Serbian Welshriesling from Vincic.

His second month’s release included wines from leading producers like Moric in Austria, Niepoort in Portugal and Domaine de Belliviere in Languedoc and Thierry Germain in Saumur, Loire.

Wine subscription clubs are certainly not a new idea.  They became very popular during Covid, when we couldn’t go to wine stores, and there are now many ‘clubs’ across the UK with a great diversity of offerings – at every budget level.

Another interesting Edinburgh offering is from Spanish-born sommelier Miguel Crunia, who calls himself the ‘Atlantic Sommelier’.  He has some great Galician and Andalucian gems – and offers a regular wine subscription services through Fion Wines www.fionwines.co.uk (£90 for 3 bottles) – he imports direct and usually has a Spanish focus.

Iberian wine lovers should also check out the London-based The Sourcing Table www.thesourcingtable.com.  As the retail arm of Indigo Wines, importers of superb Spanish and Portuguese wines, they have great access to hard to find wines from passionate young winemakers; choose between their ‘By the Bottle’ offer with 6 bts for £150 – or ‘By the Glass’ offer with six 100ml wines landing through your letterbox for £50 quarterly.

Another recent entrant into the wine subscription scene is Wine Kraft by Good Brothers www.winekraft.co with wines selected by owner and chief Wine-O Graeme Sutherland.  His focus is small batch craft wines at affordable wines with monthly subscription cases at £58.50 (regular members) to £65 (one time purchase) for three bottles and you can choose your white/red preference with a weekday wine, weekend wine – and one for the cellar.

There are of course plenty of large mail-order wine companies offering curated wine cases – like Virgin Wines, Laithwaites, Naked Wine, Tanners and Majestic Wine.  My favourite amongst the big boys is The Wine Society www.thewinesociety.com who offer Wine Without Fuss wine subscription cases from £125 for Discovery to £178 for classics (12 bottles every 2 months).  But, like many of the big companies listed here, they do tend to focus on affordability in their wine case offerings – rather than offering those ‘great bottles’ found in restaurants.

 

 

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WINES OF THE WEEK

 

WHITE: Ribeiro, NW Spain: COTO DE GOMARIZ BLANCO 2023

£25 The Sourcing Table

Fine example of new wave Spain – this Treixadura, Godello, Loureira and Albarino blend has great depth and breadth of flavours – rich and full bodied.

 

RED: Stellenbosch, South Africa: KANONKOP PINOTAGE 2022

£28+ Majestic Wine; Wine Direct; Frontier Fine Wines; The Wine Society; Cambridge Wine

Rich textured, spicy with velvet smooth tannins – an approachable example from the masters of Pinotage

 

 

Join Rose’s Champagne v Sparkling Wine Tasting on 9 July in Edinburgh www.rosemurraybrown.com