The
Sampler: one of London’s most innovative wine merchants
The Sampler, a short walk
from Highbury & Islington tube station in North London, is a wine
merchant with a difference. As well as being a fine wine shop with an
excellent selection of wines, including many older bottles, it’s
unique in that it offers customers a chance to purchase small tasting
measures of a rotating roster of 80 different wines at any one time.
You can therefore try before you buy, which is excellent. Or you could
try something you are curious about, but could never afford to buy a
whole bottle of.
Jamie Hutchinson and partner
Dawn Mannis, who own the shop, are able to do this because they have
10 Enomatic machines. These sophisticated devices pour wine without
letting the remainder of the bottle deteriorate through oxidation.
This is because the wine is poured by the pressure from inert gas (in
this case nitrogen), which means that oxygen is kept away from the
wine even during the pouring process.
So how does the sampling
process work? You go into the shop, and if you want to do some tasting
you purchase a card with some money loaded on to it. You place your
card into one of the machines, take a glass, hold it under the
relevant spout, and then hold the button down for a couple of seconds.
You get a tasting measure of the wine, and the money is taken from
your card. Each sample costs a different amount, depending on the
price of a bottle, and there are a range of different wines on tasting
at any one time, varying from say 30 p to £30 per single pour. If at
the end of tasting you still have money on the card, it’s refunded
at the till.
It’s
a great idea, so why haven’t other merchants done it? Jamie
Hutchinson explained why. First, the Enomatic machines aren’t cheap:
they’re over £5000 each. And perhaps more significantly, the
licensing rules are tremendously complex. ‘We spent a long time
getting permission from the local council’, explains Jamie. ‘They
were very helpful, but it took us a long time. We had to get it
classified as a tasting event rather than on-trade’. This is quite a
complex business. The Weights and Measures Act (1985) means that
it’s only legal to sell wine in 125 ml, 175 ml and 250 ml measures
in an on-trade setting. It’s only because the Sampler’s activity
is a tasting event that they can get round this. It means that they
aren’t able to have more than a certain number of seats in the shop,
and they aren’t allowed another toilet. Jamie is also unable to be
specific about the measures the sampling machines dispense because of
this rule – but they are more than enough for a proper taste.
Selfridges recently tried to
so the same thing as The Sampler, but opened without getting the
proper permission from their local authority and so had to stop.
Together with Selfridges, The Sampler is supporting public
consultation to take wine below 75 ml servings out of the weights and
measures act. This would also allow restaurants to serve flights of
wine, for example, in small measures.
So
do the machines keep the wines in good condition? Yes, it seems they
do. The shelf life depends on the wine. For whites, Jamie (pictured
right) reckons they’ll keep almost indefinitely. Reds last 2–4
weeks in good condition. These days, an average red wine in the
machine is there for five days until it is finished. Jamie uses a
generator to extract nitrogen gas from the air because they get
through so much of it. The electronics linking the machines to the
till and which work out how much is left on a card is probably the
most impressive bit of the set-up.
I got a card and was set
loose on some of the wines on tasting. This included a high-end
selection of trophy wines, which is probably a bit grander than
what’s normally on offer. Great fun, and a really rare chance to try
wines like this.
Domaine de la Romanée Conti Romanée St Vivant
1993
Beautifully elegant, perfumed nose is warm and open with subtle
herbiness, hints of earth and nice spiciness. A bit of greenness, but
in a nice way. The palate is earthy and spicy with good structure and
lots of elegance. The fruit is beginning to recede a bit but there’s
lots of complexity here, and some herby notes meshing well with spicy
tannins. Some people I was tasting with were disappointed by this, but
I found it thrilling, although I wouldn’t say it has a huge amount
of evolution ahead of it. And it’s absurdly expensive, but it is DRC.
95/100 (£699 The Sampler)
Harlan Estate 2002 Napa Valley
My first time with this cult Napa wine, which sells for around £600
a bottle. Fresh, spicy, earthy aromatic nose with sweet blackcurrant
fruit and warm, subtly tarry, spicy notes. Hint of chocolate, too. The
palate is sweetly fruited and dense with really nice dense, spicy,
slightly earthy structure under the rich, but not overblown fruit.
It’s an accessible new world-style wine but it’s balanced and has
a long finish. 93/100
Screaming Eagle 1999 Napa Valley
A rare chance to try one of the most sought after Napa cult wines.
Wonderfully aromatic with perfumed, sweet, complex, beautifully poised
nose of tar, herbs, spice and sweet berry fruits. The palate is
evolving beautifully with notes of leather and spice under the elegant
sweet red berry fruits. Really nicely balanced with beautiful fusion
of complex spicy notes, fruit and structure. 96/100 (£1500 The
Sampler)
Château Margaux 1934 Margaux, Bordeaux
It’s always a great experience to taste very old wine, even
though it is a bit of a lottery. This elderly Margaux is an
orange-brown colour, and the nose is earthy, spicy, mature and quite
complex. The palate is light with some earthy notes and fresh acidity,
as well as some meaty hints. Not much left here: it has a beguiling,
faded, haunting beauty, but it’s beginning to taste of old wine.
There’s real interest, but I suspect this isn’t a great bottle.
92/100 (£550 The Sampler)
Château
Petrus 1983 Pomerol, Bordeaux
A little disappointing considering the reputation of Petrus, but
still an attractive mature Pomerol. Warm, spicy and earthy on the
nose, with some sweetness. The palate is earthy, slightly herby and
has fresh acidity, with some evolution. Quite structured but the fruit
is beginning to recede a bit. An attractive, savoury wine, but some
way short of greatness. 92/100 (£850 The Sampler)
Château Le Pin 1995 Pomerol, Bordeaux
This cult Pomerol is very appealing, but surely you don’t have
to spend a grand to get something like this? Lovely sweet aromatics
showing subtly leafy sweet red fruits. Quite complex. The palate has
some firm savoury character with nice spiciness and freshness. It’s
balanced, earthy and fresh with nice bright fruit and a hint of nice
greenness. 93/100 (£1000 The Sampler)
Château Mouton Rothschild 2000 Pauillac,
Bordeaux
Earthy, spicy and slightly rustic on the nose. Quite firm. Is
there some brett here? The palate is earthy and dense with a robust
spicy character. Dense and firm at the moment but lacks real elegance.
To be honest, I expected a bit more from this. 91/100 (£700 The
Sampler)
Château D’Yquem 1983
Sauternes
Totally beautiful. This is concentrated and perfectly balanced with
dense, complex spicy lemon/citrus flavours with waxy, spicy notes and
wonderful depth. Drinking perfectly now. 96/100
Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 1990
Southern Rhône, France
This is a lovely, light, evolved wine drinking at its peak.
Complex, warm, spicy and earthy with a lovely earthy, spicy character,
as well as some meaty funkiness. A savoury style with lots of
interest. 94/100 (£160 The Sampler)
Jamet Côte-Rôtie 2004
Northern Rhône, France
Fresh, bright, slightly meaty red fruits nose. The palate is quite
smooth with dark, spicy, meaty fruit and good acidity. Spicy and a
tiny bit rustic, but with lots of interest. 91/100 (£39.99 The
Sampler)
Yves Cuilleron Saint Joseph Pierres Leches 2005
Northern Rhône
Very fresh, spicy red fruits nose is bright and quite refined,
with a lovely freshness. Juicy, bright, expressive palate with some
peppery spiciness. Finishes quite grippy. Lovely bright Syrah. 90/100
(£16.99 The Sampler)
Domaine de la Grange des Pères 1996 Vin de Pays
de l’Herault, France
Probably the top wine from the South of France, and it’s great
to get a chance to see how this ages. The answer is, pretty well. This
has a complex, aromatic, spicy nose with lovely sweet, dusty
aromatics. The palate is super-elegant with lovely earthy spiciness
and nice acidity. Expressive, spicy and bright. 93/100 (£55 The
Sampler)
Yarra Yerring Dry Red No 2 2004 Yarra Valley,
Australia
95% Shiraz and 5% Marsanne and Viognier. Beautifully aromatic with
sweet, forward cherry and herb notes on the nose, as well as a hint of
nice greenness. The palate is sweet and nicely proportioned with
lovely spicy warmth and sweet cherry and plum fruit. Just delicious.
93/100 (£37.99 The Sampler, £34.50 BBR)
Ben Glaetzer Wallace Shiraz Grenache 2006
Barossa, Australia
Lovely bright smooth liqueur-like cherry fruit on the nose. The
palate is sweet and smooth with lovely purity of fruit and a bit of
spicy structure. Satisfying and quite elegant. 90/100 (£12.99 The
Sampler)
Greenstone Shiraz 2006 Heathcote, Australia
First vintage of this wine. Beautifully aromatic and bright with
some nice spiciness and a liqueur-like edge to the elegant palate.
Fresh, spicy and forward, this is full of interest, and made in a much
lighter style than most Aussie Shirazes. 91/100 (£15.49 The Sampler)
Clos de Caillou ‘Le Clos
de Caillou’ Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2004 Southern Rhône, France
Sweet, warm, herby spicy nose. The palate is rich and bold with warm spicy
fruit. An elegant spicy style of Châteauneuf-du-Pape with robust
tannins under the fruit. 92/100 (£59.99 The Sampler)
Haciendo Monasterio 2005
Ribera del Duero, Spain
Very deep coloured. Supersweet nose of blueberries, blackberries,
vanilla and cream. The palate is dense, spicy and full with masses of
sweet dark fruit and spicy oak. Almost over-the-top in a very modern
style, this intense wine needs some time to show if it is serious or
not. I find it a bit obvious now. 92/100 (£38.99 The Sampler)
Astrales 2004 Ribera del Duero, Spain
Very sweet, lush, intense nose with ripe fruit and oak. Dense, spicy
palate is bold and extracted with lots of weight and quite a bit of
oak. An obvious but tasty style. 89/100 (£25.95 The Sampler)
Contact
details:
The Sampler
266 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 2UQ
Tel: +44 207 226 9500
Website: www.thesampler.co.uk
E-mail: jamie@thesampler.co.uk
Wines tasted 12/08
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