Aug 15 2010
Move to the UK
The company that I was working for moved me to Brighton in the UK for several
months so it was basically starting over setting up housekeeping, finding barbers,
dentists, grocery shopping and of course an entire new world of wines to purchase.
US wines are almost non-existent on the UK shelves and they are loaded with tons
of French, Spanish, New Zealand, Italian and Australian varieties. Where do you
start? How much should they cost? Nothing is familiar!
I’d tried a couple of wines in the super markets, usually a pinot noir, and it was just
OK. I spent time in a small town in the “Midlands” north of Birmingham and while
there, I spotted a small wine/liqueur shop and wandered in. The wine I had been
buying at the grocery was running around £5 - £9 ($8 - $10) so the prices in this
shop were quite a bit higher. I expected this as well as the quality to be quite a
bit higher. I visited with the establishment owner at great length about my love of
pinot noir in the states and he strongly suggested one or two from France as they
do make the best wines in the world! (According to him!) I bought a bottle for £21
and trudged back to my hotel room, procured a glass from the bathroom, pulled the
cork and poured a glass. The color was great, the nose was OK and it tasted like
the worst cheap pinot I had ever had. The vow was, “never French wine again!”
Soon after that fiasco, I wandered into a large book store in downtown Brighton
and found a section on wines. I picked up a copy of Ned Halley’s “The Best Wines
in the Super Markets 2010” and started to thumb through it. It looked just like
what I was looking for as my budget is more tailored for the supermarket costs and
their large variety rather than the costly boutique wine stores in England. It was
set up by store and then broken down into reds, pink, white and sparkling brands
further grouped by country as well. I bought it, headed home and started to read.
Once into it, I realized it was no good to me unless I actually tried these wines for
myself. He rated them on a 10 point scale where 7-8 were good enough to have
people try, 9 was very good and certainly one to give a go at and the 10’s which
were few, are really great, in his estimation. I circled the reds that had 10’s in the
section marked “Tesco” which was the closest large supermarket close to me and
went there for a try of a couple of these wines. I only found one, an Aussie red,
but it was only £5.95, so I bought it and off we went home to give it a try.
It was wonderful! Great nose, fruity soft start and a velvet finish and only £6!
Eureka! I had struck gold! This is the price range I could afford, easy to get and
enjoy. I then took the magic little book and found all the 10’s (of which there were
28 of the 120 wines he reviewed) and circled them with plans to check out all the
local market chains in the area to try anything I found to see what we really liked.
I circled reds and whites and started to sample many of them. I soon found out
that my taste and the taste of the author were pretty much the same.
I’d recommend this plan to anyone who enjoys wine, ends up in the UK for
any length of time and does not want to waste time and money. It’s fun!
