Football

Whitstable will soon be home to Carol’s, a new wine shop and café. Owner Stuart Fitchie has chosen the premises for his new venture based on its proximity to the beach.

“I live in Whitstable,” he says, “and if you’re on the beach and want to get something to drink, some beers or some wine, you have to go either 10 minutes one way or 10 minutes the other. I’ve been trying to find a spot on that parade for years. It’s quite small but it’s got a nice patio at the front with room for tables and chairs. We’ll be offering coffee and pastries during the day, to take away or have on the premises.”

Fitchie, who is also the chairman of Herne Bay Football Club, admits it’s early days and he’s still planning the aesthetics and the stock, but he hopes to be up and running by the end of March.

“By the end of the month might be a bit adventurous but that’s my way of doing things,” he says. “Everyone hates it because I always want to just press the button and then go, go, go and have a bit of a mad rush. I’m not the guy that plans things out over a long period of time.”

“It’s probably due to our funny bottle neck labels, such as matching wine with Janet Jackson’s infamous Super Bowl appearance, or maybe it was our fun own-label wines,” says the St Neots merchant. “I did ask Facebook why the page had been disabled, but due to some law they couldn’t tell me the reason, just that we had broken their T&Cs. Such a shame as we’d built up almost 3,000 followers. Facebook won’t be getting any more money from us for advertising. This is out of principle but also due to the fact that we can’t seem to log into our account anymore.”

Glass warfare

English wine producers have spent many years explaining that their terroir is the same as Champagne, the climate is more or less on a par, and sparkling wine is made in an identical way, with the same three grapes. So it’s curious to see Riedel launching a bespoke English wine glass, to be sold separately from its existing Champagne range.

Not that too many indies are likely to be placing orders. A merchant in Essex, at one time one of the few independents to go big on glassware, has given up on the category. “Our Riedel rep left, and was not replaced, so we never saw anybody,” he reports. “But the main problem was seeing so many Riedel products being sold on the cheap in TK Maxx.”

The highlights of Newark

Anyone who went along to Boutinot’s recent London tasting may well have spotted Ann Hayes, proprietor of Ann et Vin in Newark, who we interrupted as she tucked into the cheese sandwich she had wisely brought down from Nottinghamshire. Her hair looked nice: the handiwork of her local salon Inizio, which is now Ann’s customer as well as her stylist. The premises has started doubling up as a wine bar on Fridays and Saturdays, and Ann assures us it does not smell of setting lotion.