Thy Vintner article
Berry Brothers and Rudd are the UKs oldest wine merchant and have traded from the same shop in St James since 1698. I have used them many, many times over the years and they are the epitome of what a wine merchant should be. Source great wines, get them shipped, add a margin and off you go.
Thus when I got introduced to Alex at Thy Vintner I expected more of the same. However it might be an old style name but it’s a new style of drinking.
The guys there do things differently and I have to say, I like it. Put very simply they don’t make any margin on the wine they have on their website. Not a penny, not a euro, not a cent. They source wines, agree an export price with the grower and place the wines that make the grade on their website www.thyvintner.com
To put it into perspective, the discount that applies to this collective approach means a good number of the wines are cheaper to have delivered to your door than you’d pay if you pitched up at the domaine and bought 6 bottles to put in your boot.
Members then get the opportunity to make up a mixed case over a 4 week period and once the order book is closed the wines get shipped. Everything is charged at cost with no overages sneakily banked from delivery, shipping or rounding up to the nearest pound. Thus some of the prices seem a bit crazy. For example they have a white wine on the books at £8.59 that was recently the wine of the month in a broadsheet newspaper for £17. I also saw a piece in the FT recently recommending a Champagne at £37.99. I know it well and it’s delicious. I thought it a good price. However it Is £26.57 at Thy Vintner. Same grower, same vintage. By my simple calculations, if I treat myself to 12 bottles for the festivities, I’m over £135 better off.
So what’s the catch?
As the saying goes, there’s is no such thing as a free lunch. To access the wines you pay a membership fee of £12 per month (£120 for an annual subscription) for which you select up to 36 bottles a month.
The second thing is that you have to wait. Cleverly though, I thought, for those who need instant gratification, they have a buy now option where they do charge a margin. Up until the New Year they are offering any wine they have in stock at the usual discount price. Nice.
The prices are including delivery but factor in that you’ll be taking 12. I’m told the reason for that is that delivery for 12 bottles is the same as for 6 so it’s more cost effective to spread it over 12 rather than 6. I cheekily asked if I could order just 1 bottle of the Vosne Romanee Aux Communes (£38.60 and I know it costs over £60 elsewhere) and was told, as a member I could, I’d just need to add £10 for delivery of a single bottle. Fair enough.
I tried a range of 12 wines to check the quality out and was greatly impressed. The Chardonnay simply labelled ? (I assume as a statement of why wouldn’t you) was a really good white burgundy look alike at £9.52 and the 2009 Madiran from Chateau Gayon was a steal at £16.90
The range is varied enough to cater for everyone and I’m told as member numbers grow the list will expand to other countries and additional producers.
Lastly, two weeks after joining I received an email telling me about a champagne at Tesco called Andre Carpentier. £14 with a 25% discount when you order 6. I jumped in as I thought at £10.50 the worst that could happen is that I went long on Kir Royales. No need to worry as it was really good. I picked up the phone and asked Alex what on earth he was doing recommending a competitor. He explained that the business is about offering its members value. As they don’t make anything on the wine, once you’re a member it doesn’t matter if you buy through them or not. I love it!
It might have taken 322 years but nice to see someone trying something different. I endorse them fully.
Ullage Gapps - November 2020