Two hundred and forty, and we have tasted them
Wines by the bottle
About 240 wines on the shelves, mostly from small growers, arranged by how they taste and not by which country they come from. From under £10 to something for an anniversary.
The shelves run from light to heavy, left to right. If you like what you had last time, go one bay along.
We buy from importers who visit their growers and from a few small Welsh and English vineyards. We taste everything before it comes in. About one in five makes it. If it is on the shelf, one of us chose it and can tell you why.
Our sweet spot is £12 to £20, where a bottle stops being about the tax and the glass and starts being about the grapes. We keep a good shelf under £12, and we are not embarrassed by it, and a smaller cage of older bottles downstairs.
Ask about anything. You do not need to know the words. "A red for Sunday lamb, and my brother-in-law is coming" is a perfectly good brief, and so is pointing at a label you liked.
What you get
- About 240 wines, arranged by style
- A bottle open to taste on Saturdays
- A note on the shelf for every wine
- Challenge 25: bring ID if you look under 25
What it costs
From £9.50 a bottle, most between £12 and £20. The prices are all together, the match tool finds three bottles for a dish, and the case builder prices a mix.
Questions about by the bottle
Do you have low-alcohol or alcohol-free wine?
A small shelf of both, including a good alcohol-free sparkling for £9. We tasted plenty that we would not sell you.
Do you take back a corked bottle?
Yes. Bring it back with the wine still in it, and you can have another or your money back.
Tell us the dish. We will find three bottles.
Or build a mixed case and take ten per cent off, delivered free within ten miles of Monmouth. Over 18s only; we operate Challenge 25. Please drink responsibly.