Finding Vino

This little gem of a search engine I have to thank my good friend Jamie for. He’s a chef a by trade, a bon viveur by night and a very naturally talented and therefore bloody annoying athlete the rest of the time – damn you sir! But thank you for this tip off.

www.wine-searcher.com offers a comprehensive way to find great wines that are hard to track down. Picture, if you will, the scene: You are at the end of a meal at the Boxwood Cafe, the set lunch was amazing and as you only spent £25 on the Prix Fixe you upped the ante on the wine and went for a fine bottle of Château Cantenac Brown (Margaux). You want more as it’s a bloody good drop but don’t want to spend another ton+ on a bottle of plonk, so you wait until you get home and type in your vin du jour and hey presto! The same wine for a quarter of the price. Let the good times roll.

The down side is you’ll probably need to buy a case or at least a half case, but if you like it that much it really isn’t a problem – providing your better half a) doesn’t find out, b) likes the fact you are investing in the future or c) you don’t have a better half and the sting of gout is just around the corner. Wine Searcher aggregates importers both small and large so you’ll almost always find what you are looking for; I’ve given it a pretty good work-over and haven’t been disappointed yet. That said, does looking for Blue Nun or Black Tower really count? (in case you were wondering, you can find both on there – but with only one entry a piece!).

So off you go then, don’t just sit there wondering about it, get on it man – there must be somewhere, in that oft hazy, oft drunken, oft reckless past of yours a bottle that you hanker after and this is your chance to track it down.

Yours from the bottom of a very well priced bottle,

Stirling