A great wine shop in Hermanus, and why we need to support good wine shops

south africa

A great wine shop in Hermanus, and why we need to support good wine shops

wine & co

I love shopping for wine.

If you are a wine journalist and you don’t love shopping for wine, then find a new job. I don’t want to read what you have to say. If you are no longer in love with wine, step aside and let someone else have the floor.

On Saturday we were in Hermanus and saw a flyer for a wine shop in town, just a few minutes walk away. So we popped in. It’s Wine & Company, and it has an amazing selection of South African wines.

We spent about 40 minutes browsing, and bought 11 bottles. It was very exciting. These are bottles for tasting and drinking, of interesting things, none of which were very expensive. If you are a wine journalist and you expect everything to be sampled, then you need to go shop.

When you are spending your own money on wine, then you begin to think more like your readers, and you can put yourself in their shoes. That’s what normal people do: spend their own money on wine. So good writers will do this too from time to time.

The selection included a Roussanne (Hermit on the Hill), a Pinotage (made by Jurgen Gouws and David Clarke), Force Majeure Chenin, Flotsam & Jetsam Cinsault, Filia fizz, Genevieve MCC, Testalonga Bandito and Craven Clairette, plus a couple of others.

It made me think: we need to use good wine shops. We need to spend our money in them. We mustn’t be afraid to pay a little more than the cheapest online source, because it costs money to run a shop. And I’d really miss wine shops.

It’s so satisfying to walk into a good shop and pluck some bottles off the shelves, take them home, and drink them. It’s one of the most fun things. And unless we go into good shops and buy wines, then they won’t stay in business.

6 Comments on A great wine shop in Hermanus, and why we need to support good wine shops
wine journalist and flavour obsessive

6 thoughts on “A great wine shop in Hermanus, and why we need to support good wine shops

  1. Jamie
    That’s a great wine shop. I was in there a few weeks ago. The Wine Village at the end of the Hemel en Aarde Valley is also fantastic and they often have wines op n for tasting.
    If you’re in Cape Town, Wine at the Mill in the Biscuit Mill is also a great wine shop with a good selection of local gin and beer!
    I too love a good wine shop and can easily lose myself for an hour. I often pop in for a browse but always come out with a few bottles!
    Hope you’ve enjoyed your time in South Africa. I’m a true SA fan!
    Lisa

  2. Couldn’t agree more, from the Theatre of Wine,to Yapps, we are blessed with lots of them, along with the Wine Society of you live miles from them all. Maybe you could review a few of them if you are in England for long enough ever.

  3. Totally agree!! We should all frequent and support our “local independents”. But the readers of WineAnorak know this already. Whenever I am away (UK or abroad) I pop into local wines shops – and rarely leave empty handed.

    This wine shop in Hermanus is amazing – when I visited in February last year I chose a mixed case of “premium” wines and shipped back to the UK. If you do a bit of research and choose wisely, even after shipping costs, you will pay less than in UK – and they have wines not available (or very difficult to find) in the UK. Good exchange rate helps!

  4. Very good advice…I picked up my parents’ wine shop and, thanks to my following of loyal wine customers, over 50 years, developed it from a small neighborhood store to a great big thing with tens of thousands of fans. In return, I paid them back with great wine recommendations. Cheers!

  5. Do you download music?, use Spotify? If you do then you have more than likely assisted in the closure of your local record shop. Think on folks, ALL shops need supporting, butcher, baker, wine shop, record shop. If you let them dwindle then all we’ll be left with will be faceless online behemoths and then Hardy’s, Blossom Hill & the like will loom large in everyone’s shopping “basket”.

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