Latest news, November 2011: new wine venture - Vinotopia - to launch 1st December
Join us to celebrate at our open-house tastings just outside Tetbury on 1st, 2nd, 3rd December
For more information visit our temporary website:
As we enter Autumn 2011, The Accidental Vintner is set to become part of an exciting new venture. Vinotopia, boutique wine merchant offering a terrific range of cracking wines from Europe and around the wold, is to open for business just outside Tetbury, Gloucestershire, on 1st December, just in time for Christmas. Harry Spurr, Jeremy Hill and Jackie Wheels, together boasting more than 50 years' experience in the wine trade, are joining forces to create Gloucestershire's most exciting new wine project, sourcing unusual wines representing excellent value and amounting to fabulous examples of their type. For more information over the coming weeks visit www.vinotopiawine.co.uk or contact Harry by telephone on 07967 754422 or by email at harry@vinotopiawine.co.uk.
HS, November 2011
The Accidental Vintner is all about unearthing and importing 
unusual French wines of excellent value, and offering a small list to private UK customers.
the story so far...
Following the successful launch of the Accidental Vintner in autumn 2009 – importing carefully selected wines direct from small growers in the Languedoc – 2010 has marked the development of an exciting new phase. Maintaining my focus on unearthing and importing fabulous, otherwise unavailable, wines from the herb-scented hills of the Languedoc, I continue to keep an eye out elsewhere for wines of real interest and great value for money. I do so having joined forces with Marcus Smith, one of Gloucestershire’s finest independent merchants, meaning I am able to offer a more varied range of styles, grapes, prices and producers.
Together with Marcus, who has a terrific local reputation for a range of unusually good-value wine compiled over many years, I have put together a small list designed not only to reflect the concept of the Accidental Vintner and bear the fruits of my most recent labours in France, but with broader horizons – including just a few bottles of exceptional value and quality from other parts of the country and, on the odd occasion where tempting enough, beyond its borders.
my short list of lovely wine
My current list, therefore, reflects the cream of the wines that we have been able to get our hands on. The focus is on wines imported direct from small, family producers in France; in a few cases - where the quality and value are compelling – we have allowed others to do the ferreting for us, or used more commercial sources. All the wines represent great value and, generally speaking, none is widely available on the UK high street; one or two of our wines you will struggle to find anywhere else.
Let me know if you would like some - go to the "buying the wine" page for more details on this. I am of course happy to put together mixed cases on request.
other nice stuff I can get for you
If there is a wine you want, but can't find on my list - vintage Champagne, good red Burgundy, Chianti to lay down, for example - do let me know. I should be able to point you in the right direction even if I haven't got any myself.
Harry Spurr,
November 2010