Decanter is today launching a campaign to change the law relating to sales of small samples of wine.
As major London department store Selfridges has discovered, it is illegal to sell wine in quantities other than 125ml or 175ml, or multiples of those quantities.
When Selfridges opened its Wonder Bar in May this year, it offered 52 fine wines in 25ml, 75ml and 125ml measures. But it has been told by Westminster Council that to sell wines in those quantities is against the law and it must sell only the larger measures.
The Wonder Bar’s system meant customers could try wines as diverse as an Emilio Lustau Manzanilla, an Albariño from Rias Baixas in Spain, Kurt Angerer Grüner Veltliner – and a Château Pétrus 1996, the most expensive wine on the list at £32 for 25ml.
Selfridges calls it an educational tool – and Decanter agrees. We applaud any system that introduces such delights as Grüner Veltliner to people who might otherwise never try it.
And we feel it is absurd that an innocent and educational pleasure should be illegal: as Selfridges’ sommelier Dawn Davies said, ‘this is an absurd piece of legislation that needs changing.'
Decanter and Selfridges are therefore petitioning the government minister in charge of weights and measures legislation, the Rt Hon John Hutton MP at the Department for Business and Regulatory Reform, as well as trade organisations.
We urge you to sign our petition and add any comments below.
