Private Cellar is the Jack Russell of the wine trade, tiny but tenacious, nipping in and snuffling out first-rate everyday wines that others either miss or require in greater quantities than are available. Private Cellar, based in Newmarket, has no shop to speak of and a staff of just eight, selling online from a commendably concise list and at their brilliant countrywide tastings.
Private Cellar’s team are all graduates of such fine oenological finishing schools as Corney & Barrow, Armit and Lay & Wheeler, and the wines they unearth are invariably excellent value and great examples of both grape and region. It was no surprise to those of us who love them that in a competition conducted recently by the Great Jancis, Private Cellar was crowned best independent wine merchant in the UK.
Fine Prosecco is like the proverbial bus: you wait ages for one to turn up and then two come along, nose to tail. Having never offered a Prosecco in these pages before — I simply hadn’t tasted one good enough — we finally listed one only the other week, courtesy of FromVineyardsDirect.
But Private Cellar’s Prosecco Ca’Bolani NV (1) was just too good to ignore. It took their team eight years to find a Prosecco they were happy with and they finally hit the jackpot. Produced by the Zonin family in Cervignano del Friuli in north-east Italy, it’s apple-fresh, crisp, clean, light and racy and far removed from the bland, sugary rubbish one gets in all too many supermarkets these days. £11.45, down from £11.95.
They tell me that the 2013 Les Rafelières Sauvignon Blanc (2) is Private Cellar’s bestselling wine of all, and I can quite see why. A Sancerre in all but name (and price), it’s a whistle-clean Sauvignon from the Val de Loire that’s fresh, lively, zesty and full of the expected aromas of cut grass and nettles.
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