When I worked at Berry Bros & Rudd 20 years ago, I had a wonderfully eccentric customer who liked to ring up during bathtime. He was a confirmed claret lover and, although he longed to broaden his horizons, he could never quite muster the courage to do so.
We would spend 20 minutes or so discussing tasty alternatives from the Rhône, Spain, Italy or the New World, but his nerve always failed him and he’d retreat guiltily back to the safety of Bordeaux. He promised faithfully to be more adventurous next time, although we both knew he wouldn’t be, and I would go through the motions of giving him the prices of a Chianti or Crozes-Hermitage.
‘Hang on,’ he’d boom from the bathroom. ‘Don’t rush, just jotting this all down in the steam on the mirror.’
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I’m certain, though, that I’d have got him beyond the confines of Bordeaux with this excellent and commendably quirky selection of wines from Berry Bros.
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