Drinks Retails Awards 2008 : Innovation Winners

Barrels & Bottles has just picked up the biggest prize in the drinks industry, beating off stiff competition from other finalists Thresher and Adnams brewery.

The Drinks Retailing Awards ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane late last night (5th February 2008), awarded the Off Licence of the Year prize for INNOVATION 2008 to Barrels & Bottles... the equivalent of the Drinks Industry 'Oscars' in front of 1500 guests.

Judging was carried out by a team of leading industry figures who spent many weeks considering entries until the final three were selected with the highest scores. A final round of judging based on undercover visits then resulted in the winner being selected.

Barrels & Bottles' innovation has been a £250,000 investment into a brand new cookery school facility on the site of their wine business. This enables wines to be showcased in the real environment in which they are drunk.The vast majority of wine is drunk with food but this is the first time development work has been harnessed hand in hand.

Wine makers from all over the World, visit the premises to show their wines, with tastings, talks, demonstrations and special wine dinners, working with Barrels & Bottles' Chefs to develop recipes that really work with the particular flavours of specific wines. Sommeliers from restaurants that Barrels and Bottles supply accross the country also attend wine and food matching courses and the Drinks Retailing Awards recognised that this had moved the industry forward in training and development.

With constant pressure on the off-trade to sell responsibly, retailers are racking their brains about how to do more to match food and wine within the limits of a shop - a Chesterfield's Barrels & Bottles has found a truly innovative way of doing that.

Thanks to the in-house kitchen, Barrels & Bottles has been able to hold more wine events, with representatives from Louis Roederer, Gosset, New Zealand's Highfield and Germany's Wg von Schleinitz hosting dinners, and vertical tastings of Chateau de Pez and Haut-Beausejour, among others.

The kitchens are also used to produce hand-made chocolates for Barrels & Bottles Champagne and truffles gift boxes. The retailer hosts tailored private wine tastings for 16-40 people, which can now be accompanied by anything from nibbles to lobster and salmon platters.

Off License News Drinks Retail Awards 2008