English Producers Website.

This year we found ourselves drinking the Christkindl Mulled Wine. Gently heated the spices really shout Christmas from the glass and it was a great way to start the day. The white wine this year was the Mud House Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. The usual favourite of mine the Highfield Sauvignon was out of stock (I knew I should have hidden a few bottles earlier in the year) but the Mud House made for an impressive replacement – and was cheaper as well.

The red wine started with the Anakena Merlot from Chile. Selected for its soft, approachable nature this went really well with the superb Turkey crown we ordered. After the meal we moved onto Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz from Australia – with its heavier alcohol and spicy, fruity punch this made a great sipping wine to fall asleep to!

With the snow and chilly weather the Gluhwein has proven its worth over the past 2 weeks with a glass being served almost each night.

He has had to make the 500 mile round trip again today for the awards ceremony where the winner will be announced. This is a fantastic achievement considering the quality of the competition including some working under Michelin star rated chefs.

The only items sent via Royal Mail are orders for just the personalised wine labels (these are for labels only to be added to your own bottles). All are posted first class but please allow additional time for delivery when ordering.

Wine Schoppen, based in Sheepbridge, Chesterfield, produce a range of different products including wine, champagne, bottle packaging and gift boxes as well as personalised wine bottle labels and other wine accessories. The company trades under the name of Bottles and Barrels and their diverse customer base includes retailers, distributors, restaurants and corporate clients.

Wine Schoppen has a range of customers with different delivery requirements. Some customers have fully automated loading bays while others require hand delivery direct to their door. The company also experiences seasonal peaks between October and December in the run up to Christmas.

In order to meet their customer’s needs, Internet Sales Manager, John Higgins, wanted to use a local distribution company that would be able to provide detailed and accurate information about the time of their deliveries as well as being flexible to their changing supply chain needs throughout the year. They selected the Palletways transport provider for the Chesterfield area, Hastings Freight. As a Palletways member, Hastings Freight, is part of Europe’s largest and fastest growing pallet network for the express distribution of small consignments of palletised freight

Hastings Freight collect goods from Wine Schoppen’s site in Sheepbridge and transports them to either the Palletways hub facility in Lichfield, West Midlands or London, depending on their final destination. The goods are then sorted according to their final delivery points. From here, the consignments are distributed to Wine Schoppen’s customers by those Palletways members who cover these areas.

Through barcode technology and web-based track and trace, Wine Schoppen is able to monitor all consignments throughout the whole distribution process. Proof of delivery is also available on-line the day following delivery.

Internet Sales Manager, John Higgins, comments: “With such a diverse customer base and a need to deliver to differing delivery points we are able to provide detailed information about delivery times which is important when maintaining good customer relations. We generally send two to three pallets via the network each week for most of the year but this increases between October and December to two to three a day. Hastings Freight is able to react quickly to our changing demands and online booking has given us another element of flexibility as we can adapt more quickly to our customers’ needs.”

Palletways, which was set up in 1994, handles circa 21,000 pallets a day through eight hub facilities across Europe, including, Lichfield, London, Edinburgh, Nijmegen, Paris , Bologna , Naples and Acala de Henares, near Madrid.

Palletways members are local independent transport companies with local knowledge and expertise. Palletways provide a range of express delivery services including next day, economy and timed delivery options. The Palletways network model enables the members to deliver small consignments of palletised goods to market faster and more cost effectively than traditional haulage methods.

Entering our RackPac we beat off stiff competition from Tesco to scoop the prize. Developed by Barrels & Bottles the Rackpac is a 6 bottle wine rack which can be posted complete with wine safely through the post. Made from sustainable resources and recycled card the Rackpac brings a new level of presentation for sending wines through the post. No longer do wine merchants have to send plain brown of polystyrene transit boxes.

After winning last year this makes an impressive 2 years in a row for the innovation category placing Barrels & Bottles at the forefront of innovation in the UK wine market.

Hopefully the boss will not set a target for the 500,000th invoice in 4 years!

The website is showing the new lower rate in place.