‘Hip-hop’ wine pop-up opens new shop

A sommelier who set up a ‘hip-hop’ wine pop-up is launching a new bottle shop and deli in Lytham St Annes in Lancashire.

The bar at The Barrique Wine Store

Jake Crimmin, a former sommelier and wine educator who worked as the brand manager of Cordorniu, is opening the Barrique Wine Store in the upmarket Lancashire town before Easter. It will occupy a retail unit in a 19^th century former market building that used to house a butchers’ shop.

Crimmin has partnered with two local restauranteurs, Charles Furnell and Michael Robinson, who run Henry’s Bar & Grill and Capri in Lytham, on the new shop and deli.

“We wanted to incorporate elements on- and off-trade,” Crimmin explained to db. “We’ve seen a lot of enomatics in independent wine shop and people are always being told what it goes well with – this cheese or that dish – there is not a lot of food sampling with so, so that is what we decided to do. It will be a small wine shop, bar and deli, which will offering small hot and cold counter.”

The shop is aiming to stock around 250 wines, 80 spirits and 50 beers that aren’t available in the supermarkets, which will be sourced either direct from the producer or from wholesaler.

There is likely to be a bias towards Spanish and Argentinian wines, Crimmin admitted, due to his own experience and also to complement the predominantly Spanish food offering.

“I see tapas dining as very successful and it lends itself well to having lots of different bites and flavours. So we will pair up wine samples with the food so you have try five dishes with five different wines.”

The shop has ordered three eight-bottle WineEmotion machines, and will offer customers three different sizes of samples, 25ml, 50ml and 100ml. The 24 bottles of wines will be changed on a fortnightly basis and there will be a further 25 wines available by the glass. However, Crimmin plans to keep the on- and off-trade wines separate in order to avoid issues of corkage.

“One thing I’ve noticed is that people complain about a £1 corkage fee on top of a bottle of £10 wine, but don’t think twice about paying £18 for a bottle of wine in a bar. There are different ideals on price – what they will pay in a bar, and what in a shop,” he said.

An artist’s impression of the interior of The Barrique Wine Shop