M Wine Shop launches wine on tap refills

M Wine Store is rolling out a premium wine on tap service in its Victoria store, to encourage consumers to be go green and fill wine into returnable bottles.

The independent wine shop, which opened last year and forms the vestibule  of the Victoria ‘M’ restaurant, has teamed up with supplier Hatch Mansfield and two wineries to offer the service, which launches on 1^st November.

The wines – a Gamay from Pascal Clement and a Sauvignon Blanc from Thornbury, are dispensed directly from a 30L keg into Kilner bottles that can be returned to the store. Three sizes are available, a 50ml bottle (RRP: £9.50), a 1Ltr bottle (RRP: £19) and a 5Ltr bottle (RRP: £95), with a deposit required on the Kilner bottle.

Each 30 litre keg saves 17kg of glass being shipped around the world, a spokesman from M Wine Shop said, “dramatically” reducing its carbon footprint.

M Store’s wine director Zack Charilaou, said he was proud to be offering the service with two “amazing” wines and noted that the keg kept them in “perfect condition. He added that the store was rolling out half price corkage on the two wines in its Raw and Grill restaurants “to encourage this new way of drinking”.

He also told db that the move would help give a ‘lighter side’ to the M Wine Store and make more accessible to customers who were based in the area.

“We are in a beautiful area, the shop has a very premium feel by the restaurant, but we wanted to make it more fun, exciting and accessible, for people who don’t want to spend large amounts of money, but want a nice but less expensive, fun wine.”

He added that the quality of kegged wine had improved immeasurably over the last five years.

The rubber-clamped bottles supplied by Kilner, which are engraved with the customers’ name and can be returned, sanitised and refilled, will keep the wine fresh for up to 3 days.

“Around 95% of wine bought in the UK is consumed on the day it is brought, so although people think ‘once it comes out of the tap, you’ve got to drink it’, that is what is happening anyway.

Wine on tap has become increasingly popular across the on-trade, casual and fine dining, pioneered by Vinoteca in London, with a growing number offered by suppliers including Bibendum and Roberson Wine. Although there has been slower uptake in the off-trade, it has been embraced by some independents, including London retailer Borough Wines, who launched its refill system more than twelve years ago.