Book of wine (literally)

WINE merchant Tony Laithwaite wants to bridge the gap between expensive brands and cheap supermarket plonk.

It is possible to develop a bit of wine knowledge and get to know grape varieties and subtleties in flavour without breaking the bank, he says.

Which is why his family business Laithwaites has launched a “book of wine”, a presentation volume where the pages comprise six sachets of wine, each equating to a glassful.

The wines have been carefully chosen as personal favourites from Tony’s many years of experience.

He will be discussing the stories behind some of the wines at the Henley Literary Festival tomorrow
(Saturday).

Tony, who lives in Peppard, says: “My job is to give a wine a story and help people understand it, why it’s made that way and where it has come from.

“Somebody came up with the idea to produce these sachets of wine like a book. They’re pages and they have one glass of wine in them.

“This is a good way to learn about wine and find what you like.

“You don’t have to buy a wine blind, you don’t have to go into a store to have a tasting. You can have some samples sent to your home. You taste them and if you like them, you can then order bottles of them.

“All the wines that are on taste on the evening come from people whose wines are normally a little expensive.

“We find out who likes it and if they sign up for a case of six or 12 bottles, in return for that the producer will drop his price by quite a chunk, so a £20-plus wine gets to be 14 or 15 quid.

“It’s the same wine but the producer is spared all the problems of marketing it.”

Tony, who launched his memoir, Direct, at the festival three years ago, is passionate about where wines come from and in more than 50 years in the business has worked with vineyards around the world.

His interest began when he stayed at a vineyard in Bordeaux in the mid-Sixties and the owners Jean and Ginette Cassin “fed me, housed me, taught me about wine and gave me a job”.

With his new-found knowledge, Tony returned to the UK and set about using his entrepreneurial skills to sell fine French wines from a retail space under a railway arch in Windsor.

His wife-to-be Barbara soon got involved in the business, then called Bordeaux Direct.

Tony recalls: “We were going out and she would come to Windsor at the weekend.

“On Saturdays, I was selling wine in my little cellar. She had a habit of saying, ‘Hmm, you’re not doing that right, that’s not proper’.

“In the end I did just say to her, ‘Well, if you think you can do it better, come and do it’.

“I wasn’t expecting it but she did and took over. She was managing director of our business for the first 20 years and then chairman for 20 years. Then she decided she didn’t have enough to do, so she planted a vineyard in Wyfold.”

The couple have shared their passion for wine with their three sons. Henry has a winery and vineyard, Harrow and Hope, near Marlow, Will owns the Loose Cannon Brewery in Abingdon and Tom runs the Red Lion pub in Peppard and has just become chairman of Direct Wines.

Tony says Laithwaite’s is keen to support smaller vineyards.

“We work with people who are often struggling and, like most things in the world, the small producers are suffering and big producers are taking over,” he says.

“We risk losing all that individuality and interest — wine just starts coming out in the supermarkets a bit like packets of biscuits.”

Laithwaites took over the vineyard in Bordeaux where it all began for Tony when the Cassins wanted to sell about 40 years ago.

He says: “They didn’t have children and their nephew Jacques turned it down. He had a chateau already in an expensive area and this one was in an inexpensive area, so he didn’t want the bother.

“Mr Cassin rang me up, very cross, and more or less said, ‘Tell me you’re going to buy my vineyard. I’ll help you make the wine and that will show Jacques that it’s even better’.

“We’ve come a long way down that track with that wine. The bulk of what we sell we buy from lots of other people but having our own vineyards has been very important to us. If you understand the life of a winemaker, you can work with them better. They treat you as one of them and they are more open with you.”

Wine Tasting with Tony Laithwaite in conversation with Jon Ryan is at the Kenton Theatre tomorrow (Saturday) at 6.30pm. Tickets cost £18 per person, including wine.

On Thursday and next Saturday (October 8), the Kenton will host Wine Down with Laithwaite’s, where the company’s “ministry of taste” Grant Hedley will be joined by special guests.

On Thursday (7pm), it’s cheese expert Ned Palmer and presenter Beverley Turner and next Saturday (5.30pm) the guests will include novelist Cesca Major and singer Purdy. These 30-minute sessions are free of charge.

For more information, call (01491) 575948 or visit
henleyliteraryfestival.co.uk