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Friday 19 December 2014

The Guardian top 20 whites for Christmas: Las Colinas del Ebro Garancha Blanca and Hay Shed Hill Chardonnay

David Williams has recommended his top twenty winter whites this week in The Guardian. Of these twenty, two are ours...

Las Colinas del Ebro Garnacha Blanca, Terra Alta, Spain 2013
(£8.25, Oddbins)
A subtle Catalan white for the fish course or lighter pork and chicken dishes that is gentle in aroma (white fruits and flowers) but is wonderfully textured and mineral in the mouth: it’s rare to find this sort of graceful, gastronomic, complex dry white for this sort of price (the same producer’s succulent red, also £8.25 at Oddbins, is pretty good, too).

Hay Shed Hill Chardonnay, Western Australia 2013
(£13.95, thewinesociety.com)
A great find by The Wine Society, this is high-end chardonnay at a very competitive price, very much in keeping with the current Australian fashion. It’s a wonderful combination of fresh apple fruit and the savoury flavours of oak: crisp, clean, elegant but with enough depth for the main Christmas meal.

Read the rest of the article here.

Wednesday 10 December 2014

Champagne Press for Moncuit and Paillard - in Imbibe and on Galloni


We're bubbling over with joy with some recent Champagne press for Pierre Paillard and Pierre Moncuit this month.

Giles Fallowfield recommends Champagne Pierre Paillard Millesime grand Cru Bouzy Brut 2004 as one of his top seven picks of the year in Imbibe's Champagne Special supplement.

Thursday 4 December 2014

20 years at Bancroft... Sean's story.


King of our orders desk Sean Burbridge recently celebrated 20 year's service at Bancroft. Not bad for someone often mistaken for being only 20 years old himself... 

As we venture into Bancroft's own 25th birthday celebrations next year, here Sean tells us a little bit about his time here at Bancroft.

Sean, in a Michael Aspel stylie...
 "This is your 'Bancroft' life"

Bancroft Almuni Piers German, Sara from The French Table, Bancroft's Jason Busby, Sean Burbridge, Sean's first Boss and Bancroft Alumni Hector Scicluna
Do you remember your first day at Bancroft Wines?
The first day at Bancroft.....it was initially called H & H Fine Wines. The office was simply a hired front room in a large Georgian house in the very idyllic Cambridgeshire village of Kimbolton. There was one desk and a couple of wine racks in the middle of a living room. All the stock of unbroken cases was kept at the back of the property in a single garage. Although we did secure our first warehouse very soon after I started.

Initially, there were just the three of us, the two business owners and me. I was first employed as a general helper and delivery driver. I didn’t actually know the job was working for a wine company when I applied and I knew absolutely nothing about wine. In the interview I recall being asked about what style of wine I liked. I vividly remember answering.....“I like sweet styles of rose wine”....which I look back on now, with a serious cringe.

Wednesday 3 December 2014

Christmas Bottled

Launching the festive season with appropriate sparkle, here's a round up of our favourite wines for the season: