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Stainton wine closes on its own terms

Famous Cumbrian indie has been trading for four decades
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Garage Wine Company joins Hallgarten line-up

Cult Chilean producer was previously handled by Jascots
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Our 2026 Survey of Independents is now open

Five participants will win mixed cases from Hatch Mansfield
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The Vineking crashes with £800k debts

Erik Laan’s new company means Reigate branch is still trading
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ROB HOULT CONSIDERS HIS FADING SUPERPOWER

Who knows what Rob’s nose knows?
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Indies choose their favourite Roussillon wines

Our digital supplement features a great snapshot of an exciting region
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The Wine Merchant Top 100 winners for 2025

Around 1,000 wines were tasted – these are the ones our indies chose
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MERCHANT PROFILE: MUSEUM WINES

The merchant in deepest Dorset where South African wines are a star attraction
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LEEDS CITY CENTRE WELCOMES RINSE

Gemma and Elis focus on natural wine
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Boost your Alsace sales with a £300 bursary

Alsace Wines is offering cash to 10 independent merchants
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Cambridge Wine boss joins WSTA board

Hal Wilson will serve a three-year term
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NEW LEASE OF LIFE FOR WIMBLEDON INDIE

New owners make key changes to Artisans Depot
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MERCHANT PROFILE: VINOTOPIA

The Nailsworth merchant returns to a barn
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Condor subsidises WSTA fees for indies

First year will cost merchants £150 instead £250
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Daniel Lambert Wines mourns ‘proud ambassador’

Tim Hollis-Carroll has died after a short illness
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MAJESTIC ACQUIRES ENOTRIA&COE

Majestic moves to ‘turbocharge’ its on-trade ambitions
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California Collection

Our California Collection winners for 2025

Chardonnay and Pinot are the top performers in this year’s indie judging
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New Loire agency for Daniel Lambert Wines

Complices de Loire joins the indie supplier’s portfolio
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Boutinot tops the popularity chart again

Our 2025 Survey of Independents results are out
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MERCHANT PROFILE: RIPPONDEN WINE CO

From Asda to indie, Ray Nicholls has no regrets
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RISING STARS

Patrycja Raszewska, Gills & Co, Sheffield
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Two new Australian agencies for Berkmann

Kooyong and Rieslingfreak join the importer’s line-up
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Issue 152 (November 2025)
Issue 151 (October 2025)
Issue 150 (September 2025)
Issue 149 (August 2025)
Issue 148 (July 2025)
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More than 100 independent businesses have already More than 100 independent businesses have already taken part in this year's Survey of Independents.

If you're a UK-based indie, with physical retail premises, we want to hear from you. You'll find the link at winemerchantmag.com.

Remember, five participants will be selected at random to receive some fantastic Hatch Mansfield wine.
Our first issue of 2026 is here and if you're even Our first issue of 2026 is here and if you're even vaguely interested in the independent wine trade you need to read it from cover to fragrant cover.

All the news, views and reviews you demand of us, plus honourable mentions for Bill Clinton, tumbleweed, Pac-Man, horse boxes, Rutland Water, Kylie, Billy Joel, two Tim Watsons, Easter egg hunts and an attempt to convince you that wine is never improved by food.

You can subscribe to the print edition for £85 a year, or hack into the free digital version via our website. We don't know how to build firewalls, so fill your boots.
Thanks to all eight of our indies who did such a g Thanks to all eight of our indies who did such a great job of judging at yesterday's California Collection tasting. Thanks also to our friends at @wbc.co.uk who made us so welcome and created the perfect environment for the wines to shine.

We've got 50 worthy winners to reveal in our March supplement, published as always in association with @california.wines.uk.india
Every year, we at The Wine Merchant embark on our Every year, we at The Wine Merchant embark on our Survey of Independents. More than 200 businesses take part, representing indies of all shapes and sizes.

The results we get help us paint a really detailed picture of what's happening in our market.

It takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete the survey and five participants will be selected at random to win Hatch Mansfield goodies.

If you're a UK-based indie with physical premises, you can find the link on our website.
Our final (and biggest) issue of 2025 is landing n Our final (and biggest) issue of 2025 is landing now, with an early Christmas gift of a 2026 wall planner. Never miss Xinomavro Day again!

As always there is loads going on in this edition, but that goes without saying, because the independent trade is where the fun happens. We do our best to report on it all, and throw in a few cartoons and silly captions along the way.

We next publish in January but we'll keep the website up to date in the meantime.
Issue 151 of The Wine Merchant is here. What's i Issue 151 of The Wine Merchant is here. 

What's inside? Nasty scammers, majestic hawks, repurposed wine bottles, guilt pangs, bleeding cocoa nibs, Sting (the singer), stings (from bees), 10,000 wine louts, people who lie about chocolate, hedonistic vermouth, Torres v Walkers, hairdresser puns, Lennon and McCartney in the northern Rhône, sesquiterpene rotundone, Leicester City and a small cheese sandwich. 

See if you can spot them all!

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