My Funny Ballantyne

Posted by Simon on June 23, 2009

Ballantynes isn’t the UK’s best known wine merchant, partly because it’s based in South Wales rather than within the M25. This hasn’t stopped first Peter Ballantyne and now his son Richard from establishing one of the UK’s top sources of wine. Just like Noel Young in East Anglia, the two – to use the vernacular – take no shit from no-one, both in their strong opinions of the general state of the wine t(i)rade and in their choice of wines. Stay away if your preference is for kiss-me-kwik Pinot Grigio, but get in touch if you’re after some stimulating drinking, particularly from Italy and Southern France. Their new web site at http://www.ballantynes-direct.co.uk is now up and running – enjoy, and grab some of that Kumeu River Chardonnay for high class drinking this summer and in many summers to come. Mature bottles – I’m talking 10+ years old – wipe the floor with all but the best white Burgundy.