Wine by the sip returns to Selfridges

Selfridges’ head sommelier Dawn Davies has won a five-year legal battle to allow 25ml measures of wine to be sold at the department store’s Wonder Bar, the drinks business reports. Leading the campaign by members of the wine trade, Davies persuaded ministers to scrap "mad, archaic" laws that barred bars and restaurants from selling wine by the sip. Having sold 25ml measures of wine when the Wonder Bar opened in 2007, Davies was told the sips were in breach of the 1988 Weights and Measures Order, specifying that wine can only be sold in 125ml, 175ml and 250ml glasses.

But her indefatigable lobbying has paid off, and the law has been amended. “We got an email from the government's National Measurement Office the day before New Year’s Eve. Westminster were supposed to call, but I guess they were too busy with the New Year celebrations,” Davies said. When I saw we’d won I screamed and jumped up and down – it didn’t feel real. I couldn’t stop dancing around the office. It’s the first time the government has done anything positive for the drinks industry in a very long time,” she added.

All the wines at the Wonder Bar are now available in the 25ml measure with prices starting from £1. The new "sips list" includes Chablis 1er Cru, Vaillons, Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils at £1.75; and Château Pichon-Lalande’s second wine Réserve de Comtesse at £2.75. Davies plans to celebrate the victory by putting some very special bottles on the bar’s fleet of Enomatic machines. “I want to put some old Burgundy on there, an old vintage of Sassicaia, and some old Bordeaux, perhaps even Pétrus,” she teased.

Teaming up with Jamie Hutchinson of Islington wine shop The Sampler in 2007, the pair organised a petition, wrote letters to Lacors ­– the body in charge of local government regulation – and persuaded drinks industry trade groups, including the drinks business, to lobby the government. “The campaign was a fast burner to begin with, then it lost momentum, and I had to keep nudging the government with emails,” Davies said. “After four years of fighting, it felt like it was never going to happen, as they stopped answering my emails, that’s why I was so shocked to hear the news,” she added, believing the overturning of the law to be “massively important” for the wine trade.

“Any venue in London or indeed the UK can now serve wine by the sip, which gives the on trade more flexibility and opens up the world of wine education – it will be great for venues like Vinopolis,” Davies said. The new regulation means pubs and restaurants can sell wine in any measure they like below 75ml.
The law change had been due to come into force last year but was delayed by the election.

The Semillons rise again

My eyes are on stalks and my mouth wide open. In front of me are eight middle-aged men in double-stringed red thongs. Their powder white skin paired with the red G-strings makes them look like Santa's little helpers.

With cocky, come-hither expressions, they begin thrusting and gyrating in their thongs, and 300 excited women scramble to the stage to catch a glimpse of The Semillons in action. I've never seen so much flesh.

The hotly anticipated strip tease has been five years in the making. In 2005, Decanter's Tasting Director Christelle Guibert rounded up the original Semillons troupe, made up of such wine world luminaries as The Times wine critic Tim Atkin, importer Michael Palij, the aptly-named Wines of Chile head Michael Cox and Waitrose wine buyer Andrew Shaw, who stripped down to their birthday suits to raise money for Everyman, Europe's only male cancer research centre.

Five years on, Christelle treated us to some fresh blood in the form of the (even more) aptly named Barry Dick, wine buyer for Sainsbury's, bright young sommelier Gearoid Devany, Vinopolis MD Rupert Ellwood and The Independent's wine critic Anthony Rose. As soon as the guys hit the stage, high-pitched screams bounce around the room like ping pong balls. It's a full on oestrogen fest, like some large scale, slightly terrifying hen night. The troupe, who clearly think they are gods by this point, react positively to their warm reception, throwing themselves into the routine with brio.

Michael Cox and Anthony Rose are my side of the stage. Cox is in his element, flexing his muscles and gyrating his hips like his life depended on it. A Chippendales contract surely beckons. Rose however, seems slightly more aware of his semi-naked state. Tim is a natural, and throws some impressive shapes. His facial expressions veer between agony and ecstasy. Barry Dick, with his buff, sporty body, gets the loudest screams and the most bottom pinches.

Aside from the excitement of the main event, all manner of other treats await. Ex French rugby international turned Languedoc winemaker Gerard Bertrand is auctioned off at half time. I'd interviewed design and restaurant mogul Sir Terence Conran earlier that day and told him about the auction. He responded with a raised eyebrow. 'So what do you get for your money then?' He asked. 'I'm not sure yet', I replied. Looking dashing in a charcoal grey suit, Bertrand is sent up on stage and made to wait while the auction takes place. He went for £120 to a lucky blonde. I later spotted her glued to him next to the Comte wheel.

The Semillons were the talk of the Decanter office the next morning. I don't think I can ever look at Anthony Rose and co in quite the same light again. The phone rings. It's Sir Terence Conran. 'So how did your auction go then?', he asks me. 'He went for £120', I tell him. 'And what did the winning bidder get for that then?', he asks, intrigued. 'A dance and a quick chat afterwards', I say, 'For £120 I would have wanted a lot more than that', he says, laughing, and puts the phone down.