Think Indie: Vagabond Wines takes top Independent Merchant for UK’s 50 Best Indies Award At yesterday’s Think Indie Drink Indie event hosted in London Vagabond Wines took the top top spot in the UK’s 50 Best Indies Award list.The list was set up to to celebrate the achievements of the hardworking retailers that give the drinks trade such a good name across the UK.The 50 Best Indies list was generated by dividing the country into 10 zones, including splitting London up, and five experts were selected from each region. Each expert was asked to nominate three retailers from their region, plus two from outside the region, and rank them from one to five, with a weighting attached to each vote. It was then a case of using a mathematical formula to create the final list.Vagabond Wines was first set up by Stephen Finch in west London as a retail store and wine bar where customers could sample 100 different wines. He now has three stores, with plans to open three more, start an urban winery and create a microbrewery.

The company has displayed tremendous ambition and has established itself as the best independent wine merchant in the UK.“Being part of the list makes me realise I want to jump in the car and do a road trip visiting all the other indies on the list.  I think we are all doing really innovative things and am so honoured to be awarded this recognition,” said Finch.The other top five merchants included , Hedonism Wines at number five, South Down Cellars at number four, Cambridge Wine Merchants at number three and The Sampler at number two.The full list of winners is below.Congratulations to all those who have been recognised as a 50 Best Indies! Vagabond Wines, LondonThe Sampler, LondonCambridge Wine Merchants, CambridgeSouth Downs Cellars, SussexHedonism Wines, LondonHennings Wine Merchants, SussexNoel Young Wines, CambridgeThe Oxford Wine Company, OxfordTanners, ShropshireBottle Apostle, LondonCorks Out, CheshireHarper Wells, NorwichWoodwinters, ScotlandHanging Ditch, ManchesterLe Vignoble, PlymouthThe Leamington Wine Company, Leamington SpaRed Squirrel, HertfordshireBorough Wines, LondonWe Brought Beer, LondonAmps Fine Wines, PeterboroughLea & Sandeman, LondonD Byrne & Co, LancashireTen Green Bottles, BrightonThe Bottle Shop, CardiffHandford Fine Wines

, LondonCheers Wine Merchants, SwanseaCorks of Cotham, BristolThe Old Bridge Wine Shop, HuntingdonDuncan Murray Wines, HarboroughFavourite Beers, CheltenhamConnolly’s Wine Merchants, SolihullLoki Wines, BirminghamTalking Wines, CirencesterGrape & Grind, BristolYapp Brothers Wine Merchants, WiltshireChristopher Piper Wine, DevonLuvians, FifeBin 21, MorpethEllis Warton Wines, ParThe Solent Cellar, LymingtonThe Secret Cellar, KentTasting Room, BathThe Vineyards, BelfastThe Fine Wine Company, MusselburghJames Nicholson, Crossgar, Northern IrelandThe Wine Centre, Great HorkesleyThe Wine Chambers, TynemouthOld Chapel Cellars, CornwallBon Coeur Fine Wines, Melsonby, YorkshireDefine Food & Wine, Cheshire I wish to receive the following newsletters: Ozzie winemaker Calabria appoints export manager to grow its European presenceWhat a Champagne and sparkling summit tells us about the sparkling sector in 2017 BrewDog prowls into spirits market with LoneWolf Spiced rum leads the category as Birmingham Rum Festival returnsTesco latest major retailer to launch Chinese wineWaitrose expands ‘craft’ beer portfolio by a third M&S launches first ever Bordeaux en primeur range with 2014 vintageTen ways to maximise online sales as UK crowned thirstiest European country for alcohol

onlineTesco Brexit advisor joins Portman Group as CEOChapel Down reveals £100 fizz as part of new sparkling collection Wholesalers take HMRC to court over AWRS "limbo"Armagnac Castarède recognised as Living Heritage CompanyDifficult conversations ahead as 1300 ‘dodgy distributors’ put out of business by AWRSIf you want to drink one of the best wines in the world, it's going to cost you — $6.best cheap wine for chicken A Chilean wine sold exclusively at British supermarket chain, Asda, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart, was awarded a platinum "best in show" medal from the Decanter World Wine Awards, according to The Independent.nice red wine nz La Moneda Reserva Malbec, a dry red wine, won the prize for the best red single-varietal under £15 [about $20]. best wine with cold cuts

It was selected from 16,000 entries by a panel of 240 experts at the wine competition. "At just £5.75 [$8], the exclusive La Moneda Reserva Malbec is the perfect example of how we're able to offer shoppers exceptional quality at low prices," Ed Betts, wine buying manager at Asda, told The Independent. "The La Moneda Reserva Malbec is also currently on rollback at £4.37 [$6], and as the perfect match to barbecued meats, we're expecting high demand in the coming weeks."best cheap wine target Sales of the wine skyrocketed following the wine competition, crashing the Asda website, the DWWA reported on Wednesday.the best wine in nz Read the full report from The Independent.dry white wine goodThe announcement that a number of sub-£10 supermarket wines had picked up gold medals in this year's International Wine Challenge was greeted with predictable glee by the British media, who always like to unearth evidence that we're paying too much for our wine.what is best wine with turkey

But the headlines don't give the full picture. What may not be widely understood is that wine competitions are a commercial enterprise. Producers and importers pay to enter their wines (about £100 a wine). That creates pressure to award medals. It also favours large companies such as supermarkets, which can afford to spend several thousand pounds on entries. The recent IWC competition awarded 360 medals to own-brand wines.best wine chocolate Given the number of supermarket wines that would have been entered, there weren't many golds. best wine of 1999Tesco only had a couple out of its huge range. No Waitrose – it doesn't do much under £10 in own-label wine, but its own-brand champagnes won three gold medals. Of the winning supermarket wines, a disproportionate number were sherry, always a reliable buy wherever you get it from – although having tried the Aldi cream sherry, I wasn't overly impressed.

The headline writers would have been equally justified in trumpeting: "Brits prefer sherry to chardonnay". The judging is, of course, done by expert tasters, but even experts have to work with what's in front of them. A dozen highly alcoholic young reds at four in the afternoon when you've been tasting all day is tough. You choose the ones that stand out – not necessarily those that would be most refreshing or enjoyable to drink with food. It also tends to favour wines that a panel can agree on, rather than more interesting, quirky wines on which opinion may diverge. That said, the wines are tasted blind, which eliminates any prejudices about provenance. There are undoubtedly cheap wines that punch well above their weight and others that fail simply because they're not good enough for the price. Certainly, the discounters have put pressure on the bigger supermarkets to up their game and keep their prices keen. No system of judging is perfect, though, because it can't take account of your personal preferences.

I've tasted gold-medal winners and wondered how on Earth they won. Bottles also vary depending on how long and under what conditions they've been stored. A wine a panel tasted in April may not taste so great six to nine months down the line. So treat medal winners with a degree of caution. They may suit your palate and your pocket – or they may not. Here are 10 supermarket own-label wines under £10 that I'd give a medal to. A reliable Aldi favourite that should appeal to pinot grigio fans, but which has a bit more heft and character. Classic pure mineral chablis with a nice touch of citrus and cream from one of the region's most reliable producers, Jean-Marc Brocard. One of the gold-medal winners. Having tried it, I'm not sure I'd have given this top marks, but it's a terrific buy for the money if you're a fan of Kiwi sauvignon blanc. A silver, I think. Really light, raspberry-scented pinot from Chile's cool Casablanca Valley. At its best lightly chilled. A warm, generous southern French blend of grenache, syrah, carignan and mourvèdre.

Often on promotion, so maybe hang on until it is. The white (2013 vintage arriving end of May) is excellent too. Ignore the naff label – this is a brilliant southern Italian white, packed with intense lemon peel flavours but stylistically different from sauvignon blanc. Think grilled swordfish and capers. Beautifully balanced modern German riesling made for M&S by their former winemaker Gerd Stepp. Delicate, grapey and delicious, and not oversweet. Perfect for summer drinking. Despite its obscurity, this fresh, fruity red from the north-east of Italy has been a long-standing feature of the Tesco Finest range. One to try if you like beaujolais and pinot noir. Another gold-medal winner, this exotic, scented white (think rose petals and lychees) is a favourite of Raymond Blanc's (well, probably not the Morrisons one, but gewürztraminer generally).Sherry in general is a winner, but this luscious, raisiny PX from top producer Lustau is particularly good. Especially at this price.