Amid all the wild speculation about the likely effects of Brexit on the economy, it’s hard to predict what will happen to UK wine prices in the long run, but I think it’s pretty safe to say it will still be cheaper to buy wine in Europe than at home, where any fall in the pound is bound to push up costs. And, given that many of us will still be holidaying on the continent, we may as well seize the chance to stock up, particularly now that the best cross-Channel outlet, the Wine Society’s showroom at Montreuil, is closing at the end of this year (at least in part due to uncertainties following the referendum result). Félines-Jourdan Picpoul 2015: serve with fresh crab. I have as many bottles at home as I have cookery books, so I hardly need to top up my supplies, but on a recent visit to Montreuil I couldn’t resist the lure of several bargains that undercut even the Society’s normally reasonable prices. This included a couple of bottles of its brilliant own-label Champagne (€26.50, or £22.19 at time of writing, compared with the UK price of £28, although you do get a free bottle if you buy six at that price; 12.5% abv), which is made by Alfred Gratien, which, like Krug, is one of the few houses that ferments and ages its wines in oak.

I also grabbed a couple of bottles each of the Félines-Jourdan Picpoul 2015 (€7.95, or £6.66, compared with £8.50 here; 12.5% abv) and Saumur Les Plantagenets 2014 (€6.10, or £5.10, instead of £6.95; 12.5% abv), a fragrant, light, fruity Loire red that would make perfect summer drinking. The Montreuil selection is more limited than the full Wine Society list, but you can order other wines to pick up from the showroom, so long as you contact them at least eight days before your visit (any order has to be in by 5pm on Monday for pickup on Tuesday the following week). Since the discount amounts to £24 a case, it’s better value to buy cheaper wines, such as the splendidly gutsy Château Sainte Eulalie Minervois 2014 (€6.10, or £5.03 a bottle, rather than £6.95; 13.5% abv), which means you can pick it up from Montreuil for only fractionally more than you’d pay if you were to buy it direct from the domaine. You do, of course, have to be a member to buy from the Wine Society, which costs a one-off £40;

but, with that, you do get £20 off the first order you make online or through its Stevenage showroom. Given its lower-than-average prices, this should easily offset the membership fee. I’ve been a member since I was 25 and would recommend it to anybody.A recent mail to the members from Douglas Lasrado, Asst Manager-Wine Sales of Wine Society of India (WSI) said, ‘We thank you for your patronage of The Wine Society of India..! can you buy wine in japanWe want to inform you that The Wine Society of India will suspend trading from the 1st February 2016. list of biggest wine producing countriesFrom that date, our offices will be closed.'best value wine california The message might have left some ambiguity as to whether the business was being suspended temporarily. names of wines from a to z

On enquiring from London-based Steven Spurrier-one of the founding members who continued to be the Chairman even when the company changed hands in the later years, confirmed the news to delWine. ‘The WSI is indeed being wound up. The main investors - USL and Direct Wines - are writing off their investment and the original shareholders will have to do the same.’ wine and food show londonUnited Spirits had been roped in with 49% stake through Vijay Mallya when the company started the business ten years ago in 2006, by the India-born David Banford who spent his growing years in UK and did business in the US before coming to India in 2006, looking for greener pastures. best wine tours in usaEven Sanjay Menon of Sonarys was a part of the WSI in the early stages as an importer. When it was launched in Delhi in around 2008-9 at the Imperial Hotel, David had told me that they already had over 1000 members and were fast approaching the target number of 3,000 that was required to break-even;

this number was raised to 5,000 later as the latent costs kept on increasing. David decided to retire from the business and sold off his shares to Direct Wines in UK, as did Steven. United Spirits maintained the status quo with the reported original investment of Rs. 10 million and Direct Wines had the controlling shares. The company had crossed the 10,000 mark according to a recent report and was looking for funds to expand. ‘The last figure I saw was 12,000 members which was nearing break even, but neither USL/Diageo nor Direct Wines were prepared to put up any more funds,’ says Steven who has been regularly invited to India as the Chairman and for giving advice, besides organising tastings and dinners with the WSI members, despite not being a shareholder. Understandably the costs were going up because of various government regulations and restrictions, including perhaps FSSAI which would have made the direct import of small quantities they selected from across the globe, a nightmare.

Says Steven, ‘if you ask David Thatcher, I think he will paint you a fairly bleak picture of trying to sell imported wine by mail order in India. It is all a great pity, not just the money, but the collapse of a very good idea.’ When I asked David Thatcher, Group Chief Executive, Direct Wines, wondering if the strangulating and complicated procedures could be the reasons for their shutting a seemingly successful operation, he said, ‘You are right, part of the problem with WSI has been the archaic, and constantly changing regulations around selling wine in India, particularly with direct to home delivery channels.’ Selling wine through mail order or online is not allowed in India. There have been cases of prosecution, arrests and harassment in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi where the law does not permit you even to send your office peon to deliver to the house. There have been quasi-legal means adopted by many sellers but apparently the running has not been smooth. David Banford who went to South Africa after selling his stake, had worked around the same model with The Wine Society of America he set up in 1984.

He sold the business after running it and roped in Steven Spurrier, along with the importers Sanjay Menon and Four Seasons, then owned by Vijay Mallya. It was based on the model of wine clubs in UK and US where the club run by a wine producer or an entrepreneur collects members, organises tastings and educational events and sells wine on regular intervals-usually monthly or quarterly. In case of WSI a member had to agree to buy a package of 6 bottles, 4 times a year. The prices seemed competitive as a package but usually had one bottle of Indian wine which was of much lesser cost-initially, the portfolio appeared heavy on wines from Four Seasons but later it became more balanced. It was a good option for novices who did not have to go through the headache of selecting wines about which they did not have much knowledge. But why would they not sell the business instead of simply closing it? And what about the staff salaries (one still has bitter memories of the now-defunct Indage Vintners  not paying the dues of their employees or Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines not paying salary of several months)?

‘We have ensured that all of the staff were fully paid and also paid all of the bills, so at least nobody outside the shareholders has been disadvantaged by this outcome,’ says David, adding, ‘even though the loss was split with USL, it was still enough to be painful. We did try to sell the business and had a number of expressions of interest, but none of them turned into a concrete offer I am afraid.’ Incidentally Wine Society of India had no connection, business-wise or otherwise and had nothing to do with the Indian Wine Academy or Delhi Wine Club. There were occasions people used to be confused and  believed we had an affiliation, and occasionally called our office with some issue or a problem. Besides, Delhi Wine Club merely organises wine dinners for which the costs are split amongst members. With the closure of WSI, an authentic source of Retail sales has been lost. But WSI was not just Retail. They did organise several programmes, ostensibly to attract new members but imparting wine knowledge through even tastings.