top wine shops london

Our London wine shop at No. 3 St James's Street has changed little since it was opened by the Widow Bourne in 1698. It boasts an extensive range of wines and spirits, from around £5 up to £5,000, and a team of knowledgeable yet friendly staff who offer unparalleled expert advice, no matter what your requirements are. The range incorporates a vast selection of wines, including those from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Spain and the Rhône, as well as top Italian bottles and New World classics.From roots as a merchant selling provisions, exotic spices, tea and coffee, No.3 ultimately became a fine wine merchant and during the past three centuries many famous visitors have passed through our doors, from Lord Byron to the Aga Khan. The shop is little changed and traces of its history – including important documents and artefacts – are on view. Berry Bros. & Rudd first supplied wine to the British Royal Family during the rein of King George III and has continued to do so to the present day and currently holds two Royal warrants;

for H.M. The Queen and H.R.H The Prince of Wales. Step back in time and learn more about the rich history of No.3, through tales of widows, kings, politicians and coffee. Find out more about any events that are happening in the our London shop over the next few months. Browse our finest reserves room, offering a superlative selection of some of the world’s finest wines. Take a look around our fine Whiskies and Spirits room, featuring rare and independent releases and free tastings of the exclusive range of our own bottlings.Whether you're looking for a bottle to take to a friend's or stocking up the bar at home, you'll get much more out of a trip to one of London's brilliant indie booze shops with their carefully edited selections and knowledgeable staff.Gerry's is something of a Soho institution. With a gargantuan selection of spirits on offer, including many exceedingly hard-to-find ones, Gerry's is the place to come if you're after some obscure mezcal or a liqueur.

Find it: Victoria Park;
best wine for snacksA new addition to the off licence scene, owner Melanie Symonds wanted to redefine the London booze shop with Brahms & Liszt. It also doubles up as a tasting room with events as cider and wine pairing and gin masterclasses, plus you can stock on up unusual glassware as well as obscure, quality spirits. Find it: 10 Chatsworth Rd, E5 0LP; Indie booze shops - in pictures A bit smarter than your usual offy, Hedonism is more of a wine and spirits boutique in a very smart part of Mayfair. Its buyers have scoured the world looking for the creme de la creme, finishing up with around 5,500 wines and 3,000 spirits. Help at this shop comes in the form of former sommeliers from top Michelin starred restaurants, which is comforting when you're planning to splash some cash.Find it: 3-7 Davies St, W1K 3LD; hedonism.co.ukSuper smart: Hedonism Wines in Mayfair (Picture: Hedonism Wines)If you're a budding mixologist, and especially like shaking up Latin American cocktails, Amathus is the place to go as the owner of the UK's biggest collection of pisco, tequila, mezcal and cachaca.

Indeed, Ceviche restaurant founder Martin Morales comes here for his pisco.As Britain's oldest wine and spirit merchant dating back to 1698, BB&R have a rather special standing in London. Its shop in St James's Street has changed little since the 17th Century and you'll find quality booze ranging from as little as a fiver up to £5000. In case you're an out of towner with a serious budget, it can also offer fine wine advice from multi-lingual specialists. It also runs exceptional wine courses and has just launched its new 'Cellar Series', hwihc sees it collaborate with top London restaurants such as Gymkhana and Dabbous to put on exclusive supper clubs.Find it: 3 St James's St, SW1A 1EG; Whisky nuts, this one is for you. Originally a wine seller, Milroy's is now all about the darker stuff, growing its range over the years to include Scottish single malts, Bourbon and rye whiskey from America as well as rarer bottles from the likes of Japan, Sweden and South Africa. It also deals in gin, vodka, tequila and rum by the way.

Make sure you pop into the bar if you want to get more of a taste.Find it: 3 Greek St, W1D 4NX; milroys.co.uk If you're a whisky and cigars kind of guy - or girl - this Soho old hat is just the ticket. Run by the same family since the Second World War, the Vintage House has an impressive stock of malt whisky, fine wine, Armagnacs and Cuban cigars dating back to 1879 - as well as rum and tequila. Above this shop you'll find the Soho Whisky Bar, a members bar with a smoking terrace.Find it: 42 Old Compton St, W1D 4LR; vintagehouse.coFollow us on Twitter @ESLifeandStyle and FacebookThe requested URL /home was not found on this server. Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.The 10 Best online wine shops The 10 Best online wine shops Thursday 14 June 2012 23:00 BST In a 2011 report for the Vinexpo in Bordeaux, Laithwaites came third in the world for its web services. It scored highly on security, ease of use and reliability.

2. Ten Green Bottles This has scored some big clients including Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck and Locanda Locatelli. Offers a showcase for lots of smaller producers. The Yapp brothers' operation has been going since 1969, specialising in French wines, many from small vineyards and which you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere. If you're up north London way, it's worth visiting the store. Online, you can browse by type, country, region or grape and the recommendation section's handy. 5. Berry Brothers & Rudd Wine merchants to the gentry since 1698. Its strength is its range: it has bottles at less than £5 (in 24-bottle cases) and it has bottles at 100 times that. If you are just finding your feet in the world of the grape, this is great. The wines are affordable and the site has a sidebar showing which have been in the press. 7. From Vineyards Direct Not the most user-friendly and its payment system is a little archaic, but these niggles are blasted out of the water by its fantastically priced list of old-world wines.