Jancis Robinson publishes major list of indie wine retailers delivering to self-isolators

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 19 March, 2020

Jancis Robinson MW has published a major list of independent wine retailers that are keeping lines of sales and delivery open amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.

The list came about as a result of a Twitter suggestion from locked down northern Italy yesterday when a user suggested it would be helpful to access a list of independent wine retailers keeping up with home deliveries amid social distancing measures.

Details have been pouring in ever since.

At the time of writing, the list has around 200 entries spanning 15 countries including Spain and the US, though most are in the UK.

As Robinson herself said on her website, the list goes some way to highlighting the plight and the resilience of businesses around the world in these tough times.

“I'm sure [Twitter user] Walter cannot have foreseen how popular this move would have been. All of the entries in our geographically organised list below have been submitted by wine retailers in the last 18 hours. Some are well-known names, others mom and pop operations.

“Of course if couriers are forbidden from doing their work, some of these promised deliveries will be impossible, but…the comments from individual retailers paint quite a vivid and touching picture of the current, unparalleled, situation around the world,” Robsinon said.

Comments include those from London and international merchant Corney & Barrow which is “happy to deliver anywhere in the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong. Our driver will knock, drop (not literally) and go!”

Davy's Greenwich meanwhile is donating £1 in every £20 spent online and in their Greenwich shop to Greenwich Food Bank.

Many Indies are also running a “drop and run delivery” service, where staff will put orders directly into customers’ car boots to avoid physical interaction.

This is the case for Hertfordshire’s Tring Winery, which is offering a drive-up click and collect service, free delivery with no minimum order in a 10-mile radius and online wine tastings, despite being newly opened.

“Us small wine retailers are definitely about to go through the ringer and we've only been open a month, so it's doubly tough for us,” someone at Tring, said.

On the subject of click and collect, Quaff Wine in Brighton and Hove, said: “This has already been a major feature of recent days. That approach may not work in a real curfew/lockdown, but we rather hope it won’t come to that.”

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