Booths tasting: Sparkling offer shines ahead of festive fun
Ahead of a busy Christmas period for Booths, the north of England premium supermarket chain showcased its diverse wine offer at its annual portfolio tasting at the Guild of Fine Foods.
A vital category ahead of the winter period thanks to Brits penchant for festive fizz, Booths’ sparkling range demonstrated that its consumers are willing to explore all the category has to offer.
From Tasmania’s Jansz to Cornwall’s Camel Valley, the range covers a plethora of styles and regions.
Rachael Machin, Champagne and sparkling buyer at the company, summarised well the wine buying ethos of the Preston-headquartered retailer:
“We just want to have something different – the idea is not to be the same. We don't necessarily need exclusives, that's not what we're about. We just want to have great quality, fair prices, and ideally some little gems that you can't find elsewhere, which is what makes Booths interesting.”
Little gems include wines from the Hill-Smith Family Estates owned-producer, Jansz. The producer’s Premium Cuveé highlights the sparkling strength of Tasmania’s terroir, with notes of apple supported by a clean finish. Machin detailed that this wine had done so well for Booths that she introduced a new addition to the range – Jansz’s Premium Cuveé Rosé.
The new Rosé sparklings do not end there, with the introduction of two premium offerings – Tattinger’s Prestige Rosé and Camel Valley’s Pinot Noir Rosé Brut 2021, also being added to the roster.
On English fizz, Booths have spearheaded their own-label E.H. Booth & Co. English Sparkling offer. The wine, which retails for £24, is produced by Ridgeview using the traditional method.
Keen to stock a more entry-level English fizz, the retailer has introduced another wine, as Machin explained: “Touch of Sparkle made by Chapel Down is priced at £15 and it goes down on promotion to £12. For those who are only used to drinking Prosecco, that's the way I would encourage people to try English sparkling.”
Three Crémants also featured, highlighting the growing popularity of the style, with the Elisa Crémant de Loire and Veuve Ambal Crémant de Bourgogne both recent additions to the Booths' portfolio.
In terms of the road ahead two regions are being explored by Machin to bolster the retailer’s sparkling range.
She added: I'm always on the lookout. There’s some really interesting Portuguese sparkling wine that I'm looking at now, as well as Greek.”
The wider range on offer at the tasting showed depth and breadth is not limited to Booths’ fizz offering.
English still wines feature, with Lyme Bay’s Shoreline, a new white wine for both Lyme Bay and Booths, made from a blend of eight white Crouch Valley grapes and vinified at the producer’s Devon winery. Another new addition to the portfolio is the Simpsons Estate Pinot Noir, a fresh and light offer retailing at £16.
Sicily is another region Booths has found much value in, stocking wines white, red and even orange from the island region. The latter is produced by Tenute Orestiadi from the indigenous Inzolia grape. Emerging regions feature strongly too, with Greek, Georgian and Armenian wines of both white and red hues bolstering the 600-strong wine portfolio.
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