The mind behind the ever more expansive and esoteric wine range at Amathus talks to Douglas Blyde about the merchant’s Greek roots, the ambition to offer the best bricks-and-mortar sparkling wine selection in London, and what it would mean to dine with the late Anthony Bourdain. What is your vintage? 1975, from which Dow’s Port was very decent. What was your first job in wine? A shop assistant at Bottoms Up, Wandsworth Bridge Road. A friend of my mum’s was the manager, and the lure of cheap wine seemed an excellent idea at the time. When did you become an MW? I finally passed in 2017. My research paper was on “The potential of Saint-Aubin to offer an alternative to Puligny and Chassagne-Montrachet in view of their escalating prices.” A painfully relevant topic now. How did you come to Amathus? Five and a half years ago Amathus approached me to initially build an agency wine portfolio to accompany a very successful existing spirits and composite wholesale business. Define the Amathus ethos? To seek out distinctive wines, beers and spirits which overdeliver on flavour, are sourced with passion, and sold with enthusiasm. We want to offer these in a welcoming, informative environment, free from pretence. How has the wine offer developed? In the last decade, we have grown from a compact, serviceable range of almost purely UK-bought wines covering the essentials, to a small selection of direct imports, most of which are still with us. Today we offer around
This Article was originally published on The Drink Business - Champagne
