Bottles cracks open fresh wine concept in Birmingham

BOTTLES, the wine bar and merchants that wants to “open the world of wine to the masses” has this week launched its concept at Birmingham’s Mailbox.

Birmingham’s wine lovers will now be able to use Bottles’ specially-made wine dispensing machines to enjoy a casual wine-tasting experience for as little as 60p.

Bottles founder, Richard Everton wanted to make expensive bottles of wine accessible to the masses and so invested in machines that would allow customers to try the wine before they forked out for a full bottle.

He said: “The idea goes back years. When I was traveling I had the idea to set up a wine bar with masses of wine to take the perceived pomposity and stuffiness of wine out of the equation. The only issue I had with this country was finding a way of preserving the wines and making it work in a busy environment.”

Mainly developed for wine shops and merchants, Richard faced several challenges when trying to turn the concept into a functioning reality.

He added: “I persevered with one of the manufacturers as to why we couldn’t have that in a bar, and it was through encouraging manufacturers to look at things in a slightly different way that we managed to come up with something that was robust enough to dispense in a public area.”

The Italian-made machines, which use gas to keep the bottles fresh for up to a month, will dispense as little as 25ml of fine wine for customers to taste. Using the dispensers, the customers will be able to choose from 40 bottles of wine, sherry, sparkling wines and Prosecco.

Having seen how well this concept worked at Bottles’ first venture in Worcester, which opened in May last year, Richard decided on a space four times the size of its Worcester venue at the former Bar Epernay site.

“I looked at it and the feel was perfect, it was perfect size – I had been looking to bring this concept to Birmingham and I could have searched and searched and not found better premises than this,” Richard added.

Inspired by Bordeaux, Bottles Birmingham serves over 300 wines, ports and Champagnes in total, as well as a selection of bottled craft beers, cocktails, spirits, hot drinks and soft drinks. An all-day food menu offering casual social dishes like tapas, pintxos and sharing boards will also be served at the canalside venue.

“Bottles is about taking down the barriers and opening the doors to the masses, giving them the chance to experiment without breaking the bank.”

“The plan now is to let it settle down in Birmingham and look for site number three, see where it takes us, wait for what opportunities arise and see which city fits our concept,” Richard said.