Berry Brothers &
Rudd, London’s oldest wine shop (1698) holds a special place in my
heart. You’ll soon find out why. Nope, not because of wine.
This wine shop caters to the world and has for about 315
years. That alone is remarkable, but
consider this: It’s been at No. 3 James
Street the whole time, selling first coffee and wine, then wine and spirits, as
it does today. Not that St James is the
only location. There’s one south of
London, as well as Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
The store is so understated, you could walk right by without
noticing. Dark exterior, with window
displays and foot high lettering across the front. You may notice the famous (but smallish) sign
of the coffee mill hanging out front.
Coffee mill? For a wine shop?
Yes, the widow Bourne (first name lost in the mists) started
out selling coffee and supplying various coffee shops up and down the
street. Coffee business lasted into the
19th Century. Besides the coffee shops that gradually disappeared, St
James’s Palace, built by Henry VIII on the site of a leper hospital, is only
223 feet away. It was the official royal
residence until Queen Victoria’s time.
Step in the door at Berrys
and look down. The wide planks, fastened
with hobnails have been there awhile.
So, I asked a clerk, “When was the last time these floors were
polished?”
“I think the janitorial staff took care of that in the 19th
Century.”
You’ll also note a lack of bottles, or at least not very
many bottles. You’ll have to go into
some of the side rooms for that. One
small room dedicated to wine and another to spirits. So, it’s a small operation in a small
shop? Not exactly. In the cellars sit millions of dollars of
potables. Although, oddly enough,
although Berrys is the oldest wine
shop, it does not have the oldest cellar.
That honor belongs to the cellars of The Stafford London Kempinski
Hotel, one of London’s premier hotels, about a stone’s throw away. Cost runs to $400 a night for a cheap room.
As you would imagine, Berrys’
cellars also have a colorful history.
Exiled to London, Napoleon III and future Emperor of France (not to be
confused with Napoleon Bonaparte) lived in one of Berrys cellars, now called the Napoleon Cellar, of course.
At Berrys,
traditions die hard. It was not until
2001 the shop displayed any bottles. Now
they’ve got about 2000 bottles on long shelves in a couple of rooms. How can a
retailer get away with that?
Simple. Only about 5% of Berrys
business is retail. Hard to explain to
the average tourist who thinks long and hard about proudly buying a single
bottle.
Lots of fabulous cellars around the world get their wine
from Berrys. Restaurants, hotels, the Royal Family,
collectors, old families who have made Berrys
their go-to wine shop for decades, or even generations. Don’t know for sure, but I suspect you’d
quickly recognize the names of many of their customers.
Quick, who was the first British Monarch to buy wine from Berrys?
George III, of American Revolution fame.
1760. Now Berrys holds two Royal Warrants, which mean they provide beverages
to the Royal Family and are allowed to advertise that fact.
A little known secret about Berrys. You and I step
through the front door, have a scan or two, maybe inquire about this wine or
that, have a look in the spirits room, and head back out on the street. But, the serious oenophile will be invited
into a back parlor and parked in a deep leather chair to discuss wine needs
over a glass or two, of wine, sherry, or whiskey. Lunch may be served.
Don’t have any idea of the most expensive bottle of wine
here, but I’d guess the 1942 Chateau d’Yquem comes close at $2385 per. Yquem is pronounced ee-keme. Berrys is a wine merchant, meaning they buy
and sell. Sometimes the buying comes
from estates, or recently uncovered one-of-a-kind items. They also sell wine under their own label.
Not every wine is beyond your means and mine. Berrys also sells wines priced for the
multitudes, some under $15. If you want
to check out all the offers, here’s the site:
http://www.bbr.com
Ever wonder why the Brits call red wine, claret? In my case, only for about fifty years! Back a few centuries, when part of what is
now France belonged to England (12th Century), the main wine sources
were inland vineyards, mostly sporting Malbec grapes, sometimes known as “Black
Wine.” But, English tastes went for
lighter fare. Bordeaux came into its own
and since the wine was lighter, in both color and flavor, it was called
claret. Oenophiles and historians will
shout and scream at the incompleteness of my all-too-brief description,
bypassing hundreds of years and the bloody tug of war that led to final
separation of the two countries. Take it
outside, ladies and gentlemen. I’ve got
wine to drink.
 |
| The Bordeaux Region is the red area in the lower left. |
Perhaps you want to set up a corporate wine affair for a
hundred fellow toilers. Berrys can do that easily. Big room downstairs. Long oak tables. Wine glasses the size of paint buckets.
But, why does Berrys
tantalize and fascinate, and hold that special place in my heart? Right beside Berry Brothers & Rudd,
there’s a little alleyway called Pickering Place and named for William
Pickering. You see, the Widow Bourne’s
daughter married William Pickering and they continued to run the business. But before the Pickerings, the little alley
and the area behind it was called Stroud’s
Court.
Go ahead and step down the alley and checkout the
courtyard. This once was a din of
inequity for gambling, bear baiting, and duels. Can’t believe a place like that
carried my name! It was also home to the Legation of the Republic of Texas
until Texas joined the Union in 1845.
Look for the plaque:
TEXAS LEGATION
In this building was
the legation for the
ministers from the
Republic of Texas
to the
Court of St. James
1842-1845
You should know by now, there’s always more to London than
the pedestrian view. Only an old wine
Merchant? Think again. Find Berry Brothers & Rudd and you’ve
found another historic paragraph in London’s fascinating story. This Stroud will drink to that!
No comments:
Post a Comment