As we have discussed in some detail on members’ forum, British authorities have come down hard on the glamorous new wine bar at Selfridge’s department store, forbidding them from serving the useful 25ml samples in wine flights and the like. (Their argument is that this is not an approved, certified measure.)
I asked Jamie Hutchinson of The Sampler wine shop in Islington which, as you might guess from its name, also sells these little samples, enabled by the same technology, whether he was being allowed to continue in the light of all the publicity given to the Selfridge’s debacle. He assures me that he has a very sympathetic Trading Standards Officer who has merely asked them to remove any reference to the size of the sample “which is no big deal. We aren't as directly affected as Selfridges are because we don't sell individual glasses of wine. All are part of a tasting event and therefore are treated as an exemption. Having said that, we don't have final agreement yet so we are still a bit concerned (and annoyed as we told Trading Standards about what we were doing before we opened, and they didn't have any objections then.”
