Laithwaites and their labels

Laithwaites, the best-known face of the world's dominant mail-order wine merchant – or direct-sales specialist, as I should perhaps call them – held their second big wine tasting for the UK press in London recently. You can read a report of the first one here.

Justin Howard-Sneyd MW, who was drafted in from Waitrose to head up the tentacular buying team (see here), was very much in evidence. There were a number of interesting wines here – especially the American selection, which is stronger and more varied than that of most British merchants, thanks to the parent...