Tenuta del Priore Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, 2009, 13.5%vol, Italy (£5.99;  www.tengreenbottles.com; 01273 567176).

Ten Green Bottles is the new kid on the Brighton block. Hitherto an online merchant only, specialising in French, Italian and Spanish producers too small for the supermarkets, it opens its first shop this week. This is a great value, terroir-expressive red from Abruzzo, full of ripe, savoury red fruit and silky tannins. Ideal to drink with rich pasta dishes.

© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2010

A little about the producer
Tenuta del Priore consists of 30 hectares of vineyards on steep hills, arranged in an amphitheatre on the banks of an artificial lake. The vineyard is 80% red grapes, mainly a native clone of Montepulciano. Trebbiano is well placed in this environment, and covers almost all the white grapes grown here. The soil is rich red clay, sometimes mixed with limestone. The Mediterranean climate lies under the influence here of the Adriatic Sea, bringing dry and cool breezes that allow exceptional concentration of fruit.

Thanks to those of you who came last night, and who have come along to see us so far. Below are a few photos from the event…

Charcuterie
Using exclusively locally raised, traditional breed, free range, animals fed on natural feeds, Trealy Farm in Monmouthshire, combine innovative technology with traditional methods to make a wide range of high quality meat products. According to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, “Trealy Farm make the best artisan charcuterie in the UK”.

Spanish food
The Spanish Food Company is a Brighton-based specialist importer of great Spanish food. They focus on discovering and building direct personal relationships with small scale, responsible producers of great food, and bring everything over direct from Spain themselves.

Smoked fish
Based in Flimwell, East Sussex, The Wealds Smokery continues the heritage of ancient food preserving by smoking over oak logs. Products are smoked in traditionally built brick kilns and prepared by a team of experienced Smokers who have generations of expertise and knowledge between them.

Mineral water
Chateldon: This naturally carbonated water is slowly filtered through the rocks of the Chateldonnaise mountains, emerging from the spring at a constant temperature of 6˚C. Chateldon has been continuously bottled since 1650, when King Louis XIV had it brought in barrels by mule to Versailles – a distance of over 270 miles. The bottle today still retains the monarch’s sun emblem.

Wattweiller: From an aquifer thirty metres below the protected Regional Natural Park of the ‘Ballons des Vosges’, our still water is soft and refreshing with a slightly sweet aftertaste. This water contains no nitrates, meaning it is completely free from pollutants.

The premises, which will open on August 20 and be called The Wine Shop & Tasting Room, will feature 250 bins of Old World Wines from Italy, France, Germany and Spain and will include a range of English wines.

Sam Devaney and Simon Broad set up the on-trade side of the business three years ago specialising in Italian wines from small producers.

Within two years they had managed to secure their wines in five Michelin star restaurants, which has since risen to 10. They also sell online.

The aim is to pair the wines with artisan foods sourced from small producers that are “striking out on their own”.

Devaney said: “The on-trade side of the business has gone really well and we will continue to work with restaurants. But from the beginning we wanted a shop so we could interact with our consumers.

“It will be dedicated to great wine sourced direct from the maker, cutting out the middle man. For us it’s all about making wine accessible and fun and giving people the opportunity to taste wines that aren’t usually out there in the marketplace.”

View the full article on Harpers here.

© Copyright 2010 William Reed Business Media Ltd.

Based in Brighton, East Sussex, The Wine Shop and Tasting Room will feature more than 200 wines, 90% of which are exclusive to the UK store.

The high proportion of exclusive wines at The Wine Shop & Tasting Room are a result of the wines being sourced directly from the vineyard by the company’s owners.

Founding partner Simon Broad said of the project: “This venture gives us the chance to share our love of wine and food with our customers face-to-face, and to showcase little known gems from some of the forgotten wine regions of the world - alongside old favourites.”

Tengreenbottles, which “prides itself on being able to offer unique products,” including “a range of premium spirits,” will also stock Camden Town Brewery’s beers in-store, one of the few microbreweries to make a lager alongside ale.

Customers will be able to buy a bottle to take away or to open and enjoy on-premise, while on weekday evenings the store plans to offer a selection of complimentary crostini with any wine purchase.

The new shop can be found on 9 Jubilee Street, Brighton.

View the full article on The Drinks Business here.

© Copyright 2010 The Drinks Business

Thanks to the generosity and foresight of Gerald and Sarah-Jane at Loire Valley Uncorked (and not a little hard work and planning on our part!) the plans we’ve been hatching ever since we started tengreenbottles, for a shop and bar centred around the wine we love and the way we like to approach it, are now well under way.

Our ‘Wine Shop & Tasting Room’ in the heart of Brighton & Hove, will open mid-August with around 250 wines (all to gradually appear on this site over the next month) from Italy, France, Germany, Spain and England. You’ll be able to take a bottle away with you, open it up and enjoy it at the bar or in our lounge area, or have a taste from the many bottles we’ll have open, from a 75ml sample up to a 500ml carafe. Food will be simple but only the best ingredients, with platters of cheese, charcuterie, vegetables and smoked fish, fantastic bread, and a great range of crostini. For an hour or two on weekday evenings, we’ll be offering small plates of food free with any wine purchases: our nod to the Italian tradition of ‘aperitivo’.

We’ll also have a range of premium spirits (definitely competing for the best G&T in town!), as well as being the only place in Brighton & Hove to be serving the outstanding offerings from Square Mile Coffee and the Camden Town Brewery, with much more being confirmed as we speak.

Keep checking our blog page, newsletter and twitter for updates on the opening, and we look forward to sharing a glass of wine with you at the shop!

View the full article on JancisRobinson.com here.

© Copyright 2009 Jancis Robinson

A little about the producer
Eric Rodez, who somehow finds time to be the Mayor of Ambonnay as well as produce stunning Champagne, was a real find for us, with an approach to winemaking which couldn’t have been closer to our hearts: naturally low yields (the average age of the vines is 30+), an organic approach applied in a pragmatic way (he takes seriously the excessive amounts of copper that are used in organics), and an open mind – rather than entirely learning his trade in Champagne, he worked in Burgundy, Beaujolais and the Rhone, as well as a spell at Krug, bringing new techniques and a fresh pair of eyes to mastering the art of terroir on his 7 hectares of Grand Cru land in Ambonnay. A good deal less expensive, and arguably a great deal more interesting, than the ubiquitous Grand Marques, Champagne from Rodez is a real joy to discover.

Article by Johnny Ray, 08 July 2010, How to enjoy the last of the summer wines – summer fizz

A little about the producer

Tenuta del Priore consists of 30 hectares of vineyards on steep hills, arranged in an amphitheatre on the banks of an artificial lake. The vineyard is 80% red grapes, mainly a native clone of Montepulciano. Trebbiano is well placed in this environment, and covers almost all the white grapes grown here. The soil is rich red clay, sometimes mixed with limestone. The Mediterranean climate lies under the influence here of the Adriatic Sea, bringing dry and cool breezes that allow exceptional concentration of fruit.