Each month we have a different theme to hang our by the glass selection at the bars on and our seasonal mixed cases around. This October our theme is "Sensation", inspired by the Saatchi Gallery exhibition of the same name 27 years ago, which shook up the art scene showing the work of young British artists (YBAs), many of whom have since become household names. The YBAs challenged the staid, traditional mainstream and caused a significant degree of shock and outrage.
Our take on this will be to feature the rebel winegrowers who, at a similar period and a few years before, fought against the agrochemical mainstream that had become the norm in wine production worldwide and returned to a more natural, organic way of growing and making wine, and those that came after, inspired by the work of those pioneers.
The YBAs were no naive innocents. They were very entrepreneurial, creative and knew what they were doing and how to make a living from their art.
Similarly the instigators of the natural revolution knew exactly what they were doing too. One of the key figures was a trained chemist and they brought in a professor from the local university to study what was going on with their land and in their winemaking. The best producers we work with are no idealistic hippies; they know exactly what they are doing and while they may take more risks than their more conventional, agrochemical peers, and have stronger beliefs and high values, they are still trying to make a living from farming and winemaking while protecting the planet by working in harmony with the environment.