I was nervous...

Jancis Robinson approves. 

They say on this entrepreneurial journey you should pause every now and then and take in the small moments.

And last week was definitely one of those.

Because we passed the ultimate test in wine.

If it ain’t broke…

Back when we started WineSpark in Ireland, I had pulled together a bunch of amazing wines and winemakers that I knew people were going to love.

The only problem was that I’d just moved back from the UK after ten years, and didn’t really have enough people to trust me yet.

So I got hold of John Wilson at The Irish Times, and sent him a few bottles to taste.

Thankfully he loved them, and a few glowing reviews later we were off to the races.

We’ve just had the same moment in the UK

We’re now right back at the startup stage across the pond. 

And if there’s one person who influences British wine drinkers more than anyone else, it’s Jancis Robinson. 

She even advises the King on the royal cellar.

And it’s not just the UK. The San Francisco Chronicle described her as ‘the greatest living wine writer’. 

If you’ve ever dipped into The World Atlas of Wine, The Oxford Companion to Wine or the FT Weekend, you’ll know what I mean.

A full circle moment

When I was younger, we used to take the ferry to France on holidays with my family. 

On the way home, my dad would load up the back with wine, and squeeze us all in around the boxes.

I was no more than fifteen or sixteen, but I remember taking an unusual interest in wine. 

I just loved pulling the bottles out, studying the labels, and looking up places like Saint-Émilion and Châteauneuf-du-Pape in my dad’s wine book.

That book was the fourth edition of The World Atlas of Wine, by none other than Jancis Robinson.

So when the opportunity came up to get some WineSpark bottles in front of her, I was more than a little nervous.

How it happened

I was in Barcelona for a party earlier this year, and found out Jancis would be giving a talk nearby a couple of days later.

I couldn’t get a ticket, so I did the only sensible thing which was to wait outside until it was finished.

I then joined a long line of people queuing up to meet her, and gave her the 30-second elevator pitch of my story. I think my background at Naked Wines, and how I’m trying to do things differently with WineSpark, really landed.

She told me to get in touch through the website, and a few weeks later my colleague Henry rocked up to her north London flat to hand-deliver 12 of our best bottles.

Then we waited.

So... how did we do?

I got an email a few days later to say she really enjoyed the wines. And the reviews appeared on her website last week. 

The scores were strong. Very strong. Higher on average than recent reviews of Majestic, The Wine Society and Waitrose. 

Given that these are absolute titans of UK wine, I’ll take it!

Now taste the selection approved by the most powerful pen in wine

You can imagine my nerves putting this selection together for Jancis. I knew these wines were sensational, but this is the most powerful and respected wine critic in the world!

So I wanted to pick bottles in a range of styles and prices that best explain what WineSpark is all about.

With the scores on the doors, I’ve put them together in a 6-pack for you to enjoy. In it you’ll get a bottle each of:

• A Coroa Godello 2024 - from the magical Valdeorras region of Galicia, this is one of our most popular wines, and Jancis can see it too - ‘already a joy to drink … very refreshing’ (17/20)
• Cornin Mâcon-Fuissé Les Bruyères 2023 - elegant, classy Chardonnay at an amazing price. ‘Very satisfying … creamy texture’ (17/20)
  I Filari Sicilia Grillo 2022 - from old, organic vines in Sicily… a ‘hugely distinctive wine … a real one-off’ (16.5/20)
• Stepp Pinot Noir Buntsandstein 2023 - one of our most popular reds, from the up-and-coming Pfalz region in Germany. ‘Very sweet and charming … light bodied but very nicely balanced and pleasing’ (16.5/20)
• McFarlane Saturday’s Child Pinotage 2023 - from the cool-climate Walker Bay region, just south of Cape Town. ‘Perfumed yet savoury on the nose ... interesting! … very well judged’ (17/20)
• Vinyes d'Olivardots Gresa Empordà 2019 - the perfect introduction to Empordà, and according to Jancis, ‘spicy, evolved nose with obvious heat and ripeness … very obviously from the same family as Roussillon reds just over the Pyrenees’ (16.5/20).

Thank you for making this proud moment possible 

We’re making real inroads in the UK - and feedback like this will go a long way.

So thank you to our members for playing their part on this journey - there’s so much more to come!

Cheers, Eamon

P.s. Jancis’ highest score (18/20) was for Pilar Higuero’s A Pita Cega - ‘an exceptional wine … extraordinary vitality and tension … very long and tingly’. Sadly I don’t have enough of it for the case, but there are a few bottles here if you’d like to try it.