Hertfordshire Life March 2004
An Extract from Hertfordshire Life Magazine March 2004 page 100
HERTS WINES
Top notch buying skills
Our resident Master of Wine, Derek Smedley, visits Julia Jenkins' St.Albans Company, Flagship Wines
One does not need a shop and high street visibility to be a successful wine merchant as Julia Jenkins has proved with her company 'Flagship Wines' based in St.Albans. The secret of her success is a good range of wines, friendly and knowledgeable service and lots of hard work.
Julia's buying skills and wine knowledge are top notch, from the time she started in the wine trade she has tasted, visited wine producers and listened to them. She started her wine life in the brewery world in the days when the major brewers believed in wine and had successful wine businesses. The retail shop side of Bass was excellent grounding and gave her the opportunity to pass her wine trade exams. Bass like all the major brewery companies lost interest in wine so Julia moved to the thriving Bottoms Up retail chain and studied under Charles Eve, learning a great deal from his buying skills.
Another move came, this time to the up and coming wine buying team at Sainsburys as marketing manager. Her progression through the big company scene had two natural breaks, time off for the birth of son number one and then number two. She became disillusioned with the stop/go nature of big business and set up her own operation called 'Wine on Tap'. Here Julia was at last able to buy and sell only those wines that she personally enjoyed. She was lured back to the big company retail scene by Thresher who were trying hard to rebuild their buying team after the departure of their main players but she was torn by loyalty to Thresher and the deep desire to build something other own, something that embodied the Julia Jenkins personality, for personality and ideals of the owner.
Wine on Tap has been expanded into Flagship Wines, a company with a three-pronged attack. Private customers are very important and Julia is growing this side of the business very fast through a large number of tastings and through sound advice. Word spreads and she is delighted with the number of calls from friends other customers wanting both help and wine.
The second prong is aimed at local businesses, restaurant and pubs. They all need advice and help, guidance into what to list and descriptions of the wines so that they can attract customers and offer the service of knowledge. This sector is also growing very fast as those whom she approaches quickly learn that Julia has that depth of knowledge that comes from experience, attending many tastings and from travel. It is so important to get into wineries, to taste and discuss, it is the very best way to understand what is good or not so good and which wines will last in bottle.
The third prong is aimed at those who enjoy surfing the net, finding the best bargain and buying from the armchair. This medium does rely very heavily on descriptions being both understandable and tempting: there is no tasting until you have bought the bottle, so reliance has to be placed on the written word.
The really successful web sites are operated and run by those people with both the knowledge and experience. The range at Flagship Wines covers the world and the list is equally strong in both 'old world' and 'new world'. Matching food and wine is not easy and you will find lots of help and advice on this web site, so do visit the site before choosing the wine for your next Sunday.
The way in which to enjoy Julia's exciting range of wines is to go to one of her tastings or get her to organize a tasting for your favourite organisation or charity. They do make for very successful and enjoyable evenings. To find out more about Flagship Wines and the list of wines Julia sells visit her site: www.flagshipwines.co.uk
You can contact her by e-mail on info@iflagshipwines.co.uk or by phone on 01727 841968.
A small selection from her list that can only tempt you to try other wines.
-From Australia two white wines, a crisp, tropical fruit Sauvignon Blanc from the Matilda Plains winery in the McLaren Vale, great with fish dishes and a ripe peachy, melon Chardonnay from the Trentham vineyards on the Murray River, the perfect partner to chicken dishes.
-Still concentrating on the 'New World' three great reds, all very different in style. From Australia's d'Arenberg Vineyard in the McLaren Vale do try the Footbolt Shiraz, a great, loganberry, spice pepper wine truly wonderful with beef. Footbolt was John Osborne’s mare whose racing ability gave him the money to buy the vineyard.
Looking to South American two more 'cannot leave any in the bottle' reds.
From Chile's Apalta Valley a Carmenere from the Apaltagua Vineyard, sweet bramble, supple and rounded, try it with a pork roast and from Argentina's Valle de Uco, high up in the Andes Fournier's Urban Oak, the Tempranillo in the blend gives it a sweet leafiness whilst the Malbec gives the truffle and spice, keep it for the lamb.
Visit www.hertfordshirelife.co.uk
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quality wines
Since using Flagship Wines I now can't go back to drinking cheap offer wines. The difference in quality is real.
E.D.
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Italian wine
I had a bottle of your Piedmonte Barbera in a mixed case for Christmas which was gorgeous. I want to try other wines what do you recommend?...
The Araldica Barbera d'Asti you sent is even better , I will have a case
CY
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Sauvignon Blanc
I don't normally like Sauvignon Blanc but the New Zealand Wine was very good,a pleasant gooseberry tang and fruity.
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St Albans Observer April 14 2005
Shop flying flag for independent wiines
See page 23 for the full page article by Susan Nowak.
"There are very few independent wine shops in St Albans, but i think the most recently opened is Flagship Wines. Certaianly the only one boasting a kind mention by Oz Clarke in his 2005 Wine buying Guide...
Perhaps it should be no surprise that Flagship prices match supermarkets for the friendly, well informed Julia has held top positions in wine retail..
....and it's certainly an extensive range for such a small store...
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Brampton Old Vines Red Merlot Cabernet 2007 - save £1.54 per bottle.
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£6.45 |
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Flagship Dinner Case - from aperitif to digestif
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| £110 |
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Wild Rock Gravel Pit Red Merlot Malbec 2005/6 - save 10%
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| £10.04 |
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