UK wine drinkers invited on buying trip to Portugal.

A group of UK wine drinkers have teamed up with trade body ViniPortugal to source a new wine for online retailer www.nakedwines.com

Naked Wines, launched in December 2008 by Virgin Money and Virgin Wines founder Rowan Gormley, invites their most active customers to pick their wines rather than employing a wine buyer.

Rather than us tell customers what they should be drinking, they tell us, explained Rowan Gormley.

They accompany us to trade fairs and wherever possible, come on buying trips with us too. We also send them samples of all the wines were thinking of stocking before they go on sale.

Our customers leapt at the chance to head out to Portugal with ViniPortugal, and after tasting hundreds of bottles, they’ve picked out a superb new wine for the site.

Tnia Branco Oliveira from ViniPortugal added:
It’s great to get producers and customers together to share their passion for wine. The process of exporting a wine to the UK can typically take months, but by introducing both ends of the chain, and empowering the consumer to choose, the process is a lot quicker. Were delighted to see a new Portuguese wine for sale on Naked Wines, and we hope their customer buying team will be back to select more!

The wine they selected was the Negreiros Douro 2007, produced from grapes which were originally sold to Cockburns Port. Winemaker Mario Negreiros, who inherited his vineyard from his grandfather in 2002, has produced a short video to celebrate the new partnership:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wks7Ai8ZWNY

Winemakers looking to break into the UK can find out more about Naked Wines atwww.nakedwines.com/suppliers