Borough Wines opens in Stoke Newington

Grape Expectations

Independent vintners Borough Wines launched its second venture in Hackney this summer, choosing the occasion of the London 2012 torch relay and One Hackney festival parade to unveil a new shop on swanky Stoke Newington Church Street.

Well-wishers who lined the streets to cheer on the progress of the iconic Olympic flame were treated to servings of prosecco, summer spritzers, and wines straight from the barrel.

Like the outfit’s other local branch in Wilton Way, the Church Street store features a drink-in bar, serving rustic food like terrines and charcuterie.

It also offers an environmentally- friendly bottle refill scheme: pick up a one-litre flask for a £2 deposit in-store, or bring your own, then fill up straight from the cask for as little as £6.

As well as serving an impressive array of distinctive French wines, with plenty from lesser-known regions like Bergerac and Cahors to supplement more familiar offerings from the Bordeaux and Burgundy appellations, Borough Wines also carries a well-judged selection from the New World.

Borough Wines originated in the heart of Southwark’s Borough Market a decade ago to promote the wines of the owners’ family vineyard, Chateau Ponchapt.

Since then, it has added the two Hackney outlets, as well as a satellite in the Kentish coastal town of Deal.

The site at 163 Stoke Newington Church Street was previously occupied by another wine merchant, Oddbins.