Fancy wine? We've just the place...

“It’s good fun selling. It’s nice being in the wine business, because you’re selling people things they’re going to take home and enjoy with their friends – the same as with food!”

Couldn’t have put it better ourselves. This week we chatted to the lovely Dawn Mannis from one of Islington’s finest gems: “The Sampler”. This charming wine merchant has been around for 9 years now and is – handily – a mere 10-minute walk away from Pizzeria Oregano, making it pretty much perfect for your picnic beverages.

“We were the first people to have the sampling machines”, says Dawn of the innovative system which gives the shop its name, “we saw them in Italy and loved them. We thought it would be a really good way of getting people to experiment with unusual wines”. The “machines” are enomatic machines, designed to keep wine which has been opened fresh for up to three weeks – “not that the bottles stick around that long!” This clever system means that customers can – and are encouraged to – try before they buy. Simply get a sampling card from the desk and away you go! You can get a single or double measure for a fraction of the bottle’s price, and try a whole range of unusual wines for as little as 50p. “A lot of people end up trying something that they wouldn’t usually and preferring it to their usual Rioja”, Dawn adds, “it makes a great change, because a lot of people end up going to the supermarkets and maybe spending £8 on a bottle of wine and it’s not very nice”.

The Sampler’s Islington branch has up to 1000 wines in it, with 80 available to sample at any one time, and they are constantly rotated. With a huge price range running from as little as £6 to up to almost £1000 for really special bottles, there is something here for any wine fan. The Sampler is set up, Dawn says, to be “the opposite of supermarkets. We do want people to buy based on the quality, rather than the price, but we have a lot of really good-value wines here. We spend a lot of time finding the under £10 wines, because they tend to be the best sellers. Our ethos is that we’re not snobbish about wine, there’s no right or wrong, it’s more about making wine accessible to everyone.”

 Although their wine list is designed to cater to all tastes and budgets, The Sampler does have certain specialities. Come here in search of older vintage wines, wines from unusual regions, rare grape types, and – Dawn’s personal favourite – champagne. “We specialise in grower’s champagne, instead of the big brands who often buy in all their grapes from other people – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing – but a lot of the time they concentrate on the marketing rather than what the wines are like. One of the things we’re known for is having really interesting champagne from little boutique champagne houses that you won’t have heard of.” So don’t go looking for a boring old bottle of Bollinger here.

What makes a good “picnic wine”, Dawn? “You’d want something good value, on the cheaper side. A summery style of wine. You don’t want to have to bring a cooler so you might want to go for something a bit lighter - Beaujolais is quite good for that, or I’d prefer a light Pinot Noir. But if you’re having pizza… I’d go for the Montepulciano with a screw cap! Yup, go for something either sparkling or with a screw top.”

To finish up, we quizzed Dawn on her perfect picnic. “I would have pizza, obviously! No, I think I would have Cheese. I love cheese. Cheese, wine, nice bread. Lots of different things… Crisps. You want a nice little pie and a quiche…. loads of little things. Or pizza’s fine! I’d be drinking sparkling wine – maybe champagne and I’d be in Richmond Park. With the shop dog.”

Fancy meeting the shop dog, sampling some first-class wines, or just learning a little more about everyone’s favourite grape-based tipple? Then head to 266 Upper Street, Islington (or the South Ken shop at 35 Thurloe Place) or sign up for one of The Sampler’s monthly Sunday Schools.

Keep your eyes peeled for Dawn's Picnic wine picks! Coming soon.