The Vineline

What were we drinking?

The first wine bought by The Wine Society was Bucellas, or ‘Portuguese Hock’, a wine popular in Victorian Britain. Spanish wine made up the second order and by 1876 there were 63 items on the List, including Port, sherry, Champagne, claret, Burgundy, German wine and spirits. But there were soon wines from much further afield – Asia Minor, Australia, Palestine and California, as well as high-end Greek and Hungarian wines. New additions were ‘tested’ rather than tasted by the Committee, wine adulteration being common. In 1906 we bought our first bubbles from Gratien, who’ve helped toast significant moments in members’ lives ever since.

We wouldn’t have come into being if it wasn’t for pioneers like Major General Henry Scott, engineer and architect of the Albert Hall and a true Victorian ‘man of parts’. Our early membership was made up of many such trailblazers, artists and thought-provokers. It’s fun to speculate on the conversations that went on over early wine gatherings between former prime minister Earl Russell, polymath Herbert Spencer, writer Arthur Conan Doyle and famous singer Louise Kirkby-Lunn. Its pleasing to imagine that wine played a part in opening the minds and nourishing the spirits of these early Wine Society members and those of generations to come.

What were we drinking?

Liqueurs, aperitifs and fortified wines occupied a considerable amount of space in the ‘20s, complete with recipes for cocktails and ‘cups’. Only in the post-war period did our buyers really start to visit the principal ‘wine fields’, developing new relationships with family growers and exploring beyond the classic regions. We had dry furmint from Hungary as early as the ‘40s and were the first to import Lebanon’s Chateau Musar in ’71. Our listing of clarets grew in breadth and depth in the ‘50s and the ‘60s saw the appearance of the first range of wine labelled ‘The Society’s’.  In the cash-strapped ‘70s our buyers sourced inexpensive litre-carafe wines for anyday drinking. The era closes with some of the wines we cherish today really starting to hit their stride, with quality improving supported by more stringent regulation.

The pioneers of this era

Two people in particular made a huge impact on The Wine Society, ensuring we are the vibrant business we are today. Albert Cable, who joined in 1926 aged 18 as a junior clerk before moving to buying and becoming General Manager (1955-1966), laid the foundations for a dedicated buying team and had legendary tasting skills! Edmund Penning-Rowsell (Chairman 1964-1987) reinvigorated the management team, our finances and communications and brought about the ‘life-saving’ move to Stevenage. Other pioneering members in their own fields, as depicted in ‘A History of The Society’, created for our centenary, included: Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin and from the arts world, poet and novelist Sir Henry John Newbolt; Sir Henry Wood, co-founder and chief conductor of the Proms and Sir John Barbirolli, conductor and cellist.