News
2012
May
Charity Run
Paul Morrow (Warehouse Manager) and Stevie Morrow (deliveries team) will be taking part in a marathon on Saturday 12th May to raise money for Petals and the Rangers Charity Foundation. Paul will be running and Stevie will be walking the 27 miles from Ibrox Football Stadium to Kilwinning Stadium. They will complete the 27 miles with over 100 other participants including runners, cyclers and walkers.
This is the second year Paul Morrow will have done this to raise money for these charities which are close to his heart. Paul and his son had originally planned to run this by themselves last year however over 40 other runners joined them. This year more than 100 people are set to take on the challenge.
We wish them the best of luck!
April
National Malbec Day - 17th April
April 17th marks this years National Malbec Day, with celebrations being held all over the world for this grape. This started back in 2011 in Argentina, where the Malbec grape was adopted as the national grape variety due to it's excepitional growing abilities and therefore award winning wines. Why not check out our Malbec selection so you too can enjoy a glass or two and celebrate with the rest of the world.
South African stunner gets 4 out of 5 stars from Decanter
The Jordan 'Prospector' Syrah 2008, from acclaimed South African winery Jordan Estate in Stellenbosch, has produced another award winning wine. The 2008 vintage has been awarded 4 out of 5 stars (17.5/20 points) in the Decanter experts panel choice for South African wines over £10.
£11.99 a bottle
March
Bit of Bling!!
Well we don't like to blow our own trumpet here at AW HQ, but 2 of our wines have recently received fantastic marks from some acclaimed wine critics.
Ona Pinot Noir 2010 - awarded 90 points ,out of a possible 100, by Robert Parker. Deep cherry red in colour this wine has a perfect balance between fruit and oak with complex aromas of strawberries, cassis and spices. it is smooth on the palate, rich and with a long finish. A perfect partner with juicy game dishes.
Only £9.99 a bottle
Chateau Chantegrive `Cuvee Caroline` Graves Blanc 2009 - awarded 4 out of 5 stars by Decanter.
Dinner with Michel Roux Jr
We were extremely honoured to have our wines selected for a special dinner with Michel Roux Jr at Glasgow institution, and longstanding Alexander Wines customer, Brian Maule @ le Chardon d'Or on Tuesday 6th March.
As part of the Roux culinary dynasty, Chef/Patron of 2 star Le Gavroche restaurant in Mayfair and more recently as a respected judge on masterchef 'The Professionals', Michel Jr is widely regarded as one of the top chefs currently working in the uk.
After careful deliberation to select wines that compliment the subtle flavours and textures of Michel's cooking we chose the wines below. Fraser was delighted to receive glowing tributes from both the customers and the great man himself, who commented that these wines were exactly what he would have chosen. High praise indeed!
Crispy tartlette of lobster, curly endive salad with tarragon dressing
Picpoul de Pinet 2010, Domaine du Roc Blanc, Gerard Bertrand, Languedoc
Delicate minerality, stone fruits, herby notes, fresh acidity
Seared salmon with spicy chorizo and garlic mayonnaise
Fronton Rose 2010, Chateau Baudare, Fronton, South West France
Rich red fruit flavours, dry and fresh with a long finish
Roast fillet beef and braised oxtail, red wine shallot sauce
Crozes Hermitage Rouge 'Tradition' 2009, Yann Chave, Mercurol, Rhone Valley
Intense aromas, concentrated black fruits, cassis, spice
Orange and whisky jelly, almond puff pastry straw
Jurancon Moelleux 'Ballet d'Octobre' 2008, Domaine Cauhape, Jurancon, France
Orange blossom, citrus finish, uncloying sweetness
All of the above wines are available to buy through our website. If Michel Roux's word is not good enough we are also discounting these wines by 10% on all orders placed in March.
Fraser Alexander with Michel Roux at dinner at Brian Maule @ Chardon d'Or - March 2012
Fantastic reception from our Portfolio Tasting 2012
Well for the first time we had our Portfolio Tasting in our brand new offices and warehouses, and what a tasting it was!! All our wine suppliers provided fantastic information and cheer throughout the day with over 120 wines to taste. Along with this our catering, provided by brand new company Scoop, ticked all the boxes allowing all our customers to enjoy a hearty lunch whilst watching the hustle and bustle of the tasting.
We were also pleased to have 2 Masters of Wines at our tasting - David Hesketh MW from Laurent Perrier and Chris Donaldson MW from Royal Tokaji. Both hosted private masterclasses with exclusive and unique wines for those who participated to taste.
We hope that all who attended enjoyed the day as much as everyone here at AW and look forward to seeing you all again for next years event.
February
Portfolio Tasting - 27th February
On Monday the 27th of February we will be hosting our Portfolio Tasting with suppliers from all over the world jetting in to showcase their wines. With some suppliers coming in from as far afield as South Africa, there will be some old favourites and new treats for you to taste and you can meet the exceptional wine makers who produce these wines.This event is being held in our brand new offices/ warehouse ideally situated by Hillington West train station, making there no excuses for you to bring the car........
Doors will be open from 3pm - 5pm.
Please RSVP by either email enquiries@alexander-wines.co.uk or call our office on 0141 882 0039.
January
Chateauneuf-du-Pape wins award
We were really pleased to see that Decanter had awarded 4 out of 5 stars to the 2009 Vieilles Vignes Chateauneuf-du-Pape from Domaine de la Janasse. This winery consistently produces top class wines and even in the hot summer of 2009 they managed to produce this exquiste wine. Full of subtle juicy fruit and balanced with cedar and spice this wine is perfect for drinking now.£875.88 a case (please note only sold by the case)
Happy New Year
We would like to wish all our customers a Happy New Year from the Alexander Wines team. If you haven't come up with a new years resolution yet you could try new and exciting wines from our portfolio. There is a selection on our home page - 'New Years Wine' which is a showcase of wines you may not have come across before. A perfect excuse to try something different.December
Office and Warehouse Festive Opening Hours
Please click on this link to view our Festive Operating hours. Please be advised that typical Scottish winter weather may cause disruptions over the Festive season and operating hours may change.
November
Movember Update
Check out our boys and their moustaches.......................
From left to right - Paul Graham (Logistics and Operations Manager), Gavin White (Ayrshire Sales) and Stevie Morrow (Deliveries)
Festive Tasting evening
We would like to thank all all those who attended our Festive tasting evening and made the event such a success. We were very pleased to showcase our tasting room along with all our selected wines. Everyone seemed to enjoy them!We will keep you posted of any further tasting events we may be having in the future - sign up to our newsletter to receive notifications of events.
Movember
Paul from the office has decided to join in with men across the country to grow a moustache in awareness for mens health in the month of November. He is not allowed to shave his moustache all month and we are hoping that he will be able to give Magnum P.I a run for his money in the 'tache stakes!! If you would to donate to his mens health charities please click here.We will be uploading pictures of his progress so watch this space.............
October
Gold Award for South African stunner
Well those clever wine makers at Simonsig have done it again - struck GOLD. Their Redhill Pinotage 2008 has just been awarded Gold in the Veritas Awards 2011. This is a fantastic wine to pair with rare beef and juicy venison, just the type of thing you want to enjoy on these colder dark nights.Dont miss out on this award-winning South African winner £15.25 a bottle.
September
Support to Design Collective Scotland
Alexander Wines and Laurent Perrier were proud to be sponsors of the Design Collective Scotland exhibition in the Merchant city at the beginning of the month. Comprising four of Scotland's leading emerging contemporary designers, Design Collective Scotland aims to showcase the finest cutting edge fashion talent. Whilst aesthetics explored by each brand are diverse; collectively, each brand shares high-end, contemporary vision and principles. The harmonious balance of talent, specialism and outlook coalesces to form an incredibly strong platform for a successful collaborative showcase.As an entrepeneur who started at a young age himself, Fraser Alexander could empathise with the collective and was glad to be able to help out in any way he could. We wish the collective the best of luck in all thier ventures, including their showcase at the London Fashion Week (16-20 September 2011).
The Design Collective above (from left to right) Iona Crawford, Di Gilpin, Marc Ross and Emily Lamb.
August
Alexander Wines is 30 years old!!!!
Having been inspired by a summer of grape picking in Germany, Fraser Alexander started selling wine to Glasgow restaurants from the back of an old truck in the summer of 1981. Since that day it is amazing to think that the company has grown to have 12 full time employees, 3 vans and now sells wine the length and breadth of the country.To celebrate this historic marking in the journey of Alexander Wines we will be sailing to the Isle of Arran for a staff day out. The office and warehouse will be closed on this day (Friday 26th August) to allow the staff to celebrate with Fraser.
The BIG Move
Well we have been waiting and the big move is happening. We will be relocating on Friday 19th August to our brand spanking new offices situated within our brand new warehouse. The whole team will be under one roof; Warehouse staff, Sales team and Ofiice team. We will have the same telephone and fax numbers if you need to contact us, and our email is still the same too.We will let you know when we will be having our first wine tasting evening in our brand new tasting suite, and as we are situated right by Hillington West train station leave the car at home, this is a bigger excuse to try lots of wine.
Our new address is :-
2 Buccleuch Avenue
Hillington Park
Glasgow
G52 4NR
Windows to the World
Here is a picture of the workmen installing our windows into our new office! We're looking forward to hopefully having some of this sunshine beating down on us whilst we deal with all your wine orders. Not long now guys - we hope to be relocating in 2 weeks time.We will notify online when we have officially moved.
Until then we will still be at our office at Deanside Road if you need to contact us.
Lord Sugar and Piers meet over a bottle of 'Capitel de Roari'
When watching tv last week, most of us would have been focusing on whether Piers Morgan was going to ask some ridiculous question and looking forward to the answer that Lord Sugar would give on 'When Piers met Lord Sugar'. Along with this, however, Frasers observations noticed something more exciting!!! A bottle of Capitel de Roari on the table in the restaurant they were dining at in America. Alexander Wines has been suppling this wine for many years to bars and restaurants across Scotland, so seeing it on Lord Sugars table was a sure sign of how great this wine is. He does afterall make some rather good decisions.We have this wine for you to enjoy also - A well-balanced Amarone that still exhibits much of the dark fruit flavours, earth and meaty components expected of this DOC. Aromas of black cherry and prunes joined by beefy and earthy aromas. Moves along the palate nicely with a mix of dark and dried fruit with some meatiness on the finish. Elegant but exhibiting good concentration. You will not find many wines at this price and quality.
£17.91 a bottle
July
German Riesling Week
The week of 23rd July - 31st July has been announced as German Riesling week. One of our favourite wines - Domdechant Werner Hochhiemer Riesling hails from Germany and comes from the Rheigau Region. Here the vines are grown beside the river Rhein on the slopes of the hills where sunshine and a cool climate result in high quality grapes. If you have never tried a German Riesling this is a great one to introduce you to this fabulous variety. This is an elegant, crsip wine with flavours of ripe apples, peach and apricot but balanced with a citrus zing and subtle mineral notes.£11.15 a bottle
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July Newsletter
If you haven't signed up to our newsletter on the home page yet here is what you missed out on. Sign up to the link on our homepage so you can receive information about offers and new wines we have in the future, and be the first to try them.Silver ware for Austrian
Another week, another award for one of our wines. This time a delight from Austria - Gruner Veltliner by Hoepler. Awarded Silver by the IWC 2010. The Austrian national grape, Gruner Veltliner, is marked by its primary rock character, a light green tinge, yellow apple scents, and spicy hay flavours supported by minerals. A sure award winning combination as displayed by this wine.
£9.15 a bottle
New offices
The new offices are scheduled to be finished mid August - with the office team hopefully moving in then. This will be the first time the whole team has been under one roof, with the Warehouse and Offices together. We are very excited about the move and will keep you updated with the progress.Pedal Power
The Warehouse boys will soon be the fittest Warehouse team in Scotland after Fraser invested in these bikes for the team to get to and from work. Each team member will cycle an average of 100 miles a week!!
June
Anakena ONA Red 2008 - 91 points from Wine Enthusiast
We were not surprised when we had learned that the Anakena Ona Red 2008 vintage had scored so highly by Wine Enthusiast. Described as 'Big and earthy, with char, savoury spice and black fruit aromas. The palate is full and bold with ripe tannins and delicious flavours of herbs, baked berry, integrated spice and leather. Smooth, long and muscular: made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Syrah - 91 ponts'£10.15 a bottle
Staff start WSET Diploma
£8.50 a bottle
May
New WheelsCheck out our new fleet of super shiny vans, ready and waiting to deliver lots of tasty wine to you.
Give our drivers a wave if you see them out on the road!!
