Tuesday 13 October 2015

War of the Wines


Passione Vino does was it says on the tin (only in Italian). In their shop on Leonard Street are 4 men with a mission to bring the best of small Italian wine producers to Shoreditch. They have a determined and unshakeable philosophy:

‘to seek out the UNDISCOVERED, RARE and TRADITIONAL wine makers from all over Italy and to promote their expertly crafted and very often NATURAL products, to provide the most resonant examples of every wine, yet best reflecting each individual sub-region’s particular CULTURE and geography and TERROIR whilst delivering uncompromising QUALITY and taste.’


Always in search of people with stories to tell, 99Shoreditch’s interest was first piqued by their shop front. Most wine shops feel the need to reflect the serious business of wine in their décor – grown up, solemn spaces for deliberation and decision. Vino Passione celebrates the joy of wine with a shop that is a riot of colour.  The walls are papered in a selection of vivacious flowery prints and the lights are red and yellow beach balls, reminiscent of European holidays in the sun. The window display is a panoply of super heroes all out to defeat the evil mass-produced supermarket wine – Buzz Lightyear and Mr T, alongside Chewbacca and Superman, flying in to the rescue. Finally… people who recognise wine is fun!
 


The reason for their crusade, they tell us, is that very few people realise many supermarket wines have been made uniform with the addition of chemicals and preservatives. The original grape, with all its subtleties and complexities, is lost to a high-yield, mass-produced approach. There is also the issue of tax on wine, which is a standard levy – meaning most of a £5 bottle is tax, leaving little left to make a decent wine. 
 

What these guys like is wine that is as true as possible and by keeping things small they can keep unnecessary additions and interventions to a minimum. Keen to stress that not all their wine is crazily priced, they do a very good house wine for £9, but do admit that by adding a few more pounds into the £11-£13 mark you can get something really outstanding.



Vino Passione also has a room for tastings and private functions. Again, thought and feeling has been put into the décor. What could have been a dark and dingy space has been transformed into an intimate venue by clever use of dark flowery wallpaper and a light made from copper tubes that grow up the wall and ceiling, representing a vine. 

So, for all their light-hearted approach, these guys are serious about their wine. They have a newspaper dedicated to the stories behind their vineyards - real people producing the best wines from some of the least known regions of Italy. If you’ve never had a wine from the slopes of Mount Etna, you can now.



Dario Corradi told us a little of what it is like being in Shoreditch, “We have a lot of local customers who live or work here. They come to us to be guided and find something new and different. It’s a playground where people can ask questions, taste and enjoy themselves in an informal environment. We want people to drink better wine where they can taste the grape, not the chemicals. And so far it seems to be working, people are coming back again and again and the business is doing very well.’
 
Vino Passione is another great Shoreditch success story – entrepreneurs and independent thinkers who are putting their passion at the heart of their business. Good luck guys and cheers!





@PassioneVinoUk

 All photos by shootbernard.com


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