Londonist Drinks: The Sampler

It's not often that Londonist gets to try lots of different wines for less than a tenner. So we were excited to hear about The Sampler, a new wine store on Upper Street in Islington, that lets you try before you by.

On a recent weekday evening, one dog and two very friendly, knowledgeable, non-pushy salespeople helped guide us through ten wines from a variety of regions. The Sampler uses the Enomatic Wine Serving System to deliver a perfect tasting-amount of any wine on offer. It's one of the first establishments in London to use the Enomatic system.

Buy a Sampler Top-Up card upon entering, and make your way from one end of the globe to the other, helping yourself to 25 mL pours along the way. (You use your Sampler card--pictured--in the Enomatic like you would your bank card at a cash machine.) 25 mL servings range from less than a pound to, well, quite a lot more than that when you get into their Icon range...Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Grands Echezeaux 2000 anyone?

The Sampler
266 Upper Street
Islington
London N1 2UQ
tel. +44 207 226 9500