Chislehurst, Petts Wood & Bickley Village News: Where can you get a glass of wine in Chislehurst for 30p? (Yes it can be done!)

Here at Village News the girls have always enjoyed their beer. Not that nauseating yellow fizz that gives proper lager a bad name. (It is somewhat ironic that a “lager” that goes by the name Fosters, is advertised as a quintessentially Australian lager, when it is not very popular in Australia and is, in fact, brewed in the UK.) Lager belongs in mainland Europe, and if that’s one’s tipple, then that is where one should head. No, our girls are bitter girls, so to speak, and are well served in the Village News area with Courage, Shepherd Neame and Young’s pubs, to name but three.

Imagine their delight, therefore, when here at Village News Towers, we received news of a recently-opened off-licence that was stocking approximately 150 beers from around the world. The corner shop opposite The Bickley, that used to be Unwins, then something else, and is now Chislehurst Wines could be thought of, by someone who hadn’t been inside, as just another off-licence as this someone combines the convenience of food and drink purchases under one roof at Sainsbury’s or Morrisons with F*****s in the beer aisle and loads of wine in the opposite shelves, but nothing much to guide them as to what to purchase, other than price. However, even this could be a false economy. A recent survey by Wotwine organisation found that some supermarkets seemed content to dump average wines on customers under the guise of bargain deals. Furthermore, most high street supermarkets, including ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Co-Op, Morrisons, even Waitrose and M & S, were judged to have more poor value wine than good value wine. The only exceptions were, flavours of the decade, Aldi and Lidl, where good value wine was more in evidence than poor value.

Village News went off to Chislehurst Wines (and Beers) as we’ve been calling it, keen to find out whether it’s possible to get 150 varieties of F*****s. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear that it is. We were greeted by manager Alya, who certainly knows her beers. We started by talking about Raspberry Wheat Beer, brewed by Greenwich’s Meantime Brewing Company. Small, craft breweries have seen a renaissance in recent years, and England, with over 1,000, has the third largest number of breweries in the world, behind only the USA and Germany. We ended up discussing Delirium Tremens, an 8.5% Belgian golden ale that won "Best Beer in the World" in the 2008 World Beer Championships, on the way passing dozens of fabulous beers that we’d never even heard of.

Needing a breather, we stuck our heads inside the humidor, housing some fabulous cigars. We didn’t ask Alya if she was a smoker, but she certainly knew about them all.

We then had a look at the port collection, which was plentiful enough to have its own shop. When it came to vintage port, what do you prefer – 10, 20, 30 or 40 year old? Alya has the lot!

We had the same feeling with the whiskey. 10 year old Glenlivet, 18 year old Glenlivet, or 21 year old Glenlivet. Don’t dare go in and just ask for a bottle of whiskey, ‘cos that’s just the start. David Beckham’s new Haig Club whiskey is also in evidence.

Time for some gin. Village News’ readers will know about Chislehurst’s Dom Limbrey’s D1 London gin. Alya has that in stock. She also has Hendrick’s, Sipsmith, The Botanist, Monkey 47.....

“What about rum?” Havana Club, or the 3 year or the 7 year old. Then there’s the vodka. Alya showed us a bottle of Royal Dragon, which, when shaken in the bottle, stirs up a load of sparkly snowflakes like those Christmas scene toys we’ve all played with, only Royal Dragon’s “snowflakes” are in fact gold flakes!

Thank goodness we had reached the wine! Time for some cheap old plonk – but not a bit of it. Alya took us skilfully through a selection of some of the 600+ wines, guiding us to some of her favourites and answering any questions we had.

ALYA & ROYAL DRAGON

It was then that we really came alive. Not just a “take it or leave it” approach, it was time for some tastings, but not from just a couple of bottles that had been opened days before and were lingering on the shelf. Alya has a wine tasting machine, no less. You buy a wine-tasting card, load it with some cash, put it in a slot on the machine and then get tasting. For each of the 16 bottles or so in the machine (that keeps the wines fresh) you can select a tasting glass for, typically, 30 – 45p, a larger amount for around 60p or even more for 90p or so. This really was a revelation to us. You can be left to get on with

THE MAGNIFICENT WOMAN AND HER TASTING MACHINE

it yourself with the tasting notes, or Alya will help you to decide which ones to try. For the novice and experienced wine-connoisseur alike, it’s a great way to try-before-you-buy. You could go on your own or visit with a group of friends and have a group wine-tasting session. If any reader is stuck for an unusual Christmas present, buy them a Chislehurst Wines’ tasting card.

It’s safe to say, the Village News team was bowled over by its visit. In a time when the supermarkets are falling over themselves to offer the lowest price, it is reassuring to know that in Chislehurst there is a gem of an “off-licence” or, as we’ve now re-re-named it, “Chislehurst Wines, Beers, Whiskeys, Gins, Vodkas, Rums, Ports and Cigars.” However, Chislehurst Wines also has some deals: at present it is offering 3 for £5.50 beers and 30% off selected wines.

Inevitably, whilst we were in the shop a customer old enough to know better walked in and asked for “Four cans of Fosters.”

You can imagine where we thought Alya was going to tell him to go. Fortunately she didn’t.

Chislehurst Wines will soon be joining the Village Card scheme.

See below for some upcoming events.

Chislehurst Wines can be found at 57 Chislehurst Road, Chislehurst, BR7 5NP.

Tel: 020 8467 3528

www.chislehurstwines.co.uk