Introducing Waitrose Cellar online
Waitrose has totally revamped their online wine service and I was invited to find out more about the Waitrose Cellar as well as taste some of the range recently. The event was held near King’s Cross at the London Canal Museum.
The museum was a great setting as it was set next to Regent’s Canal and after a few speeches and getting to know you introductions, we jumped onto a canal barge and had an impromptu wine tasting with two of Waitrose’s wine experts. Xenia Irwin, MW and buyer for the Waitrose Cellar was our wine expert on the barge.
Waitrose Cellar buyer, Xenia Irwin, MW
credit: Emma Gutteridge
credit: Emma Gutteridge
credit: Emma Gutteridge
The cellar online has a full range of over 1,200 wine to choose from, many of them exclusive to Waitrose. They have also introduced 6 bottle cases as well as 12 bottles available to order and have free delivery within 3 working days. The sight is also fully interactive on iPad, we had a lot of fun messing around with it later during our wine “speed-dating” event, once we had finished our wine tastings on the canal.
iPad app
credit: Emma Gutteridge
The wine “speed-dating” was all about us finding the perfect wine for us. We were split up into pairs and had 3 minutes to interview our wine partners on what would be the ideal wine for them. At the end of the evening, they tabulated our results and we were promised a case of wine with what was deemed the best wine choices for us based on our answers.
doing my wine interview
credit: Emma Gutteridge
I eagerly awaited my case and surprise, surprise, I got champagne, sherry and cremant de Loire amongst the bottles in my case. Of the wines we tasted, they were all of excellent quality. I don’t think there was a clunker in the range that was available that evening. Waitrose is working to find the best wines for its customers. To that end, to celebrate the new online service, they challenged 6 of their buyers to pick out their personal favourites from the 1,200 strong range. They call it the Ultimate Cellar Case and it is a mix of “modern classics, old masters and gems” they’ve found along their wine tasting travels. You can find the Ultimage Cellar Case on the Waitrose Cellar website. A very fun evening and a great introduction to the new Waitrose Cellar.