The origins of Sharecase lie nearly 50 years ago when a medical student paid his way through university by wine-waiting four nights a week, prompting a lifelong interest, some would say obsession, in wine. Many years later the still impecunious doctor paid his children's school fees by buying early English drawings and watercolours at auction and selling them when school fees were due. This was done by a blunderbuss approach – lots of very low bids being left for fully authenticated watercolours. Later he applied the same principles to buying wine at auction. Lots of low bids meant very few successful bids but this was just what was wanted. Eventually, with the help of a tube strike, the inevitable happened and he was successful with many lots. He ‘phoned his friends and they shared the cases bought. The number of friends grew and Sharecase was born.
It has now been decided to extend this principle and open it to the wine-loving public,with the option of joining the cooperative. The difference now is that wines are also acquired from sources other than the auction houses. These are impeccable direct sources from as high up the wholesale ladder as possible.
The cooperative will be as interactive as the members will wish it to be. Some will simply wish to take advantage of the pricing structure (members receive a discount of 10%) and enjoy wine which will taste all the better for being cheaper than they can buy anywhere else. Others will wish to participate to a greater or lesser extent in: -
- great value wine online
- tastings
- dinners
- wine tours
- occasional "educational" monographs on certain aspects of wine
and anything else that the members would like us to organise.
