Hedonism Wine - check it out

WINE TALK
1

I found this on the CT board, so can’t take credit for the post. This store is amazing…

2

Wanna bet on how many of these bottles are authentic?

An exiled Russian dealing in decades old wine…serious LOL.

3

The concept is neat. I like the fact that he at least has 600 bottles at < 30 pounds each. That tasting machine - I wonder what they have on tap and the cost…

4

I wonder how much he lost in Cypress?

5

Is his name Serge? :wink:

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I think Yevgeny Chichvarkin somehow translates…yes. [snort.gif]

7

Ron - it’s those pesky кириллица characters, they get me every time!

8

There was a thread on the store when it had just opened: ZOMFG: "World's best wine shop" opens in London - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

9

I spent some time in there last week, give them top marks for stock, some pricing was good others not so, overall I was happy with my purchasing experience.

10

Just to put the record straight (as I see it) - this is a very serious shop. It’s well thought out and run and the buyer is extremely committed, experienced and scrupulous. If I had the money to splash out on those high end rarities I really would be confident in what I was getting.

It is your right to take this with a pinch of salt of course as he is a personal friend and occasional client.

11

Peter thanks. I need to at least check this out when I am in London again. I hope all is well with you.
Cheers.

12

Great store, absolutely worth checking out when in London.

13

The buyer might be scrupulous, but call me a skeptic re: the owner. A billionaire at 34 years old (2009) in the Russian economy, in less than 10 years…how does that happen? It’s not like Russia is known for its pure-form capitalism…

14

The link to John Kapon on their home page gives this organization all the street cred any of us could ever want.

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His story is quite unique - He built his mobile phone business from scratch and had to leave as being an opponent of Putin didn’t favour him to say the least, and ended up in the UK. He felt there was a gap for a very top end, luxurious wine shop in Mayfair and employed the best people he could to do the jobs for him.

The collection was put together over an 18 month period, whilst at the same time designing and building the shop.

The majority of the old classics came from well known distributors, private collectors and brokers. There is full history for every bottle with full provenance from where it came and also where they got it from.

Of course in this day and age you have to be super cautious and its easy to say they must be fake, but there are still originals out there, and in spite of Rudy and Rodenstock, we will strive to find them.

I dont know what else they can do, but what they do do, and what Hedonism is, is truly a wonderful experience and anyone with any interest in wine needs to see it and make their own minds up…