If you haven’t been to Birmingham for a while, you’re in for a surprise, especially if you arrive at the gleaming new incarnation of New Street station with its rippling mirrored facade. Clock the designer shops (hello, Louis Vuitton!) and the fact that there are now five Michelin-starred restaurants (Manchester has none) and you can see that this city, once better known for its Curry Mile and grungey Bullring shopping centre, is booming.
It explains a lot, too, about the success of Loki, a gem of a storecupboard-sized wine shop in the Great Western arcade. By midday, a youngish crowd is thronging around the five Enomatic tasting machines that dispense samples of 40 different wines, most upwards of £15. While there are some big names (a £1.99 tasting sample of top Californian producer Ridge’s 2011 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is a real treat), most bottles reflect the offbeat obsessions of Loki’s enthusiastic young owner, Phil Innes, and his staff.
There’s a fair bit of Australian wine, for example, but not the belting Barossa shiraz you might expect. Instead, I get to try one of the most exciting grenaches I’ve come across: Ochota Barrels Fugazi 2014 (£29.99; 13.8% abv), from the Adelaide Hills, is made from 64-year-old bush vines and tastes like freshly made strawberry jam. (Highbury Vintners in London has it for £28.)
Innes sees no point in competing with the supermarkets (there’s a Tesco, a Sainsbury’s and a Waitrose just down the road) and wants his customers to experiment. When I visit, they’ve cracked open the light, lush Emil Bauer Bullshit Grauburgunder 2014 from the Pfalz (£15.99; 12.5% abv), which is about as far away from a supermarket pinot grigio as you can imagine (that one’s £14.50 at Park & Bridge) and Fabien Jouves’ bright, breezy You Fuck My Wine?! 2014 (£15.99; 12% abv). The name, in case you’re wondering, refers to Jouves’ battle with the authorities in Cahors, who wouldn’t let him use the local jurançon noir. It’s a fabulously fresh, juicy red almost like a gamay.
In the fine wine cabinet, things are rather more sedate. There’s burgundy and bordeaux, posh champagne, super Tuscans and a considerable amount of vintage port (which is still very popular in the Midlands, apparently, and not just at Christmas). Loki stocks Taylor’s 1985 for £70.99, for instance (it’s between £60 and £95 elsewhere, including £90 at “never knowingly undersold” John Lewis). I suspect a fair few Brummie dads will get some for Father’s Day this weekend.
• For Fiona’s top 10 Father’s Day wines, go to matchingfoodandwine.com
