A lot has changed since I moved to Scotland in 2022. I think one of the main changes I had to get to grips with was that nobody knew me up here. In London I’d get invited to all the tastings and then spend a lot of the morning saying hello to people I know (certainly not complaining), but up here I had no profile and people more often wondered who was this old guy with a notebook? In fact, I must express my gratitude to trade members and writers up from London for making me feel the warmth I was initially missing.

The one exception was an introduction from someone whose kindness I can’t repay properly, who gave me an introduction to India Parry-Williams. People in Scotland who have any interest in natural wine will immediately know India as one of the co-founders of Edinburgh’s first and best known low-intervention wine fair, the Wild Wine Fair, or “Wild” as it has become known, to sit alongside “Real” and “Raw”.

India’s day job is as manager of retail, social media and events for Cork & Cask, a wine shop in the Marchmont area of Edinburgh, south of the city centre, about a ten-minute walk from the southern end of the Meadows. Regular readers will be aware that over the past few years I have singled out several wine shops to write about, and the criteria is more or less that if this shop were the only one left on the planet it would happily service all my drinks needs.

Previous inclusions have highlighted Butlers Wine Cellar in Brighton, Solent Cellar in Lymington and Feral Art et Vin in Bordeaux. These places tend to have the feel of a “London wine shop” outside London. Edinburgh does not lack good places to buy wine, and I won’t pretend that Cork & Cask is the only place I shop, but they do certainly fulfil the terms of the last sentence of the paragraph above. For me that means a strong game with natural wines, an adventurous range, increasingly a need for a good, deep and well-chosen range of single malts and a few curiosities from time to time. Oh, and the most friendly and helpful staff I could wish for.

Cork & Cask was opened in 2013 by Chris Mitchell. India came along in 2014 and the management team was completed by the arrival of Jamie Dawson in 2019. Jamie is in charge of the wine and spirit buying, plus the wholesale arm of the business. As I mentioned, India co-founded Wild Wine with Jo Radford, owner of Edinburgh’s now famous Timberyard Restaurant (where the Fair still takes place). Jamie is one of the hands behind “Blind Summit”, an indie whisky bottler specialising in often unique single cask Scotch Whiskies. The extremely well-trained and knowledgeable team is completed by Sandy, Sam and Connor in the shop and you get the impression that this really is a team game.

Cork & Cask does a lot. The retail shop sales are supplemented with a web site (expanded 2020), plus a thriving wholesale business for Edinburgh restaurants and bars. The shop is the busy hub. It is located in a part of the city inhabited by a lot of students and lecturers at the city’s several Universities and colleges, along with young families. It’s an area which over time has developed the sort of independent businesses that these customers want to see. They like a shop that works closely with small, independent, importers, they know about sulphites and agri-chemicals in wine production, and they prefer artisan over industrial.

The shop is pretty much an equal split between wines, beers and spirits, with Chris having the knowledge to develop a fairly unrivalled beer selection here, but it was India and Jamie who answered my questions.

When asked what sells right now, the first answer was the indie whisky bottlers. I know to my cost how good the range is, and I owe thanks to this place for my discoveries of smaller distilleries like those on the Isle of Harris (the Hearach, see article of 8 October 2023), whose rather special gin was already my favourite, and Arran’s Sauternes Cask, of which I’ve just bought another bottle.

The business is fortunate that Jamie has long experience in selling spirits, so has some longstanding relationships and even friendships with both established producers and new independent bottlers. The latter are the source of some of the most exciting releases on the revived and vibrant whisky market. His finger is firmly on the pulse. Jamie lives in Leith (as, coincidentally does India), which is Edinburgh’s old port. This really is whisky central, both historically but also now once more in the modern age as a centre for both creativity in the trade and for its whisky-loving community.

If you want some tips, Jamie suggests the small Leith releases from Fragrant Drops and Woodrow of Edinburgh for their single cask malts, and also Thompson Brothers for excellent, high malt content, blended whiskies. Like me, he loves Arran (from the Lochranza Distillery), and my favourite, Kilchoman farm distillery from Islay.

It would be unfair, though space is tight, not to mention his specific recommendations, Dailuaine Mystery Cask by Fragrant Drops, Woodrow’s Pulteney 15-y-o, Pintail Caol Ila Pineau des Charantes finish and the new Torabhaig Sherry Cask finish, Cnoc na Moine, singled out for really good value. This is, as you see, what my wine budget is up against now!

All the gins here are Scottish, vodkas organic, and so on. There are also four own-branded whiskies on the shelves. There is a focus on local products, including in white spirits and liqueurs, emphasising locally-foraged ingredients.

Cork & Cask is quite unusual in that its range of wine is somewhere between 70% and 75% organic, and on their web site they currently list 270 “organic and biodynamic” wines, plus a further 130 “natural wines”. The range of small run bottlings changes frequently, so in reality the numbers are way higher. Wines like those of Jura producer Labet, or even New Zealand’s Hermit Ram, are in and gone in a flash. Who says Edinburgh doesn’t know its natural wine. That said, with around 100 bottles under £15 it’s far from being all posh stuff.

I must also add that as well as being one of the few shops to cater for my Alsace predilections, I have found many of my Austrian natural wine favourites here, and equally a good spread of Portuguese bargains and wines from “the New Germany”.

The locals are of the right demographic that they are interested in natural wines, but are also keen to explore new grape varieties, new regions/countries and new winemaking methods. You just know I’m going to love a place that sells some of the most exciting Alsace producers, the odd wine from Bugey, and even, as I mentioned recently elsewhere, has a section (albeit small) of wines from Lorraine.

Perhaps they do sell more wine of other regions though? India lists Portugal, and Sherry (India and Jamie love Sherry so their enthusiasm rubs off) as current big sellers. This is a shop that has more examples of dry and unfortified Palomino than Pinot Grigio on the shelf. English winery, Westwell, a relatively new addition, is picked out as one that is very popular, which goes even further to show how savvy both buyers and customers are here.

India told me about one group of regular customers who come in after work on a Friday, and who seem to love the lighter, funky, reds. These lads now attend Wild Wine, and the twice-yearly Cork & Cask Wine Fairs (see below), a group of lads who they have seen over time become really interested in the whole natural wine thing.

Another thing about Cork & Cask that might surprise you is their range of fifty-plus ciders and perry, a range looked after by Sandy. That’s a lot. The ethos is the same as for wine, an emphasis on small, low intervention, independent producers like Oliver’s (Ross on Wye), Little Pomona (Hereford) etc. There’s a focus on ciders from England and Scotland (which makes brilliant cider, as I’ve discovered), though also with one or two producers from Spain and France.

Beer is a last but not least here, because beer was what started the whole business, Chris being the beer expert. There’s a stipulation that all the beers stocked are made in the UK, Germany or Belgium. This includes an unrivalled focus on small Scottish brewers, and if you want to find a new release from a small Scottish brewery, this is a place to start. To cater for demand the enormous beer range includes forty non-alcoholic options, and, tellingly, a selection of gluten free beers. The Cork & Cask Insta feed has been a beer education for me.

What do Jamie and India like drinking at home? I always like to find out the kind of thing that makes retailers excited personally. Jamie likes petnats and fruit-led skin contact wines when out, and volcanic wines at home. Special mention goes to grape varieties Mencia, Bastarda and Albariño. India professes a special love for Sicily. She mentions producers Lamoresca, Barracco and Alessandro Viola there, along with Cabernet Franc, but confesses that if she’s out somewhere and doesn’t fancy the wine list, she’s likely to go for a margarita (I’m more for a negroni but I’m with her in spirit). I suspect that they do drink rather more widely though.

Events are always important for a wine shop, and Cork & Cask do the usual run of events, ranging from one to coincide with the Scottish National Whisky Festival (which I think is this weekend), and receptions for up to 900 people, down to free shop tastings, corporate evenings, restaurant collabs (including regularly and ongoing with BYO Mara’s Picklery round the corner) etc, which are mostly all up on the web site, along with a range of monthly discounted selections.

Major among these events are the two Fairs they put on in a church hall near to the shop, a Winter Wine Fair and a Summer Fair. This summer’s event had more of a beer and cider focus, but the Winter Fair in 2024 is at St Giles Church on 9 November, but I think may be sold out. It is a remarkable event. What India and Jamie manage to do is to attract a remarkable number of small importers to bring a selection of wines for participants to taste. For £20, including a £5 voucher redeemable in-store, it’s a bargain.

The event has grown. When it began in 2018, they sold around 100 tickets, but now 300 tickets sell like hot cakes. It’s not surprising. Last year’s event (see my three articles of 8, 12 and 16 November 2023) had drinks (at least 200 bottles) poured by (among others) Indigo Wines, Dynamic Vines, Keeling Andrew, Modal Wines, Roland Wines, and Vine Trail. This selection gives the natural wine connoisseur a good idea of some of the delights you’ll find in the shop (though the photos sprinkled through this article should help).

One thing I’ve never talked about before in an article like this is sustainability. Wine shops don’t mention it often enough but Cork & Cask have thought about it a lot, in relation to waste and its disposal, deliveries, packaging and more. With 80% of the range organic or better, the aim is 100%. They also belong to a bottle return scheme for beer bottles and are talking to a Scottish gin brand about a similar scheme for “refills”. That thinking also means nearly all of the wines are from Europe, not further afield, although I am always pleased to find the odd antipodean etc (the aforementioned Hermit Ram was in my last order).

Cork & Cask really does have it all, catering for the knowledge hungry new customer to the demanding obscurist (ie me). A brilliant range sold by amazing people about sums up Cork & Cask, and I am forever grateful, Ruth, for introducing me to India, and Jamie. Michelin Travel Guides say “worth a detour” about some places. I say “worth dragging a small suitcase to and from the station”, which I can tell you is no small distance. Of course they do deliver, and there is a bus, but there aren’t many wine shops which are as fun to browse in and where the staff are as nice when faced with my obscure wine meanderings.

At the end of the day this is a small shop run with a strong ethos of serving the community, but if you are further afield then as a customer you will feel no less a part of that community.

Cork & Cask is at 136 Marchmont Road, Edinburgh EH9 1AQ

Tel : 0131 447 7721    Email: hello@corkandcask.co.uk

Open Monday to Saturday from 10am-8pm, Sundays 12 noon to 8pm

Web site: www.corkandcask.co.uk

Insta: @corkcask

India/Jamie/India with Sam (Morgan) from the team at Winter and Summer Wine Fairs