When I lived in London Peckham Rye was not somewhere I could locate swiftly. That may have reflected the unintended prejudices of someone bound firmly north of the river (if you count the South Bank Centre as an exception), but then again, I’m not sure it was considered somewhere to aspire to live back then. Nor, especially, was Battersea for that matter, but times change. I did venture south to see the Eagles play once, but that’s another story.

I was aware maybe a decade or so ago that the joint-owner of a fashionable London wine shop moved down that way, and although he has since moved with his family to La France Profonde, his pioneer spirit was followed to Peckham by some fashionable restaurants, and around (it seems) 50% of the young people I know in the wine trade. It’s hardly surprising, as Bellenden Road, a five-minute walk from Peckham Rye station, itself a mere fifteen minute/three-stop train ride from Blackfriars, is full of tasteful shops and, in the sunshine, a very nice vibe.

Bellenden Road is where you will find The Sourcing Table, a wine shop and bar offering wine by the glass and a small plates menu as well. The roots of this project lay in an idea by Ben Henshaw as to the kind of wine shop he’d like to see. Ben founded importer Indigo Wine in 2003. Indigo has grown in twenty-odd years to become one of the UK’s most awarded, and indeed innovative, importers. Ben also launched Mother Rock in 2015, a wine project with Johan Meyer in Swartland, South Africa. Indigo imports a wonderful range, but if I were to highlight one country, they have really got under the skin of Spain. Of the wines I left The Sourcing Table with last week, three out of four were Spanish.

Ben is also joined at The Sourcing Table by some behind the scenes names familiar to those of us in the world of wine. These include director Will Burgess, a former classical musician who has since become something of a wine entrepreneur; Paz Levinson (now head executive sommelier at Groupe PIC in Paris); Rajat Parr (who needs no introduction to many readers but is undoubtedly one of California’s most innovative winemakers); and Dr Jamie Goode, whose always perceptive wine writing is matched by his popularity as one of the most entertaining and best speakers on the wine circuit. That’s a list of finely tuned palates and deep, deep knowledge.

The Sourcing Table is a perfect example of why I keep telling people about the pleasures of browsing. Browsing, for me, is one of my great passions. I mean that as much for record stores and bookshops as for wine shops. Something always jumps out from the shelf, as indeed a South African white wine did for me on my trip here. I know this is a time when we all sit at a screen and order online, just as I placed an order from my favourite coffee roasters this morning before I began typing. But a mx of browsing and a chat with the staff (Henry in this case), is definitely recommended.

The shelves are brimming with bottles you won’t easily find elsewhere. The wines Indigo imports feature prominently, but this isn’t a mere Indigo Wines showroom, so there’s plenty on offer from all over the wine world. I was especially pleased to grab a bottle of Bodegas Zárate winemaker Eulogio Pomares’s collaboration with Jamie Goode, Zalto importer Daniel Primack and Ben Henshaw. I’d come across the amazing “Sal da Terra” Albariño a number of times since its original release at tastings, but had never managed to buy a bottle. It’s a wine that you could call a benchmark for salinity, and one that Jancis Robinson says (to paraphrase) made her fall in love with this underrated Galician grape variety again.

There’s another such collab by the same miscreants which you may find on the shelf (and another Indigo line), called Salt Éire. The wine hails from that wonderful maker of English wine, Dermot Sugrue and the name is a nod towards his Irish heritage. It’s a still wine, a multi-vintage, solera-aged Chardonnay no less. I seem to leave a bottle behind, so to speak, every time I visit a wine shop. On this occasion I was limited not only by what I could lug back to Fleet Street, but what would fit inside my suitcase for the journey north as well. I deeply regret I did not grab that bottle. It has been giving me nightmares ever since.

Salt Éire hiding next to some Black Book cuvées

There are so many other tasty offerings from Spain on the shelves. As with the wines of the Canary Isles, we are beginning to see a wider offering from the Balearics, and those of Soca-Rel are well worth exploring. The winery and vineyards are on the island of Mallorca, between Concell and Binissalem. If you are used to some of the more alcoholic wines from the island, Soca-Rel’s may surprise you with more subtle flavours more in keeping with today’s taste, especially for lighter reds.

I can’t not mention, as they say, one producer from an excellent range of Rioja’s which might have gone under my radar were it not for a recent Rioja piece in Decanter Magazine. That is Bodegas las Orcas.

Raimundo Abando is a former athlete and third generation winemaker at his family bodega which dates back to 1900 in Rioja Alavesa. He grows Tempranillo and a little Graciano for the reds and Viura for his Rioja Blanco, which is an old vine cuvée (80-y-o vines) aged in oak.

That is just a paltry few wines from The Sourcing Table’s 350-or-so bottles on the shelves. If I had the means, both physical and financial, I could have walked out with at the very least sixty exciting bottles, which is not something I can say for every wine shop, even some good ones.

One thing that is clear about this store is the importance placed on staff knowledge. I mentioned Henry earlier and he’s the shop manager. Friendly, very clued-up but not at all in your face is what you want when you go wine shopping, and Henry has this down to a tee. In some shops its all about what they want to sell you. They don’t listen. Not the case at all here.

Far right pic, a pair from Krasna Hora (Czechia) so new that I hadn’t seen them before

On the food front, you can get what they call “Bar Snacks”. Cheeses (from Mons), charcuterie, rillettes, paté, tinned fish, Gordal olives and almonds all look top quality, and the crisps are Torres, of course (four flavour options, more than most). About twenty wines are listed by the glass, along with beers, cider and soft drinks, but there’s also a nice Coravin list on the blackboard (see photo) which, on my visit, included Evening Land Chardonnay, Andreas Tscheppe Gelber Muskateller, Château St-Anne Bandol Rosé and La Stoppa’s Barbera blend. The wealthy Peckhamites can also grab a £30/glass Clos Erasmus Priorat, but that’s a wee bit over budget for my purse.

As a bar this is a great community asset, somewhere for a tasty morsel and a chance to sample a wonderful wine by the glass. But it’s located in a community with many fine places to grab a drink and food. Just walking out of Peckham Rye station you pass Levan, with its empty unicorns lining its windows. As a wine shop, however, The Sourcing Table stands out as a rare beast in London. In a city stocked to the brim with wine shops all challenging for your love, a few stand out as exceptional. The Sourcing Table is one of these. Not so much worth a detour as worth a special journey. Do pay them a visit.

As nearly always on wideworldofwine.co no form of remuneration was received for this review.

The Sourcing Table is at 184 Bellenden Road, London SE15 4BW.

Opening hours are:

Mon-Weds 1pm-9pm

Thu,Fri 1pm-10pm

Sat 11am-10pm

Sun 11-5