Let's get naked

Baricci Rosso di Montalcino 2009, plus drinking partners

I've read a lot about Naked Wines over the past few months. Naked are a relatively new online retailer with a novel concept - you can join up as a "angel", pay £20 a month and then get Naked's exclusive wines at a considerable discount (33% or more) when they're released. Naked use the money paid upfront to fund small winemakers, thereby allowing them to make the kind of wines which might otherwise be commercially unviable. This is a fine idea, and I love the emphasis it puts on the wine and the winemakers, instead of marketing and big business, elements which do drive many larger wine-making concerns.

What made me take the plunge was actually a wine tweeted byRobert McIntosh, whilst at a wine fair in London. His recommendation came with an aside that the producer (Baricci) had no UK distributor. Within hours, Naked had contacted Baricci and had an allocation of 90 cases up on their site for presale (read more about this here). A…