A wine shop on Market Row
Calloway Wines (sample) opened in 2016 in an old ironmonger’s, with 120 bins and a till. The bar came three years later.
Our story
We started with one wall of bins and a rule: every wine on it had been tasted by someone who works here. Today there are about three hundred bins (sample), and the rule is the same.
Customers kept asking to open a bottle in the shop, so in 2019 we put a bar at the back. Now every bottle on the shelves is on the bar list too, for the shop price plus corkage.
Every wine is tasted before it gets a bin
We taste samples from importers and growers every week and say no far more often than yes. A wine earns a bin when it is good for its price and we would open it at home.
- Most bottles are under $30, and a third under $20
- We buy by the case, so a bin always holds one wine
- When a bin runs down, it becomes a bin end; when it is empty, a new wine takes the number
Behind the counter
Five people who will tell you what they drank last night and what it cost.
Nora Calloway
Owner and wine buyer (sample)
Sam Okafor
Bar manager (sample)
LucĂa Ferrer
Shop floor and orders (sample)
Ben Hartley
Tastings and events (sample)
Iris Park
Weekends and deliveries (sample)
Pick a bottle, then pull up a stool
The shop is open from 10:00 and the bar from 17:00, Tuesday to Sunday (sample). Any bottle on the shelves can be opened at the bar.