I struggle to find inspiring wines in supermarkets. The bulk buying tends to exclude the smaller producers, and so blinkers customers from the more interesting stuff.

But don't panic, there are plenty of independents out there to fill this void, and if you are the type of person that buys bogroll to Bollinger from one obscenely large shop then think again before you get drawn into the generic feel of the wine section.
One such independent wine merchant Yapp Brothers is worth a look.
A name which brings forth painful images of an extremely noisy ex-girlfriend's Jack Russell, Yapp is actually an Anglo-Saxon surname meaning clever.
Their approach to wine certainly fits with this etymology.
They are part of 'The Bunch' which is a very small collection of large juicy grapes, six independent wine merchants to be precise. Alarms may start ringing that this 'bunching' may cause the bulk buying and homogeneity we sometimes see in supermarkets, but this could not be further from the truth. 'The Bunch' has its own healthy code of practice which came about to guarantee confidence in customers en primeur and private reserve sales.
En primeur is the purchase of wine prior to bottling, this guarantees supply and is also a bet on wine futures. Hard cash is handed over up to a year or more before the customers receive any wine. 'The Bunch' code of practice eases worries that a thirsty fugitive oenophile would stumble upon, and gulp down your valuable en primeur wine, so you are not throwing your money into an empty barrel.
Yapp have recently reinvented their online image with a slick usable website that has a few cool tools. It makes searching for your bottle of choice easy and fun, and helps demystify the complex wine world if you are a novice.
The Wine By Region map is particularly good as it provides a tangible context for the wine with a few well placed clicks.
There is also a food matcher and an easy wine selector that gives you a nice control panel to search out the perfect bottle.
Yapp provide wine to an impressive array of restaurants, from Gordon Ramsay to Heston Blumenthal, so if you have ever wondered where to get that wine that washed down your snail porridge, now you know.
They currently have a few interesting mixed cases on offer, which I may be tempted by, as my cellar is running dry right now.

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