DRIVEN BY HER DETERMINATION TO TAKE THE SNOBBERY OUT OF BUYING GOOD WINE, SOUTH AFRICAN KATE THAL HAS OPENED UP A NEW MARKET FOR LONDON DRINKERS. JANELLE ESTREICH REPORTS.

TNT Magazine
Thursday August 18, 2005

South African wine guru Kate Thal is the first to admit the idea behind her newly opened London wine shop and bar is simple: sell quality wine in a friendly environment. But in a country where mass-produced supermarket plonk accounts for 75% of sales, and snobbery in upmarket wine shops is rife, her concept is also a refreshing one. “We're trying to strike a balance between making an environment that is very relaxed and user friendly so it is very simple to buy a nice bottle of wine,” explains Thal. “We're also providing wine that is much better quality than what you would find in a supermarket or on the high street.”

Located in East Dulwich, in London's south-east, the front section of Green & Blue offers a selection of handpicked bottles sorted by style with tasting notes to explain their flavours, while at the rear is a bar where you can drink your chosen bottle over a platter of tasty tapas. But apart from good wine, the key to making them accessible is service, which for Thal and manager Paul Barker meant finding staff who knew next to nothing about wine. “What I wanted more than anything was people who served wine with enthusiasm and didn't patronise anyone or make them feel stupid if they don't know something,” she says. “Often people who have had some wine training immediately have a bit of an attitude, which is the last thing we wanted.”

Thal's mission to break down the snobbery associated with wine can be traced to her early days as a sommelier, when her gender and nationality saw her on the receiving end. “I think I suffered quite a lot from it when I was first breaking into wine,” she says.

“I am a woman — there are a few female sommeliers around now, but it wasn't very prevalent - plus I'm South African, so I didn't even come from France, Italy or somewhere with comparatively great historical wine traditions. There was definitely an attitude of, well, ‘what could you possibly know?'” It was while working a summer job at a wine tasting centre in the South African town of Stellenbosch , where she grew up, that Thal got her first taste for the wine trade. She went on to work as a sommelier in London and then as a buyer for a restaurant group. In 2001 Thal began to act on her dream of opening her own business. “It's a story of great tragedy,” she says with a laugh and a look that suggests she fought her fair share of battles to get to this point. “Along the way we had investors who pulled out and investors who changed their mind about how funding was going to happen. Finding a site was equally hard. If a site is good there is amazing competition and the prices are unbelievable. It took almost exactly a year from when we saw this site to actually getting the keys in our hands. Then it was a year again of drama and pain... transferring leases is very difficult.”

But the hard work has just begun for Thal, who hopes to open up to seven sites across London over the next seven years. Working a six-and-a-half day week, including consulting on a freelance basis to pay the bills, you get the feeling kicking back with a good glass of wine is a luxury for Thal. But with a steady stream of appreciative customers filtering through the doors, she is safe to savour the early signs of success.

“I hope that I never get over this feeling but still, every time I drive past or come into the shop, I think, ‘Oh my God, it's open',” she says. “Even more exciting than just having it here is that everything I hoped would work seems to really be working. It's well worth the pain to get here.”

Green & Blue, 38 Lordship Lane , SE22 (020- 8693 9250; ww.greenandbluewines.com).

Tastings are held every second Monday night, while how-to-taste wine sessions run every five weeks.