Recent visitors to the Arch 13/Connolly’s emporium may have chanced upon a frankly ridiculous poster which could lead you to question the sanity of certain members of the team. In the first instance, Nathan (young, fit, ridiculously healthy and slim) will be undertaking his first marathon on April 16th in Manchester and is fundraising for British Heart Foundation. This is obviously a very sensible and worthy undertaking for someone in the peak of life and fitness. He’ll be tearing round the course in search of a great time and any support you could offer would be very warmly appreciated. https ..read more

Years ago, before very clever folk started coming up with all manner of means to keep open bottles of wine (reasonably) fresh, half bottles of wine were a thing. Growers would routinely bottle a modest proportion of their harvest into half bottles and restaurants in particular, would carry them, largely for the benefit of solo diners. And then things changed and the hospitality world started sucking oxygen out of bottles or pumping inert gas into them and offering numerous wines by the glass and lo and behold the principle market for halves faded away. Which was totally understandable and fine ..read more

Yup, we’re going all Teutonic for the month of April with tastings (both in-store and virtual), a smashing and stupidly discounted “anything but Riesling” mixed case of Germanic joy and a whopping 10% discount off all German wines throughout the month. 10 % discount you say……? Yup, this is the simple bit – 10% discount on all German wines throughout April – no minimum quantity. Let’s talk about Sekt…..Tasting 8th-9th April in both Livery Street and Dovehouse Parade stores. Okay class, sit down and pay attention. Now, which country in the world do you think might be the biggest consumers of sp ..read more

Some of you may recall from Christmas Tastings before "the event" the charming John Gant proudly showcasing the wines made by his son, Matt, in the Barossa as one half of First Drop Wines. The multi-award winning winery hoovers up plaudits and awards with multiple 90+ point ratings and appearances on top 100 Aussie wine lists from the likes of Wine Spectator and James Suckling (to the best of our knowledge at least one of their wines has appeared in Matthew Jukes’ annual 100 Best Australian Wines Report since 2008). We shall be running a small pre-release offer on top of the new cheaper pricin ..read more

indelible /ɪnˈdɛlɪb(ə)l/ adjective • not able to be forgotten.      "the story rum made an indelible impression on me"      Those readers who follow the rum-scene ('Hi!' to both of you) will know what we're on about already, but for everyone else let me explain. Back in 2008 Richard Seale, head honcho of Foursquare Distillery in Barbados, released the first of his Exceptional Cask Series, the 1998 Bourbon Cask 10 year old.  A salvo in his campaign to demonstrate that great rum deserves the same level of respect as the best whiskies and brandies, this wa ..read more

BEER SALE! Throughout January in-store (Dovehouse) get ... 15% OFF 12 + Bottles/Cans 20% OFF 24+ Bottles/Cans Includes all your favourites Attic, Glasshouse, Arbor, Padstow, Bathams, Chimay and many many more! For online visit here and upon checkout enter one of the following codes... Enter code: beer15 for 15% OFF 12 + Bottles/Cans Enter code: beer20 for 20% OFF 24+ Bottles/Cans Happy New Year ..read more

Having crunched the numbers following  our annual stock take we have been reminded just how ample the bounty we have tucked away in our cellars awaiting your pleasure is.  Or, to put it another way, if we are to have room for all the exciting and delicious new things we have lined up to tempt you we are going to have to say goodbye to some old friends. To that end we hardened our hearts and drew up a list of fabulous wines where we have failed to communicate properly to you how wonderful they are.  From these we have assembled some delightful mixed cases full of these overlooked ..read more

We are proud to present the latest in our series of ridiculously good value Bin Ends.... From the heart of the Rioja Alavesa, Bodegas Senorio de Arana was founded in the late '70s by the Di Santiago family as a home to produce their finer wines made from their vineyards surrounding Labastida. Slightly unusual for the higher amount of Mazuelo (aka Carignan) used in the blend, this is full and rich, but with a bit little bit more spice and ripe tannin than straight Tempranillo wines. 90% Tempranillo, 10% Mazuelo. Lovely fruit, sour cherry but with more tang and interest and finesse than in ..read more

Truth be told, France’s Rhone Valley has had me under something of a spell ever since Dad let me loose on my first, overseas buying trip back in 1988 and, after a fabulous week of driving around the lanes and villages of this corner of south-eastern France pretending to be a proper wine merchant, I arrived back in Brum, samples piled high in the boot of a hired Fiat, whilst my beloved Lancia Delta languished in the Pas-de-Calais with a broken cam belt. Undeterred, I have returned numerous times subsequently, (all of them free of mechanical incident) and on every occasion have unearthed some pr ..read more

We are proud to work with some of the best estates in South Africa and are almost beside ourselves with excitement as we await delivery of their most recent vintages. Our pre-shipment deals are designed to offer significant savings against the shelf price. No upfront payment is required, just a commitment to take the wines on arrival. We anticipate the wines arriving towards the middle of July. Minimum order 6 bottles per wine. Orders need to be received by Tuesday 27th April to sales@connollyswine.co.uk   The Winemaker: Jasper Raats Jasper has established himself as one of the ..read more