Wine Champion Celebrates Accolade

There will be no shortage of cork-popping in Co Down as the Northern Ireland wine merchant, JNwine.com celebrates its place as a leading specialist retailer.

The International Wine Challenge Merchant Awards 2010 has recognised the industry's best performers at The Hilton Park Lane, London.

James Nicholson's Crossgar-based firm, which supplies many of Ireland's finest restaurants and hotels, retained the 'Regional Merchant of the Year for Northern Ireland’' title which it claimed last year.

Mr Nicholson, (pictured) the Managing Director, who has been in the wine trade for more than 30 years, said receiving the award was an honour for his team and a result of dedicated customer service.

"Gaining recognition from the International Wine Awards is an important achievement for us and it is a great reward for the all the team to be included amongst the very best in the industry," he said.

"We're passionate about our wines and invest time in getting to know each unique bottle and developing relationships with hundreds of producers across the globe."

Meanwhile, James Nicholson said the economic anxiety and unease around pensions and shares had encouraged more investors to explore fine wines as an alternative way to generate returns.

"There's no doubt the economic downturn, particularly poor returns from the stock market and property, has prompted people to look elsewhere and wine is attracting increasing attention as a commodity which can be expected to rise in value.

"As banks offer low interest rates on savings, and uncertainty continues in the world markets, people are seeking out alternative places to put their money and wine has performed well in recent years," he said, noting that some of the company's customers had doubled their initial investment in two years, but Nicholson emphasised that the level of return was largely dictated by the quality of the vintage.

"Wine investments are exposed to risk like any other investment, with the value potentially going up or down, but the single greatest attraction for wine investment is the fact that Fine Wine profits are exempt from Capital Gains Tax - up to a point," he explained.

(BMcC/GK)