Hackney Wine Shop With Free Friday Tastings: Bottle Apostle

Bottle Apostle started on a quiet high street at the edge of Victoria Park, and it is still the kind of wine shop where staff will ask what you are cooking before they recommend a bottle. The first branch opened in July 2009 at 95 Lauriston Road, Hackney, London E9 7HJ, in the small cluster of shops and cafés known as Victoria Park Village. In late autumn its free Friday tastings and festive evenings make it a regular stop for east Londoners planning holiday dinners.

Bottle Apostle describes itself as a family-owned London wine group, and it now has four shops: this one in Victoria Park Village plus branches in Crouch End, Clapham and Primrose Hill. The Hackney shop was the first, and its early reputation came quickly. In 2011 the Telegraph Magazine named it Britain's Best Small Wine Shop, and it went on to collect further awards from the International Wine Challenge in 2012 and Decanter in 2015.

The shop's selling point is simple. Every wine is colour-coded, matched to food and described in a few words, so you can walk the shelves and see at a glance which bottles go with fish, red meat or spicy dishes. For anyone shopping for a holiday dinner without much wine knowledge, that system does half the work.

It also makes the shop quick to use when you are in a hurry. Instead of reading every label, you can go straight to the bottles marked for the main dish you are serving, compare two or three of them on price, and ask the staff to break the tie. For a festive table with turkey, ham and a vegetarian main all at once, a mixed handful from different colour groups is often the simplest answer, and the 10% discount on a dozen bottles makes it sensible to buy everything in one go.

You don't need a ticket to try something here. Every Friday from 4pm to 8pm, the shop pours free tastings, and the Victoria Park Village branch adds a session called Hidden Pours every Thursday from 4pm, also free. These are informal: drop in, taste what is open, ask questions, and buy a bottle if one stands out.

The Friday session is the best time to visit if you are buying for a weekend dinner party. You can taste a red and a white side by side, check how they fit the food you are planning, and leave with something you know you like. The shop also gives a 10% case discount on 12 wines, so a Friday visit can easily turn into a holiday order.

Prices start at a comfortable level for a midweek bottle. Merlot from Chemin Campagnac is £13.50, a soft red for pasta or roast vegetables. Riesling Kabinett from Weingut Frey costs £18.50 and is a good choice for spicy food, because its touch of sweetness tames chilli heat. Il Poggiolino Chianti Classico, at £24.70, is the bottle to take to a Sunday lunch with roast pork or lasagne.

For a more serious red, Pindefleurs Merlot de Queyron from Saint-Émilion is £26.00, and it handles beef or a rich stew. To open a celebration, Champagne Guenin Liliale Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature is £58.00. It is bone-dry, with no added sugar, which makes it a sharp partner for oysters, smoked salmon or salty canapés at the start of a Christmas party.

The Victoria Park Village shop also runs ticketed tasting evenings, and its late-autumn calendar is a good guide to holiday drinking. Everything Chardonnay on 5 November costs £65. Touring Through Tuscany on 19 November costs £60. The headline event, A Christmas Feast, on 26 November costs £70 and pairs wines with the dishes of a festive meal. An Evening of Champagne on 2 December costs £80. All four begin at 7:30pm.

A Christmas Feast falls on Thanksgiving night, which makes it a neat option for American Londoners who would rather taste than cook this year. For a bigger crowd, the Crouch End branch runs its own Christmas Festival on 2 December, with an early session from 6:30pm to 8pm at £25.

Regulars collect stamps on an in-store loyalty card, and a full card gives 15% off a purchase. Delivery is free across the UK on orders over £125, and standard UK delivery costs £12.50 below that. If you live nearby and need wine quickly, the shop runs a three-hour express delivery within two miles for £10, on weekdays only. That covers much of Hackney, Bow and the streets around Victoria Park, which is useful when a dinner party gains extra guests at the last minute.

For Christmas orders, it is worth placing a larger delivery early in December and then using the free Friday tastings to top up with anything you particularly enjoyed. The loyalty card fills faster across a season of holiday shopping, so ask for one on your first visit.

The shop sits just off the eastern side of Victoria Park, one of London's oldest public parks, so it is easy to fit into a walk. Inside the park, the boating lake, the Chinese pagoda on its island and the old drinking fountain are all within a short loop, and the plane trees turn gold in November.

Lauriston Road itself has cafés, a butcher and a pub, so you can pick up a few things for a picnic or a dinner at home in one trip. For a longer walk, follow the Hertford Union Canal along the park's southern edge to the Regent's Canal, or head east towards Hackney Wick and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Bottle Apostle, 95 Lauriston Road, Hackney, London E9 7HJ. Opening hours are Monday 11am to 7pm, Tuesday to Thursday 11am to 8pm, Friday 11am to 9pm, Saturday 10am to 8pm and Sunday 10am to 7pm. Homerton and Hackney Wick on the Overground are the nearest stations, each a longer walk. Free tastings run every Friday from 4pm to 8pm. Cases of 12 wines get 10% off, and UK delivery is free over £125.