Give a gift they’ll savour all year long. Gift a Membership Now

Castel give up on Oddbins

Simon Baile, son of Nick Baile MW who once ran Oddbins, is the new owner of the troubled chain of high street wine stores in the UK.

Oddbins was once beloved by British wine lovers for its quirky range and fair prices. At its peak it was run by John Ratcliffe, now the eminence grise of the world’s wine trade with more consultancies with major companies than you could shake a stick at, selling wines bought with particular flair by Steve Daniel, now at Novum Wines. Oddbins was then owned, somewhat incongruously, by the North American liquor giant Seagram, though...