The Wine Society – ready for anything

The Wine Society's press tasting late last month was billed as 'a preview of the Winter/Christmas list'. So I asked their head of buying Pierre Mansour whether there was any sign of people stocking up early for fear of empty shelves over the next few months – a common pattern of behaviour in the UK prompted by Europe-wide shortages of lorry drivers as well as of all types of goods, from Velux windows to game consoles and cuddly toys, and stoked by media reports of panic buying.

Mansour...