An at-home wine and cheese tasting experience, established at the height of the pandemic last year, has seen sales rise 600% week on week after the announcement that the UK was being plunged into a stricter, country wide lockdown in early January.
Available across the UK, Decent Drop offers customers a unique experience: a cultivated menu of six wines, paired with six cheeses. They are then invited to join the interactive weekly Zoom tasting session or host their own virtual wine and cheese night with their friends and family.
Carl Peters, owner of Decent Drop, credits the meteoric rise in sales down to the fact that most customers have ditched their plans to complete ‘dry January’ because of the restrictions and are instead looking for experiences to boost their weekends.
Customer, Thomas Wilkowski, backs up his theory: “I was going to take part in dry January after indulging a bit too much during Christmas, however, as soon as the new lockdown was announced my plans changed.
“Having received the Decent Drop experience as a gift over Christmas, I decided to book another one for me and my partner during January so that we could at least do something fun on a Saturday night!”
Carl adds: “Getting together with others has never been more important. Even though we can’t do that in person at the moment, Decent Drop offers customers a chance to engage in some form of socialising whilst being able to enjoy a new selection of delicious wines and cheeses.”
Carl (@decentdropwines), was about to sign on for a bar in Altrincham when the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year and after pausing the deal, he landed on the idea of bringing some version of a bar experience to peoples’ homes.
Carl said: “As for many others, the pandemic was a real spanner in the works for my original business plans, but I then realised it was an opportunity to start something new. I wanted to ensure that the good folks of Great Britain continued to consume wonderful drinks and have an uplifting social experience, despite the restrictions.
“The decision seems to have paid off and we’ve seen significant growth nationwide over the past year, so much so that we have been able to create new jobs within the business, something I’m extremely proud of.”
The Zoom tasting sessions take place on Saturday evenings and run for around 90 minutes. The informal video call, included as part of the experience, enables customers to discover a little more about the wine and the pairings.
There is also the option to have a private tasting with Decent Drop’s in-house sommelier, which is a solution to celebrating a special occasion such as a birthday or anniversary whilst in lockdown.
Decent Drop’s wine menu comprises of a broad range of red, white and rose wines and six British artisan or continental cheeses. Carl concludes: “Our main aim with Decent Drop is to bring a wonderful experience to those who may not have tried this kind of thing before. We wanted to ensure an offering that was both fun and informative and could serve as a kind of ‘night out’ from your living room.”
Due to popular demand, Decent Drop have now begun incorporating other products into their offering including gift boxes, Gin & Tonic tastings and Cocktail making kits. They have also just launched their first Whisky tasting event in celebration of Burn’s Night which this year falls on Monday 25th January, and where they will be teaming up with Edrington Beam Suntory to bring customers five delicious Single Malt Scotch Whiskies.
