Susie’s Majestic sell-out

(by Peter Richards MW)

Saturday Kitchen made the headlines this week for a couple of reasons.

Firstly there was presenter James Martin filling the kitchen with smoke and flames in this week’s episode. Personally, I was just glad he didn’t use any of the wines Susie had recommended to help douse the flames…

And then there was an interesting little story that neatly illustrates what a successful format Saturday Kitchen is, and how we are privileged to have such loyal, discriminating (and thirsty) viewers.

Apparently, after Susie championed a great value Portuguese red to go with Adam Byatt’s beautiful barbecued lamb, Majestic Wine’s website briefly crashed as a result of the demand. Majestic then went on to enjoy the busiest hour in its website’s history, selling out and also receiving orders for 30,000 bottles.

James Martin described it as one of the best reds he’d tried in nearly 10 years on the show and announced that he’d bought three cases. You can read our review of the wine (and the show) via this link. The story was also picked up by a few news outlets, including The Drinks Business and Retail Week, which placed it in the company of other shows and presenters renowned for influencing shopping lists, among them Delia and the Great British Bake Off.

Susie and I would just like to take this opportunity to say how grateful we are to everyone for their support of us and the show. We feel privileged to have the chance to champion brilliant wines on such a successful platform as Saturday Kitchen, as we’ve been doing for nearly a decade now. And we look forward to tipping many more delicious, affordable and food friendly wines in the future too!

Most importantly, the wine (Porta 6 2012, at £7.49) is now back in stock.