Victoria’ Moore’s article in today’s Daily Telegraph includes a good number of stories about L&S. Just to take a moment away from personal memories of Patrick (do look at the whole article, it’s a good read), I’m going to quote this bit which says something about Patrick’s professionalism which might get lost in the avalanche of anecdotes:-
“The shops are filled with brilliant wines, thanks to their genius for ferreting out extremely good-value grower champagnes (from small producers) as well as delicious bottles from Italy and France. It’s no accident that Lea & Sandeman has just been awarded IWC [International Wine Challenge] London Wine Merchant of the Year for the fourth consecutive time.
“Lea & Sandeman is one of the great success stories,” confirms wine writer Oz Clarke. “And I think it’s encouraged many others to have a go at setting up themselves.”