Have you heard about Wine Boy Club?
Wine Boy has been a Stockport Market staple since 2017. It’s run by Mark (a.k.a Wine Boy) with a speciality in natural wine and enough expertise to turn even the most committed supermarket shopper into someone who cares about what's in their glass.
Now Mark and his business partner Dale have invested in a van, and The Wine Boy Club is open. Let it be known, Stockport and South Manchester, they're coming for you…
Man with a ‘Vin’
The story of Wine Boy began nearly 10 years ago, when natural wine first piqued Mark’s interest nearly a decade ago after he picked up a job lot of bin-ends from a Manchester importer. What first enticed him was the variation, and the way low-intervention wines could taste so completely different from one another compared to the uniform bottles from the huge mainstream producers. He decided Stockport needed some of that, took up a stall in the Market Hall and started to build a bit of a cult following.
When lockdown hit and the market closed, Mark and Dale started delivering across Greater Manchester to keep things going. What surprised them was how much they enjoyed getting out and about, meeting customers on their doorsteps, spreading the word of natural wine outside of the market hall. They enjoyed it so much, they’ve decided to bring it back.
If the news is to be believed, the broader wine industry is currently facing long-term structural decline, but natural and organic wines continue to buck the trend. This has mostly been driven by younger drinkers who are willing to pay more for products that align with their values. In the UK, natural wine continues to grow in popularity as production techniques and consistency improve. Mark had backed that trend on instinct years before the data caught up, and now he's backing it with his van.
Join the club
The Wine Boy Club has three tiers: Silver, Gold and Platinum, ranging from entry-level accessible crowd pleasers to premium bottle selections and cases starting from £60. Each bundle is hand-picked by Mark, and if you can't find exactly what you're after he’ll find a way to make it work for you
In their own words, Mark and Dale are two local lads trying their very best to grow this into something sustainable. Mark has spent nearly a decade building a customer base that has become, as he puts it, more of a community than a client list. The van is the next chapter, a commitment to reaching more people without them having to wait for market day.
The wine is excellent, which helps of course. Remember, the first rule of Wine Boy Club… is to tell everybody about Wine Boy Club.
Find out more at wineboy.co.uk. Delivery across Stockport and South Manchester, or have a chat with Mark in Stockport Market on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 am–4.30pm if you'd rather pick up a bottle and have a conversation in person first.
Wine Boy is one of SK Lowdown's favourite Stockport independents. Find more local food and drink recommendations in our Stockport Food & Drink guide.
