INDEPENDENT OF THE MONTH
T h or n e Wi n es INDIE OF THE MONTH THIS WINE MERCHANT IS ON A MISSION TO SHARE HIS LOVE OF WINE WITH THE PEOPLE OF CAMBRIDGE, AS SIOBHAN GODWOOD DISCOVERS
still daunting, and there’s a lot to learn,” he says. “The wine trade is ever-changing, the vintages are always different, so it continues to excite me and keep me passionate. I’m terrible at any kind of studying, but for some reason, involve alcohol and suddenly I’m interested!” James runs Thorne Wines with his wife, Ellie, with the goal that he would do the trade and wine knowledge side of things, while she handled the marketing and social media side. “She’s good at the things I’m poor at, so she’s the rock, keeping things on an even keel,” James laughs. “Now we’ve got a child, it feels more important than ever to keep the company thriving and growing – we want it to be a success for our family.” Together, they’ve built a wholesale business working with restaurants and bars in and around Cambridge. “Things have gone really well in terms of establishing great relationships with local restaurants such as Restaurant Twenty- Two and Vanderlyle,” says James. “The people we work with are friends as well as customers, and it’s a treat to work with them. We’ve been able to furnish these restaurants with amazing wines, sourcing what they need and what they want, and
ames and Ellie Thorne had a wine- themed wedding. Aren’t all weddings wine-themed, in a way? Well, yes, if you count just drinking wine – but for this couple, who have been running Thorne Wines together since late 2017, wine isn’t just a drink: it’s a way of life. “I started working as a
winemaker in South Africa for a wonderful winery called Vondeling,” says James. “I cut my teeth out there for a few harvests, then came back to the UK and worked for one of the oldest winemakers in the country, Averys of Bristol. Love drew me up to Cambridge, and I got a job at Cambridge Wine Merchants, where I stayed for about seven years.” By this time, James had worked in almost every area of the wine trade, from working in vineyards to selling investment wines – all of which formed the perfect grounding for setting up his own company. “Despite all my experience, it’s
they give us so much room to play with. It allows us to go out there and hunt for really cool things, and discover wines from countries that are lesser-known or varieties that aren’t so common. A good example with Vanderlyle: on the tasting menu (which is always changing with the seasons), one of the most successful wines we’ve had is a sweet wine from Malaga in southern Spain. Most people never will have tasted anything like that.” Another thing that’s been a big success is Thorne Wines’ method of delivering wine to their customers – possibly the most ‘Cambridge’ thing ever. “For most wine traders, their standard route to market is by van,” says James. “But we now do the majority of our deliveries in the Cambridge area by bike. We have an electrically assisted cargo bike from Electric Bike Sales on Newmarket Road, which allows us to load it up with about 60 bottles. It means we can do our deliveries without any traffic issues; we can offer same-day delivery. It’s been one of the best assets and has made things so much easier and more flexible, giving us less time spent in traffic and hopefully saving the planet a little bit, too. We’re working with a new restaurant opening on Green Street, and most delivery companies can only get there before 10am and after 6pm – but on a bike, we can get there any time of day. When we deliver, we are actually
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