A specialist wine shop and tasting room looks set to open in York, as two entrepreneurs realise a long-held dream.
Cyriaque Lajoinie and Beniamino Berluti are set to open 2 Many Wines in Bishopthorpe Road, in the shop that was previously BetFred.
They have been running their wine business as a pop-up venture from The Gillygate pub in recent months but are now set to move into their own premises.
Cyriaque told YorkMix: “You wouldn’t believe how long I have wanted to do this in York.
“It is something I have wanted to do since I moved back here 15 years ago and Bishopthorpe Road is the place where I have wanted to do it. We are so excited now that it is happening.”
Cyriaque was born in Paris but has worked around the world as a sommelier, restaurant manager and wine importer. He had worked at The Grange Hotel and Delrios in York in the 1990s, before moving away and then returning to the city.
He said: “I have worked in different areas of hospitality for 27 years, and my business partner is the same. He has run wine bars in Vicenza in northern Italy and other places before coming to York.”
Tasting rooms
The new venue will primarily be a wine shop, but it will have a tasting room where customers can try different wines by the glass along with light food.
Cyriaque said the wines available to try would frequently change and there would be a small range of other drinks, such as cocktails. He said: “Wine is king here, it’s a shop first and with a tasting room as part of that.”
He said he and Beniamino had good links with independent, family-owned wine producers around the world.
Cyriaque said they had funding in place, and a licensing application has now been submitted to City of York Council. A crowdfunding page has also been set up to help spread the word and to reach local people.
The page said: “We are making it easy to select amongst the tremendous sea of wine out there, all with a personal touch.
“We are looking at opening a physical shop and tasting room in an affluent area and push ticketed events (virtual and physical), plus serving food to seated customers who want to live a wine experience.
“Also, we would really like to bring the world of wine to the public and democratise this world, making it more accessible to all ages and wages.”