To celebrate the end of Dry January we recently sat down with Jake Bennett-Day, co-founder of Vino Gusto - a new independent wine retailer in Bury St Edmunds, delivering outstanding juice nationwide. Born from an independent pub company with an award winning wine list, they strive to deliver their ethos that great wine is accessible to all, ethical and unpretentious. Nestled within the historic streets of Bury's medieval grid, their store is spread across a cellar and ground floor, with the first floor being converted into a purpose built tasting room where they host fun, informal tastings and wine educational courses.

Can you tell us how Vino Gusto came about and the inspiration behind the business?

Vino Gusto started as a result of lockdown, myself and my business partner, then boss, started Vino Gusto in The One Bull Pub and Restaurant in Bury St Edmunds, under the Gusto Pronto umbrella. At the time, we weren’t allowed to operate as a hospitality business but we were allowed to continue trading in a limited sense as a retail business. So we started as a pop up originally and extended our wine list to roughly 100 wines. It proved super popular and was great fun! So here we are today, having grown that pop up into a full business we now have a beautiful three story shop with a tasting room and offer around 600 wines. The idea behind Vino Gusto is to be the antithesis to what people expect a wine shop to be - dark, dusty and boring!

Amazing! So what does a typical day at Vino Gusto look like?

A typical day for us is arriving at the store around 8:30, giving our white washed floorboards a clean, get the music on and get the coffee machine going! We then pack up any orders that came in overnight and open the door for 10:30 ready to welcome our customers. We have an enomatic self serving wine machine in store with eight different wines open to taste in a sample or full glass size, so we frequently have various groups in to discover new wines! In the evenings we often hosts tasting event in our upstairs room which anyone can pre-book for up to 15 people. So we always make sure the champagne's on ice and the room is ready!

With so many business moving solely online now, I feel you really strive to have that in person connection with your customers. How important is it for you to have a customer facing shop in the current retail climate?

The focus has been less on the website as we thought it would, our physical store is generating more trade than online which is fantastic. We spend more time connecting to our customers and it's less faceless. Here we always have the coffee machine on, music on and I’m really keen that our staff are really friendly and approachable and talk about wine in a fun, educational way as apposed to stuffy and pretentious! Here we can welcome brand managers, suppliers, producers, importers, we host the vast majority of them ourselves with the focus always being on conversation and consumption.

Aside from a delicious bottle of wine or two - what are the main things you want your customers to take away after visiting Vino Gusto?

I'm really keen that people feel that wine is fun, 90% of people buy wine to consume in an informal environment, so the focus is primarily on the flavour and it tasting delicious. I do feel that the stories and history of the wine can heighten the overall experience - for example, we tend to work with producers who are family owned, environmentally conscious and work with sustainable practices.

March 16th marks your one year anniversary since opening your store in Bury St Edmunds - congratulations! How has your first year been and has your original business plan varied from the beginning to now?

It’s been a whirlwind! It’s been lovely to open our doors and see as many faces as we hoped we would. Our business plan hasn’t necessarily changed, is fluid and ever-evolving. My main focus going forward is to create a more efficient plan so that I can better manage my time.

Can you tell us about any exciting projects coming up this year?

We are launching our new Wine Club this year, so each month our team will release four of our current favourite wines all focused around a specific region, with recipes and information around each location. We are also looking at venues to host a Wine Festival, my business partner helped put together the Beer Festival so we are looking to set up a similar event - for our brand it would be perfect as it's all about making wine feel fun, approachable and informal! We are also looking at partnering with some new independent restaurants opening this year.

Lastly, can you share with us your all time favouirite wine?

Gosh, near impossible to answer! So my pretentious answer is a 2002 Dom Perignon P2 which is just incredible. My favourite wine memory is a 1995 Charles Heidsieck blanc des millénaires which my Dad bought for my wife and I to celebrate our engagement, so it’s really special to me. My favourite wine region at the moment is Greece, the quality and history is outstanding and I feel their commercial ability is really going to take off in the next 15 years or so!

You can find Vino Gusto located in Hatter Street Bury St Edmunds, open Wednesday - Saturday 10:30-18:30, Sunday 10:30 - 16:30, or browse their full range online.

Interview by Molly Newcombe.