Diary of a Shopkeeper, 11th October

From 2007 to 2019, Kirkness & Gorie ran, in partnership with local restaurants, bars and other venues, the Orkney Wine Festival. Winemakers from around the world flew in to talk about their history and their home, and how both influenced their wines. Restaurants devised special menus to show off the wines to best advantage, and food and drink came together in a wonderful celebration of community and conviviality. It was the northmost wine festival in the UK, and the only week-long event of its kind in the country.

2020’s version was all arranged and about to be launched when…along came Covid 19. Everything had to be cancelled. In 2021, it still wasn’t safe to meet indoors, and once again there was no festival. By 2022 the worst was over, but the effects of the pandemic were still reverberating – maybe they still are – and something had changed in the world of wine. When I looked into getting the Wine Festival going again, it seemed that no one from Burgundy or Chianti wanted to come to Orkney. A few years before, making the long journey north was viewed as exciting trip to a beautiful location, which might just make back the cost of the flights for the winemakers, based on an enthusiastic response from Orcadian wine lovers.

After Covid, everyone was very cautious about international travel. Costs seemed to have gone up across the board, especially travel costs. Budgets had to be tightened following the disruptions of the pandemic. And winemakers worried that they might, as they had in 2020, book tickets, arrange schedules, plan events, and then have it all cancelled if Covid came back. So 2019 turned out to be – though we didn’t know it at the time – the last Orkney Wine Festival. Good wine has continued to flow from K&G, and good food abounds in the ever-changing restaurant scene. But we haven’t had a visiting winemaker since Peter Methven of Sandeman Port in May 2019.

Until now.

October is officially Rioja Wine Month, and we’re celebrating it in style. I’ve been luck enough to visit Bodegas Ontañón in Rioja, northern Spain, twice. On both occasions Ive been shown around by Conrado Herrero, a man with endless knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, the winery’s vineyards, its four-generation family history and, most importantly, its wines. Ontañón’s reds, whites and rosados have become some of the most popular bottles in the shop. And along the way, Conrado developed a determination that he was going to visit Orkney. Now, after a year or more of trying to get the practicalities in place, he’s coming for a long weekend at the end of this month. As well as a free Saturday tasting in the shop, Conrado will be hosting three special events that we’re working on with local restaurants.

With Archive Coffee and 21 we’re hosting a Tapas Trail, inspired by the one that Conrado took me on around Rioja’s capital, Logroño. The Storehouse will welcome customers to a sharing platter family-stye meal, to explore Conrado’s ‘Viñedos Familiares’ – their premium wines that embody the family’s traditions. The Lynnfield will host that rare and special thing, a Lynnfield Lux Lunch, where we’ll enjoy wines from Ontañón’s satellite vineyards in Rueda and Ribera del Duero, a little west of their Rioja homeland.

All the restaurants have come up with special menus showcasing the best of Orkney food and their chefs’ talents. To match, Kirkness & Gorie have selected from across Ontañón’s range to demonstrate their wines’ deliciousness at all prices from a modest £12.99 to a special-occasion £43.99.

We hadn’t thought of it as a wine festival, but there’s a buzz building in the shop that reminds me of the heyday of the festival a decade ago. Excitement is mounting, customers are booking, restaurants are tweaking fine details of their menus. And pallets of Rioja are being delivered to our back door and safely stored away till they’re needed in a few weeks’ time.

It’s not as ambitious as a full-scale Orkney Wine Festival used to be, but it will be just as much fun and just as inspirational for everyone who comes along, whether to a formal event or just a casual shop tasting. Looking back at our leaflet for the first ever wine festival in 2007, I see that we organised a prize draw for anyone who made a purchase during the week. The prize? A five-litre bottle of Rioja Crianza! I’d completely forgotten about that, and I’ve also forgotten who won it. Large-format bottles are ideal for long ageing, and if they didn’t drink it years ago, it will be absolutely stunning by now.

Sometimes it’s good to let things age and mature and develop. Like that enormous bottle of Rioja, and like this year’s mini wine festival: not reborn as it used to be, but reimagined.

At the time of posting (18th October) we still have a few spaces available for the Rioja meals - but not very many! Please email us to check availability or book, except for the Lynnfield Lux Lunch, which should be booked directly with them on 01856 872505.

This diary appeared in The Orcadian on 15th October 2026. A new diary appears weekly. I post them in this blog a few days after each newspaper appearance, with added illustrations, and occasional small corrections or additions.