We’re back, baby!
We were absolutely thrilled with the response to our first Cardiff Wine Passport; we had so many emails from you guys to tell us you’d visited indie venues you’d never been to before and never even thought of trying - exactly what we hoped would happen!
Because of you lot (and your love of wine) we generated more than £10,000 in revenue for the indie venues who took part; over the course of six weeks, more than 3,500 glasses of wine were sipped and savoured as you collected stamps around the city.
We knew we had to bring it back!
Our second Cardiff Wine Passport will go on sale next week, and this time - in line with your feedback - it will be valid for a whole 10 weeks; you can use it to claim glasses of wine from indie venues from the 19th February until the 27th April.
The eight independent venues who have signed up to take part this time are:
· Nighthawks: New to the passport for 2023, this quirky wine bar sits inside Castle Arcade serving wines by the glass alongside indulgent grilled cheese sandwiches.
· Bacareto: A relaxed and informal café bar, inspired by the small bàcari of Venice.
· Curado Bar: This Spanish deli bar in Westgate street serves beer, wine and pintxos (a small snack, traditional to bars in northern Spain).
· Bar 44: A lively tapas bar in the heart of the city, serving classic and seasonal small plates and sherry poured straight from the barrel.
· Daffodil: A modern gastro pub on Churchill Way, serving quality seasonal food with a focus on local Welsh produce.
· Scaredy Cats: This casual café-bar in the heart Cardiff offers board games to play whilst you sip craft beer, coffee & wine.
· Vermut: A cosy hole-in-the-wall bar which specialises in the sale of Sherry, Vermouth, and wines from Montilla-Moriles.
· Asador 44: This restaurant serves impeccable ingredients cooked over an authentic Spanish grill with a modern touch.
Just like last year, the passport will offer a choice of two different wines at each venue, and for an extra cost (between £1 - £12) you can also add a suggested food pairing at each venue, matching each glass of wine with a seasonal plate or bar snack.
This year, we’ve brought the glass size down to 125ml in order to make it work for our venues in the current financial climate – but we’ve really focussed on offering great wines that usually retail for around £6 a glass. With a passport, they equal £4 a glass, so it’s still great value – and of course, fun collecting those stamps, too!
Nighthawks are new to the passport for 2023. Co-owner David ‘Fitz’ Adams explained why they decided to take part:
“We heard great things about The Cardiff Wine Passport last year - it seems like a great way to help bring customers in on quieter days, which is important for a small venue like ours. We’ve picked some really delicious wines to offer, so hopefully, we’ll soon be meeting some brand-new customers who have never visited us before.”
The 2023 Cardiff Wine Passport is also sponsored by For Cardiff, who funded the creation of last year’s passport via their City Ambition Fund. Adrian Field at For Cardiff explained:
“FOR Cardiff are pleased to continue supporting the Cardiff Wine Passport. The project was initially supported by our City Ambition Fund and the impact that it made was so significant that we have taken the decision to extend our support into the new year. We’re also excited that our gift card will be collaborating with the passport this year to help lock in additional spend into participating businesses and make the experience of using a Cardiff Wine Passport even more special.”
