Somewhere in a dusty university library lies an underrated paper by an academic researcher. It’s called The Marketing of the Wine Experience – an Innovative Approach and was written many years ago by a plump, well-scrubbed teaching assistant called Joe Fattorini.

If I could have visited WoodWinters in Bridge of Allan ten years ago, though, I wouldn’t have bothered. This small shop is just what my paper tortuously fumbled towards – a “wine experience”. The problem, you see, is that wine shops tend to be run by people who like wine, not shopping. And it shows.

However, WoodWinters is … well, different. It smells like a wine shop. It looks like a wine shop too. But it feels right. I want to buy. I’m being seduced.

Of course, were I an ordinary person I’d have the worrying task of choosing a bottle of wine. I’d say, “I know what I like, I just don’t know what that is.” But look at the shelf signs. “Aromatic whites” – that’s good. I know I like those. “Wines under £6” – now you’re talking.

“We’re trying to get away from the commercialisation of the world of wine,” says Mark Protheroe, an Australian bubbling with knowledge who works with the owners Douglas Wood and his wife Cara. “We get so many customers who’ve had a bad experience, where something’s been forced on them.” After the aromatic whites there are “indigenous Italians” then sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and semillon. “People tend to know the style of wine they like and that’s usually based around the grape,” he says. “It doesn’t mean we don’t have blends. But it means the wines are organised in a way people understand.”

And they’re brilliantly chosen. “We’re up to about 350 wines,” says Protheroe. “We’d like to have 500, but we only take on things we really like. Two of us have to like a wine for it to go on the list, and we aim to have two of us in the shop so we can recommend a wine personally.”

He opens a bottle. It’s falerio, a savoury, pearsoft wine with a kind of cheese-rind earthiness from Saladini Pilastri in The Marches of eastern Italy. At £5.50 it’s the most unusual, interesting wine I’ve had for less than £10 this year. Then comes a lush, pillowy cabernet franc from the Loire Valley. Fascinating. “Within the grape variety categories we want wines that reflect a sense of place,” says Protheroe. “So in pinot noir, each wine must show it’s from Marlborough or the Yarra Valley or Burgundy.”

He selects four bottles for me to try and we wander over to the counter. “We have events for customers,” he says. These include wine tasting courses and a less formal tasting club on the last Friday of every month. On June 30 it’s Think Pink, when you get to try six wines, including Pol Roger 1998 rosé champagne, and raise money for Cancer Research – all for £5.

Protheroe tills up the wines. “Here’s your receipt,” he says, handing me a sheet complete with wine name, price, tasting note, serving suggestion and grape variety. I’m slack-jawed. Beauty is in the small things, so treat yourself to a two-minute detour off theM9.
WoodWinters Wine and Whiskies, 16 Henderson Street, Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire.
Visit www.woodwinters.com or call 01786 834894. joe.fattorini@theherald.co.uk