Last year, the majority of e-mails I received from readers came from those outside of Jamaica. Most of these readers were interested in finding out if certain brands were sold in Jamaica: Some wanted to locate wines for friends and family events; and some just simply wanted to find out where to buy good wine on the island. Trust me, I had to grab a map to locate some of these districts where they were planning to visit their families.

Open 24 hours

On a recent trip from the North Coast I stopped at a service station for fuel, and as I always do, took a casual look around to see what other products were sold there. This Petcom Service station was more like a mini-supermarket than a typical mart found in a service station. To my pleasant surprise I also found a wine section that is larger than most found in traditional retail outlets.

This was the Petcom Ocho Rios and the proprietor, Wayne Boothe, recently brought a similar concept to his newest location – Petcom Dunrobin. Both of these locations are open to the public 24 hours a day.

Boothe is a wine lover himself and after taking note of how some service centres in North America operated, decided to adopt a few of these concepts. “It’s been very hard work,” he says, but the overwhelmingly positive feedback from his customers have made it all worthwhile.

I am aware that most convenience stores carry a few bottles of wine, but at the service centres operated by Boothe there are hundreds of wine selections at varying price points and quality levels.

My surprise finds

Customers are able to pick up everyday bottles of wines, but Boothe kicks it up a notch by adding some higher- quality products, especially on his Ocho Rios shelves, in order to offer more choices to the visitors in that area.

I was pleasantly surprised to find one of my favourite wines from Argentina, the multi-award-winning Bodegas Renacer Punto Final Reserva Malbec. International wine critic Jay Miller of The Wine Advocate says that this “..2008 Punto Final Malbec Reserva spent 10 months in two-year-old French oak. Richer and more full-bodied than the Classico, it is still a bit tightly wound and in need of 1-2 years of additional cellaring. Drink it from 2013 to 2018”. Wine Enthusiast’s Michael Schachner says this about this wine: “A rich Malbec with Graham crackers, pastry, blackberrry and boysenberry aromas. Talk about super concentrated; this is thick but balanced, with tannic grip and dark, baked flavors of berry and chocolate. Bulky on the finish, with peppery spice, vanilla and a touch of heat.” This wine needs about an hour in the decanter to open up.

My other finds were a range of sparkling wines, including Prosecco, Cava and Champagnes Moët & Chandon and Nicolas Feuillatte on the shelves in Kingston. So if midnight catches you on the road and it should not, or if it’s that special day tomorrow and you forgot, then you can now have a place to grab that last- minute gift – a great bottle of wine or Champagne to bring a smile to the face of that special someone.

Christopher Reckord – Businessman, Entrepreneur & Wine Enthusiast. Send your questions and comments to creckord@gmail.com. Follow us on twitter: @DeVineWines @Reckord