A month in the life of Neleen Strauss

Neleen Strauss owner/sommelier of High Timber - 8 High Timber Street London
EC4V 3PA.

The highlight of the month was undoubtedly the sale of four half-bottles of Chåteau d'Yquem to one table. The bottle price ranged from £300-£600 depending on the vintage. The guests couldn't agree on which vintage they preferred - so they chose four different ones.

There was no sharing involved either! None of them would let each other taste the other's vintage, they all kept their own bottles to themselves.

It was quite fantastic, really. That's never happened before and probably never will again.

We are also selling a lot of Cape Winemakers Guild wines and I will be flying out to stock up at the auction in Spier on October 3.

All the wines are made exclusively for the auction by members of the Guild and are meticulously chosen to represent the pinnacle of what can be achieved in South African winemaking. The First Growth's are phenomenal and we sell a lot of their Bordeaux blends here.

Amaretto is another drink that's been flying out and I've no idea why, all I know is I have to keep re-ordering it!

Champagne is also on the up and whether it's the weather I don't know, but it's certainly been pretty popular.

It's been a fantastic four months since we opened. Most of our clients are city boys, lawyers, accountants and bankers. They're not spending as much as they used to at lunch, but it's definitely coming back at dinner.

The only down side is trying to get people in on Saturday nights. It's the other way around for us.

We are busy mid-week but then everyone leaves the city for home or they're off to the country houses for the weekend.

• Sommeliers