It all began so simply. In London, one day in January 2014, the wine writers Tom Nutkin, Albert Joshua and the superstar German winemaker Dr Titan were having lunch with Nicholas Interr of Interr Brush & Rod, when the conversation turned to the plight of the independent wine retailer in the face of competition from supermarkets. Then Joshua brought up the idea of “local currencies” like

in Massachusetts in the US, and