Douglas Blyde on the wine shop making the ordinary extraordinary

Officially described as having ‘a siren-like nose of black cherries, bramble fruit and wood smoke’, followed by a ‘long, velvety finish’, Good Ordinary Claret is the biggest selling bottle from a range of more than 4,000 wines by the St James’s wine and spirits merchant, Berry Bros & Rudd, founded in 1698. Affectionately known as GOC, it was originally created by Christopher Berry Green in the 1960s.

Past vintages of the accessibly priced Bordeaux (£9.95) have worn labels by fashion designer Paul Smith, who chose love as his theme, and Luke Edward Hall depicted Bacchus as young and colourful.

The latest talent to visually interpret GOC is painter Kate Boxer, who works from her West Sussex farmhouse and is easily spottable in her signature boiler suits of blazing red. In a homage to former Berry Bros & Rudd client Beau Brummell, Boxer’s work depicts a cane-clutching dandy in a top hat, firing a pistol heavenwards ‘in exuberant excitement at the giddy prospect of a bottle of Good Ordinary Claret’, she says. Alongside is her dog, Figgy.

The launch of the wine, in the company of cultured chefs Fergus and Margot Henderson, was a family affair: the venue was Brunswick House, the mansion in Vauxhall saved from the wrecking ball now filled with high end bric-a-brac salvaged from stately homes. Beef then boozy prunes emerged from the kitchen run by one of Boxer’s sons, Jackson. Another son, Frank, is best known for Franks Cafe in Peckham. ‘Like what Jackson and Frank do at their restaurants, Good Ordinary Claret is utterly democratic,’ says Kate.

Just 7,000 bottles of the wine, which is in fact better than just Ordinary, feature Boxer’s label, and are available now.