ONE Island wine distribution company is making people smile — and raising money for Mountbatten — with its innovative Winebulance.

Prior to the coronavirus crisis, Wight And Wessex Wines was a well-established local wine merchant, which was a wholesaler to the pubs, restaurants, hotels and clubs across the Island.

Directors Matt Rogers and Mike Shorrock purchased Wight And Wessex Wines in December 2018 and were busy planning for the 2020 holiday season with optimism when the crisis broke.

They decided they should start home deliveries, which is when Matt remembered an idea he had seen floating around many years ago — a winebulance.

He said: "I thought this idea would bring a little light relief to a grave situation, and so the Winebulance was reborn.

"From there things were far from plain sailing. There were so many mixed messages floating around, it was hard to know what the right thing to do was.

"The situation for us and the rest of the hospitality industry changed on a daily basis, and on March 20 when the closure of all pubs, restaurants and ‘non essential businesses’ was announced, we thought that might be it.

"We had spent the past couple of weeks promoting our doorstep deliveries, but as we were only delivering wine, we presumed that we fell within the ‘non-essential’ category, and decided to stop trading for the time being.

"Little did we know that many of our customers felt differently about this, and we started receiving messages of encouragement stating that many people considered their daily glass essential to their well being — especially in times like these!

"A couple of days later, the government confirmed this too and so the Winebulance was back in action."

This was at the exact time Mountbatten announced it was going to struggle financially due to the loss of Walk the Wight, its biggest fundraising event.

So Matt and Mike decided they were going to donate ten per cent of the profits from the Winebulance directly to the hospice.

Matt continued: "Many customers since have mentioned they love the idea that we are supporting the hospice, and why not? They can drink great wine at the same time as feeling great about buying it."