Every wine lover in the country should be toasting this morning's news that Castel Frères, one of France's biggest wine companies, has given back the crown jewels of British wine retailing by selling Oddbins to a consortium of investors led by the son of a former managing director of the company.

Castel's eight-year tenure has not been a success. Ten years ago Oddbins was untouchable. Its combination of young, enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff, a confident buying team and an exciting, daring list made it one of the most dynamic wine retailers in the world. But within months of its £57m takeover buyers soon found themselves forced to list many of Castel's own French-owned brands while the business was increasingly centralised around Paris. To compound the situation the management decided to rebrand unprofitable stores as 'Nicolas', Castel's other wine chain, which up until then had been found selling its exclusively French list to London's fashionable set in areas such as Knightsbridge.

To put it into context, in 2002 there were fewer than 20 Nicolas outlets in the UK. Since then more than 60 Oddbins stores have been converted, including such famous outlets as Bath, Winchester, Edinburgh's George Street and Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street branch. It's not that Nicolas's list is bad - it isn't. It is very strong on Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhone. It's just that for Oddbins, which was built on selling New World wines, the reincarnation always seemed a little extreme. The new owners, Simon Baile and Henry Young, who run the small wine retailer Ex Cellar, have their work cut out.

They have already admitted it will be a difficult turnaround. According to the company's most recently filed accounts, Oddbins made a loss of £8.6m to the end of 2006 on sales of £121.3m. "There will be a short period during which we review the current structure and develop plans for the future," Baile said. Meanwhile, a generation of loyal customers have switched to companies such as Majestic to source their wine. I sincerely hope they get it right and return the firm to its original philosophy which was exactly that, odd bins. The opportunity is enormous.

Booze at the Fringe

Edinburgh's annual injection of culture has begun with the Fringe in full flow. Last night I popped down to Valvona & Crolla (Venue 67 www.valvonacrolla.com) to see Louis de Bernières perform an eclectic mix of music, song and readings with the vivacious and talented Ilone Antonius-Jones. One of the delights of this venue is that you can take wine bought at the caffè bar into the show. A glass of house Prosecco makes a welcome change from a plastic pint of tasteless lager. One show worth catching this weekend is the Whisky Fringe at the atmospheric Mansfield Traquair in central Edinburgh. This giant whisky tasting seems to be getting larger and larger each year, with most of the major distillers taking a stall.

This week's deals

This week also marks the first anniversary of the credit crunch. Wine prices have slightly increased, mainly due to rises in tax and the strength of the euro but these gains are more than compensated for with the multiples' insatiable desire to discount. A few deals this week: Majestic's Château Caronne St-Gemme 2002, Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux is down from £12.99 to £10.99 when you buy two. Tesco is offering a half case of Freixenet Vintage Cava Case for £31.29 down from £62.64, and Morrisons is reducing Moet NV Champagne by 12% from £25.96 to £22.96