The supermarket aisle has long been recognised as a prime pick-up spot for singletons, as they cruise the shelves, swapping telephone numbers over cans of baked beans. Now Waitrose has taken things a step further with the launch of a wine bar in its recently opened Canary Wharf branch in London, further oiling the wheels of love.
As it happens, Waitrose already holds the unofficial top spot for supermarket dating with its St John's Wood branch (Sainsbury's Nine Elms is pretty good too, says my mate), but the new Canary Wharf branch, called Waitrose Food & Home, beats them all.
As well as the wine bar - which is heaving, apparently - there's also a Steak & Oyster Bar (what better aphrodisiac?) and a sushi bar, operated by Moshi Moshi Sushi - the first concession in a Waitrose store.
The wine bar, though, promises to break down the barriers the fastest - especially when customers realise that all Waitrose's 900 or so wines are available to drink in the bar with a mere £5 mark-up per bottle over the retail price.
Does that include the 1982 Cheval Blanc at £700 a bottle, then? "Yes, it does," confirms Mark Price, Waitrose director of selling and marketing.
Waitrose boasts four Masters of Wine on its wine buying team, and the new wine bar will be equally well stocked with qualified tasters. The four staff have all been educated by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and are headed up by wine manager Chris Rawling.
The wine department was always confident that the bar would buzz during weekday lunch and after work. "But the busy weekends have surprised us," Price says. Granted, the two floors of John Lewis above provide some of the attraction as Canary Wharf pulls in an increasing number of destination shoppers, but customers, it appears, are also drawn in by the new bar concept.
They can try any one of the wines on the shelves before they buy, or just knock back a glass from the pre-selected list, split into "house" or "classic" and marked up at standard on-trade prices. Current offers by the glass include top New Zealand producer Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2002 at £3.50 for a 175ml glass (or £4.50 for a 250ml glass), and a Rioja from Cosme Palacio at the same price. Predictably, the bottle-off-the-shelf sales are doing particularly well.
There is a selection of tapas, too, plucked from products on the shelves, or from behind the deli counter - such as marinated red and yellow peppers, Paterno olives, and tiger prawns with lemon wedges (any three for £4.50).