I’ve found this site consistently useful for sourcing wines from retailers across the UK. It has an easy-to-use search function and links to the various retailers’ sites. It also features information on grape varieties, regions, vintages and food pairings. If you want to know more about a particular wine just take a photo of the bottle and the site will try to identify it and, if successful, give you details of the wine, tasting notes, and where you can buy it.
Vivino claims to be the world’s largest wine marketplace and offers similar information to Winesearcher and a similar bottle-recognition facility.
We are extremely lucky in the UK to have ready access to such a variety of wines owing to the fact that we haven’t had (until relatively recently) a significant domestic wine industry. In 2020, according to Wine Australia, the UK imported almost 1.5 billion litres of wine, making it the fifth largest market in the world and the second largest wine importer globally.
While supermarkets dominate UK off-trade wine sales and may offer a good range of wines at decent prices, I prefer to support specialists where I can. The list below is a few of those I use regularly.
I’ve been a member of the Society for over 25 years and I’m a big fan. It dates back to 1874 and is owned by its members. Its scale, excellent buying team and reputation for fair-dealing with suppliers enables it to offer an extraordinary range of wines at very competitive prices.
If you’re looking to try to a new grape variety or sample what an upcoming region can offer you’ll probably find something here. Also available are “own-label” wines under the Society label, or more closely-defined geographic wines under the Exhibition range. Plus en primeur offers and tastings.
I’ve always been impressed by the knowledge of the staff at Majestic and the recent takeover by a US private equity firm does not seem to have changed the company’s ethos. Excellent range and the newish Definition label is a great way to sample classic examples of wines such as Sancerre or Provence Rose. They also offer regular in-store tastings.
Bat & Bottle – Italian wines, typically from smaller producers
Clark Foyster Wines – Austrian and Burgundy
Grape Britannia – English still and sparking wines
Stone Vine & Sun – Southern France specialist
Swig – France, South Africa and Italy and more
Tannico UK – Italian wines
Taste Argentina – Argentina, Chile and Uruguay
The Winery – Germany, France, Italy and more
There are many sites and blogs on wine which you can access free of charge but if you’re prepared to pay an annual subscription, I would suggest looking at the following.
Jancis Robinson needs no introduction and remains as editor in chief following the business’s sale to a US digital media business.
The site offers excellent articles by leading experts on all aspects of the world of wine as well as a comprehensive database of tasting notes on wines from across the world. Plus food articles by her restauranteur husband, Nick Lander. They are currently offering a one hour free trial.
Decanter is available as a monthly magazine or online and provides a mix of wine industry news, wide-ranging articles and wine reviews. I especially like its travel guides which are full of useful tips about visiting wine regions around the world. Although some of the online content is free most is behind the Decanter Premium paywall.