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Woodwinters plans UK-wide reach from new London office

Owner Doug Wood said today that his company will be opening a London office as a base from which to supply areas as yet untapped by the business.

The expansion will see the business team up with Andrew Johnson, who joins the company as managing director of the southern division.

Wood said today that the expansion has become necessary to satisfy clients on the growing agency side of the business.

“We have grown the agency side of our business over the last five years with 90% being sold in Scotland. In order to look after those agencies well we need to look at the UK as a whole which this partnership allows. It will also enable us to bring more new exciting wineries that we have long wanted to but not had geographical coverage to be able to do until now,” he said.

The business, which was founded by Douglas Wood in 2005, has three retail shops in Edinburgh, Bridge of Allan and Inverness.

But it is the wholesale arm which accounts for 75% of turnover that it is planning to roll out to the UK’s restaurants, independent merchants and private clients.

The new southern office will focus primarily on London, but the company also has ambitious plans to extend coverage to the rest of the UK on- and off-trade.

In his new role, Johnson said he is looking forward to the opportunity to begin importing some of his wish list wines as well as bringing wines currently being distributed in Scotland to the wider UK market.

With much consolidation and uncertainty in the market, Johnson said he believes that, “now is the time for the smaller, boutique, specialist merchant. Of course we have ambitions to be bigger and better, but in an era where the bold and unusual are embraced, the independent merchant is best placed to help create and support the changing face of modern palates, as well as providing some of the best-established classics to the market.”

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