Oxford Wine Company launches tourism platform

By Lisa Riley

Published: 09 February, 2021

The Oxford Wine Company (OWC) has launched a wine tourism platform aimed at making wineries "accessible to everybody".

Launched last month, the Vind platform currently comprises 917 wineries worldwide, with each having control of their own page, where winery news can be found alongside the stories behind the producers.

In addition, the platform features educational articles and wine tourism tips written by guest writers.

It is free for wineries to join the platform, which was founded by William Sandbach – OWC director and son of founder Ted Sandbach – and has been 18 months in the making.

With more wineries joining every day, Sandbach said the business hoped to have 2,000 - 3,000 signed up by the end of the year.

The aim of the initiative was to create a platform that would “help people find wineries, worldwide – whether you're at home or abroad”, he said.

"Vind has been created to make wineries accessible to everybody. Not many people want to spend thousands of pounds on a wine package holiday. However, many people are interested in wine and would love a winery experience, whether that's a tasting, tour, lunch or more,” he said.

With people currently unable to travel, this year was all about growing the platform by increasing both the number of wineries onboard and active users, added Sandbach, who came up with the idea when wanting to visit some vineyards while holidaying in France.

“After a morning spent searching online, I found myself frustrated by how difficult it was to figure out which vineyards were nearby, which accepted visitors, provided tours or held tastings. So, on my return home, I started work on Vind,” he said.

“Vind makes it easy to find and experience the world's best wineries.”

Last September, OWC was placed at number three in Harpers Wine & Spirit's 50 Best Indies 2020. Number one went, for the second year in a row, to Bin Two and number two to Luvians Bottle Shop.