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ABOUT US

At Laithwaites, we stop at nothing to bring you great wine. Tasting our way across Australia, New Zealand and beyond is one of the best parts of the job. The only thing better is sharing our fantastic finds with you.

FROM BAROSSA TO BORDEAUX (AND BEYOND)

In 1987, a British wine merchant had great success in selling his European wines by adding a completely new ingredient, Aussie and Kiwi winemakers.

In 1984, Tony Laithwaite had been invited by the New Zealand government to check out their 10-year-old wine industry. In 1986 he introduced Marlborough Sav Blanc to the UK before anyone there had heard of it - and blew their socks off!

Tony knew that New Zealand and Australia had "Come from nowhere to be probably the best winemakers in the world". Australian wine colleges produced many talented graduates with skills often lacking in Europe's sleepier wine regions. With a plane ticket in hand and the promise of a holiday job doing a second harvest of the year in France, Italy and Spain, many young winemakers simply could not resist. So, he recruited a few…

They came, and they conquered.

In three years, Tony had a full team of what he dubbed his 'Flying Winemakers' (what's more every major wine retailer in Britain had copied him). Locals, who often spoke little-to-no English, soon learned to mimic "No worries, mate" as their obscure little regions began beating famous names in competition... and sales!

LAITHWAITES DOWN UNDER

Those early 'Flyers' changed the face of European winemaking - thanks to their skills, hard work and, above all, unbridled optimism. And with newfound experience and inspiration, they changed winemaking back home too.

Skip ahead a few years, and Andrew Stead, who had worked for Laithwaites UK, returned to his native Australia along with the gifted and experienced marketing brain of Rachel Robinson, to set up Down Under. In Laithwaites’ tradition, it started as a small two-person office – without even a bathroom! They began introducing Laithwaites wines (both home-grown product and European) to the Australian and then, a couple of years later, the New Zealand market. As it had done in the UK, Laithwaites grew quickly to attract an active customer base of 100,000.

So, cheers to those early ‘flying winemakers’. Wine and adventure are in our shared DNA. Through them we forged the enduring relationships we have with so many New World winemakers we proudly work with today.