The 2020 winners: The UK’s top specialist wine merchants

While not the most extensive Austrian listing, The Wine Society’s offering is a tantalisingly tasty prospect. It’s no surprise that sales are up by 47%, topping £1m for the first time, even extending into en primeur territory. More of the same, please!

Runner-up: BI Wine & Spirits

Always a hard-fought category. This year BI, with its encyclopaedic listing and unique service model, narrowly missed out to Goedhuis & Co. The judges were impressed by Goedhuis’ impressive sales numbers, engaging approach to communication and palpable dedication to reaching beyond Bordeaux’s traditional clientele to grow the market.

Runner-up: Goedhuis & Co

A fourth-generation business based in the East Riding of Yorkshire, House of Townend is not only an historic vintner that has survived the test of time, it is also a great place to buy Burgundy. Competitive prices and a great selection – 492 wines, or 28% of the range – including mature stock, make an irresistible proposition for wine lovers.

Runner-up: Best of Hungary

Novel Wines is expanding fast, testament to its engaging range and communication, and focus on demonstrating ‘that wines from central and eastern Europe can be as good, if not better, than the more classical wines at the same price’. Best of Hungary are, in their own words, ‘two Hungarian foodies in Wales, delivering an eclectic range with passion and a unique style’.

Runner-up: Waitrose

A hotly contested field. Grape Britannia’s shop in Cambridge celebrated its first anniversary in June, and is armed with an ‘eco-friendly cargo-tricycle’ and a total commitment to English and Welsh wines, from pét-nat to orange and even fortified. Waitrose’s championing of English and Welsh wines remains highly laudable.

Runner-up: Noble Grape

Jeroboams is exemplary on Italy, boasting an extensive list and clear dedication to the cause. Noble Grape does an excellent job with limited resources: its Italian list is exquisitely selected.

Runner-up: The Wine Society

Lay & Wheeler has tremendous strength and depth to its list, which features not only the kind of established classics to make you salivate, but also excellent producers from less prestigious areas such as Lirac and Ventoux, for those on a budget. The Wine Society is a fine place to buy Rhône wines, with some mouthwatering bottles on offer.

Runner-up: The Tapas Room

Across both Spain and Portugal, from crisp whites to fortified delights, The Wine Society has notable strength and depth. The Tapas Room, across south and southeast London, has an eclectic and extensive Spanish list and is well worth checking out.

Runner-up: Waitrose

An advent calendar brim-full with fortified wine is now on all the judges’ Santa list, and is just one of the ways Hampshirebased Vintage Wine & Port impresses – its 1,100 wines, online tastings, great range and charitable endeavours during lockdown also help. Waitrose also offers a brilliant range.

It’s not just about the posh stuff – Roberson supplies Aldi with its successful label The Wrangler Zinfandel too. But what a range it is – truly mouthwatering, at the cutting edge of California wine and now helping to grow the market and reach of its products. The ‘California at Home’ lockdown campaign was inspired.

Runner-up: Honest Grapes

This timely new award saw M&S triumph, the result of its outstanding long-term commitment to sustainability – carbon neutral since 2012, it has reduced bottle weights, introduced recyclable packing and works with suppliers to reduce carbon footprints. Honest Grapes has taken effective action right across its business following its recent Grape to Glass study.

Runner-up: Lay & Wheeler (Bordeaux)

Two excellent campaigns here, backed up by reasonable storage rates and impressive customer engagement. Goedhuis’ Bordeaux 2018 campaign raised £4.3m (up 109%) and contained not only an excellent range of wine, from stellar to accessible, but an outreach strategy that was both highly personalised and user-friendly.