OVER 50 YEARS OF LAITHWAITES WINE

“In the 1960s, my wife Barbara and I started a family wine business called Laithwaites (our last name). Our sons run it now, but our name’s still above the door…quality is very personal.

If it’s not good enough for our tables, it’s not going to yours. We work with family-run vineyards (we’ve found that they just try harder) and local buyers with boots in the vineyards, grabbing the good stuff before others even hear of it.

Sixty years on, I’m still at it because I love real wine, real farmers and, above all, such wonderful customers.” – Tony

A Note from Our Founder, tony laithwaite

Laithwaites began 50 years ago when six small wine producers in Bordeaux decided the best way to get their wines to UK drinkers was to buy me a van and tell me to get on with it…direct…no middlemen…no fuss. They’d make the wine, I’d fetch it, and we’d deliver it straight to people’s front doors. A simple idea, but one that changed everything for us. And for a great many wine lovers, too.

Those first growers in Bordeaux sent me to their friends…our customers sent me to their friends…and a small, hungry little enterprise called Bordeaux Direct grew wider…and deeper…and more joyful than we could have imagined.

Our business has been in America for 20 years now, and while we might not be long‑distance delivery men these days, the job is still exactly the same: find the right wine from the right grower for the right person…and stand behind it completely. We call that wine happiness, guaranteed.

Today, our wines arrive at thousands of happy homes across the world—each bottle carrying the story of where it came from and who made it. Because the story matters. It’s half the pleasure!

The wines you’ll discover with us often come from places you wouldn’t expect…out‑of‑the‑way ridges…stubborn little valleys no one’s heard of…but always from people we admire. Independent winemakers, slightly fanatical, who care too much. Exactly the sort we enjoy spending time with. Because spectacular wines don’t happen by accident. They happen because someone said this place…this grape…this moment…yes.

This is the world we want to share with you. The world of growers and families, cellars and seasons—harvests both wonderful and maddening—and the bottles that carry all of that into your glass. When a wine bursts with flavor and character, it can make your day, elevate a meal, bring people together, start a story, keep a friendship going…on big nights out or quiet nights in.

So, join the adventure! We’ll guide you through the wonderful, sometimes eccentric, and always rewarding world of independent winegrowers. That’s who we are. That’s what we do.

– Tony and family; Barbara, Henry, Will and Tom