About Us
Basically we only stock wines that we been, and indeed still are, drinking ourselves. Consequently Bordeaux and Beyond was created when the wine interests of Tony Hill and John Green were combined with John Lotinga's France-based Prince Albert Fine Wines. We are the three Owners and Directors and share the running of the business with occasional outside assistance. Tony is based in Berkshire, John G. in Northants and John L. in Boulogne sur Mer, France.
Together we have a wide range of business experience ranging from consultancy, to corporate banking and executive roles within world famous Drink and Hotel companies. More importantly we have been enjoying and exploring French Wines, their distinctive “terroirs” and Appellations for over 30 years each – and plan to continue for at least another 30!
We decided that while the High Street retailer has a role to play in supplying standard wines there was also a growing need for a more boutique supplier, providing different wines of exceptional quality and character. Bordeaux and Beyond is the result of combining our knowledge, passion, high standards and overall “joie de vivre” to share with our customers and friends.
Our Ethos:
Expertise and Knowledge
We believe that you can only develop expertise when you specialise. We specialise only in wines from France, mostly from producers that we know personally and operate from bases there and in the UK. Our knowledge of French wines is extensive and we avoid stocking wines from elsewhere in the world where our expertise is limited.
Personal Service
We pride ourselves in offering a traditional and first-class personal service. When you order through Bordeaux and Beyond you do business directly with the three of us. We are involved with every aspect of the business and really do try to make you feel that the wine that you have ordered comes from “your personal vineyard”.
Low Costs
We aim to keep our costs and overheads to an absolute minimum and pass on the benefits as great wine value. We achieve this by doing as much work as we can ourselves, by not operating costly shops and by ordering directly from the vineyards and holding minimum stocks. Marketing expenditure is kept very low, our website is simple yet functional and we dont do glossy brochures or expensive mail-shots. This helps to keep our margins lower than the High Street and larger mail order companies. Our intention is that for every £ that you spend with Bordeaux & Beyond you enjoy as much actual wine value as possible and don't bear the costs of wasted ancillaries.
Focus
We target our wine-list at around 25 selections at any one time. We could stock more but would soon lose our focus and attention to detail. We believe that “small is beautiful” and you should never promise anything that cannot be delivered.
Selection
We are proud to be a niche wine merchant and our selection of wines that we have particularly enjoyed is both different and exciting by design. This allows us to offer both traditional favourites and some innovative styles of wine from passionate vignerons. All of our wines are our personal selections and many have a distinctive story to tell - that of grower champagne, organic or bio-dynamic viticulture, wines shipped by eco friendly sail-boat or just passionate artisans making great tasting wines that are different! These artisan producer wines are often unavailable in the UK but we import directly and hence ensure quality and distinction at highly competitive prices.
Customer Service
We can offer all the usual additions to a wine business, eg. tastings, corporate selections, cellar advice etc. but that's not really what makes us different from everyone else. What does make the difference is the totality of our offering, our individual enthusiasm and our belief in personal customer service rather than corporate contact.
Taste and Quality
We believe in the old adage that “life is too short to drink poor wine”. We personally know our vineyard suppliers and we refuse to sell anything that we would not drink ourselves. After all we stock less then 30 wines at any one time and our mantra is to offer only what we would be happy to buy, to drink or to cellar for our own pleasure and enjoyment.
Respect
We respect both our suppliers and our customers. Most of our wine is from small, family vineyards where respect is shown for the terroir, Mother Nature and the centuries of traditions of great wine making in France. These are more individualistic, quality wines of character made by owner-growers rather than industrial conglomerates seeking maximum short-term profits. Our customers are more discerning wine drinkers who increasingly prefer substance over style, terroir over chemicals and individual artisans over industrial scale production.