Leading Scottish merchant to open London offices

One of Scotland’s leading independent merchants, Woodwinters, has announced it is heading ‘south of the border’ and setting up offices in London.

Founded in 2005 by Douglas Wood (pictured), Woodwinters is a multichannel agency business with three retail shops (in Edinburgh, Bridge of Allan and Inverness), and both wholesale and private client divisions. Last year it was a runner-up in the Independent Retailer of the Year category at the drinks business’ awards.

Andrew Johnson, who recently worked as sales director at a major fine wine merchant, will run the London office.

Although based in London, the new office will be responsible for looking after on- and off-trade and private clients across England.

Johnson commented: “Over the last six months, I have been looking for a new challenge and was flattered when Doug asked me to be his business partner in setting up a new London office for Woodwinters.

“I have known Doug for nine years now and have always had a lot of respect for what he and his team have created. While I was considering this project, it was a joint visit to Vinitaly that made me fall in love with their portfolio, which I truly believe is bursting with unique wines and integrity. I couldn’t be more excited about what I feel we can achieve in the years ahead”.

Woods added: “We have grown the agency side of our business over the last five years with 90% being sold in Scotland. In order to look after those agencies well we need to look at the UK as a whole, which this partnership allows.

“It will also enable us to bring more new exciting wineries that we have long wanted to but not had geographical coverage to be able to do until now. With low overheads and an incredibly focussed team we will bring a different angle to the traditional wine agency model.”