Min Yee Tseu passes her WSET Diploma!

We are delighted to announce that our very own Min Yee Tseu has passed her WSET Diploma in Wines! 

Min Yee began working towards her Diploma before joining The Oxford Wine Company in October 2020. She has put in a phenomenal amount of work towards this very difficult qualification - not least balancing the study requirements with an increasingly busy job looking after the company's University and Corporate accounts alongside working in our retail shops. 

This brings the number of OWC staff holding the WSET Diploma to eight! 

We hope you will all join us in raising a glass to Min Yee's achievement! 

Drinks Retailing Awards 2022 - Winners!

We are absolutely delighted to announce that we were the proud winners of 'Regional Chain of the Year' at the Drinks Retailing Awards 2022 this week. This award is given to the best independent retailer with 2-10 shops that has 'demonstrated its own commercial success and contributed to the overall health of the specialist drinks retailing sector.'

Our fellow finalists for this award were Jeroboams (London) and The Old Garage Wine & Deli (Truro). Last year's winners were Lea & Sandeman (London). We were also finalists for the Independent Spirits Retailer of the Year (along with Scotland's Carnegie Whisky Cellars) but were pipped to the post by the brilliant Gerry's Wines & Spirits (London). 

In order to win, we had to submit a detailed entry form which covered all aspects of the business from buying, logistics, to marketing, merchandising and staff training. We also sent photos of our shops and examples of our marketing materials. We were interviewed by the judges about our entry, and finally a mystery shopper was sent to one of our locations to have a look for themselves!

We are extremely proud of this achievement, and delighted to have official recognition for the hard work put in by each and every member of our rapidly growing team over the past twelve months. 

We hope you will join us in raising a glass to the whole OWC team! 

Drinks Retailing Awards 2022 Finalist

We have been shortlisted for two awards in this prestigious competition: Spirits Retailer of the Year and Regional Chain of the Year.

The results will be released in February, but we are thrilled to be a finalist in these two categories.

The quality and breadth of our unique range of spirits, and indeed our whole portfolio, are things we are extremely proud of here at the Oxford Wine Company. Offering you, our customers, interesting and delicious drinks of all sorts is what we love, and to be nominated in competitions like this just shows us we're getting it right.

Wish us luck for February!

The Oxford Wine Company is now offering an enhanced range of WSET Courses

As an approved programme provider for the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, we are now able to teach the following qualifications:

Level 1 Award in Sake

Level 1 Award in Spirits

Level 1 Award in Wines

Level 2 Award in Spirits

Level 2 Award in Wines

Level 3 Award in Wines

So if you've ever wanted to learn more about wine, sake or the wonderful world of spirits, do get in contact with us or check out our wine school page for more information.

We can't wait to welcome you to a classroom soon!

Shortlisted for two Decanter Retailer Awards!

Top Ten in the Country!

 We are absolutely delighted to come in at number six in this year's Harpers Wine & Spirits Top 50 Indies list. There are over 900 wine merchants in the UK, and this is the fifth year running that we have been named in the top ten. 

Despite the challenges of the past 18 months, it's been a pleasure to keep operating and providing our customers (you!) with stunning wines and exciting spirits. We took the leap and opened our third Oxford shop, found our feet with virtual tastings and continued to offer the same excellent service you know us for. We added new, standout wines to our list and grew our team by hiring four new people.

To be recognised for these efforts, and stand among the other top 10 independent merchants, is such a privilege.

With our events calendar opening up, new wines coming in and this fantastic OWC team, we're raising a glass to the next year! Cheers!

The Oxford Wine Company among top 50 indies for another year!

Success at The Oxford Wine Café!

Sandy's at The Oxford Botanical Gardens

We are open as usual!

OWC named #3 in the UK's Top 50 Independent Wine Merchants! 

Amazing result from our 'Support South Africa' promotion

All of our shops are open again! 

We are delighted to announce that all three of our retail shops, plus our concession store at Millets Farm are open again and back to their usual hours (details here). 

We are operating as safely as possible, with limits on the number of customers allowed in at a time, regular cleaning of frequently touched points and hand sanitiser available for staff and customers. 

Our delivery service will continue to operate as usual, with free local delivery for all orders over £40 and free nationwide delivery for all orders over £75. You can find full delivery information here. 

A thank you from Ted

First and foremost I would like to say a huge thank you to all of those who have ordered deliveries from us or continued to shop at our retail stores.

We are an independent family-run business and were uncertain whether we would be able to recover from the loss of almost all of our sales to pubs, clubs, hotels and restaurants, which makes up about 70% of our turnover.

Prior to this crisis, we were also operating a thriving retail arm - for which we have several times been named Wine Merchant of the Year - and a very small online ordering service. For those of you not aware we also have shops in the Botley Road and Turl Street in Oxford, in Standlake near Witney and a small concession shop at Millets Farm. Turl street is closed due to its small size and town centre location whilst the others are still operating - after a fashion!

However, the scale of orders we have been receiving via our website has been astonishing. I would like to personally thank each of you for your contribution to keeping us afloat and ensuring we will be able to return to business as usual as soon as circumstances permit. The amount of support has also encouraged me to put more resources towards our online service for the future. We had already been working on a new web presence and are aware that there have been some glitches with our current site - not all of our own making!

Alongside our online offering, we are very keen to maintain the personal element to our service. As such there is always someone friendly and knowledgeable on the phone (during office hours of course!) If you have any problems simply ring our Head Office and we will be more than happy to help you (01865 301144 - option 1).

This sudden switch from wholesale to mail order has brought with it some logistical challenges. With many of our usual trading routes temporarily closed, we have been unable to place orders as we usually would and thus are experiencing shortages of some product lines. We are now in a position to keep our website up to date with the stock available, although there still may be occasions were a substitution is required. However, with such a comprehensive range we always have an alternative option of excellent quality on hand if necessary. We are fortunate that our customers have been so understanding of some product shortages.

In order to keep up with demand, we have been adding more mixed cases to our already broad offering. We are also updating the products in existing cases to offer variety for those who may have already ordered. In other words, please keep looking and ordering!

We are operating on a skeleton staff and those of our team who have not been furloughed are working six days a week in an effort to get orders delivered within two working days - by all accounts much faster than many of our competitors!

I'm well aware of how many small businesses have been discovered and supported by the public during this crisis and we very much hope that you will continue to support them (and us!) as the gloom slowly lifts!

My sincere thanks and best wishes,

Ted Sandbach,

Owner & Managing Director of The Oxford Wine Company

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR USING OUR ONLINE SHOP

Please do not use Google Chrome to place an order through our online shop. We have been experiencing problems with this, particularly in conjunction with visa cards!

STANDLAKE AND BOTLEY ROAD SHOPS TO RE-OPEN

In light of the advice published yesterday morning by the government, we have taken the decision to reopen our shops in Standlake and on Botley Road.

The advice, which you can look at here, clearly states 'Off-licences and licenced shops selling alcohol, including those within breweries' are exceptions to the instruction to all retail premises to close.

We have chosen these two shops as they are both extremely spacious, and we are confident that we can maintain the recommended two metres' social distancing guidelines.

Unfortunately, due to its small size and limited accessibility except by public transport, our Turl Street shop will remain closed for the time being.

We would ask that customers refrain from paying for their purchases with cash. We will be keeping the premises scrupulously clean, and have hand sanitiser available as well as sinks which you are very welcome to use to wash your hands if you wish. Of course, we also ask you to come to the stores only if you and your household are free from covid-19 symptoms and have not been advised to self-isolate.

We are of course still operating a thriving delivery business, and those who would rather order online or over the phone are still encouraged to do so. 

IMPORTANT UPDATE ON DELIVERIES

Wow! We have been inundated with orders for delivery over the past two days. It seems like a LOT of you want to support your local wine merchant - and for that we thank you!

A few issues have come up due to this huge influx of orders and also (understandably) a lower staffing level due to government guidelines.

We would like to emphasise that we are still processing orders, and will continue to do so. Please continue to place them!

However, our delivery times may be a little longer than usual. We are doing our best to keep up with demand, and everybody will get their wine!

There has also been a little glitch on our - and a few other retailers' websites. Problems can arise when using Visa cards to pay in a Chrome browser. For ease of ordering, we encourage you to use either a different card or different browser.

We are so heartened by the amount of support that has come out of our local community during this very difficult and surreal time. Thank you.

Update on the Coronavirus situation 

Dear Customers,

Here are a few words on how the Coronavirus situation is affecting - and not affecting - business at The Oxford Wine Company.

The first thing we would like to emphasise is that all of our shops are still very much open - including our new store at Millets Farm Shop! The staff are keeping their hands nice and clean, and if you would like to use our sinks to wash yours you will be very welcome to. We also promise not to be offended if you would like to stand at a distance! We do ask you, though, to use cards to pay where possible, limiting the amount of cash our staff have to handle.

If you would prefer to stay at home, we understand and - as always - offer free delivery in the local area (this is quite a large definition of local, and a list of postcodes can be viewed here: https://www.oxfordwine.co.uk/delivery) for six bottles or more. You can order online via our website or we strongly encourage you to pick up the phone and give us a call! We still have a committed team of knowledgeable and friendly staff who will be delighted to give advice and organise orders over the phone.

As for tasting events, we are currently postponing all confirmed events up to the end of April. We will be in touch with new dates over the next few weeks as the situation becomes clearer.

In the meantime, we encourage all of you to, where possible, support local businesses. We have already seen many fantastic initiatives from independent shops, bars and restaurants in the local area, and we are sure there is more to come.

Stay safe, take care, and do get in touch if you have any questions.

With very best wishes,

The team at The Oxford Wine Company

Sandy's Piano and Wine Bar opens a new site in London

Since its opening in 2017, Sandy's Piano and Wine Bar has become a firm favourite of the partygoers of Oxford. Now, owner George Sandbach has expanded with a new site in Chelsea!

Sandy's London will be run along the same lines as the Oxford site with late nights, live music and excellent drinks (supplied by us at The Oxford Wine Company). 

It opens to the public tomorrow, the 14th February and is located on 158 Old Brompton Street, London SW5 0BA. 

We strongly encourage you to go and pay a visit!

The Oxford Wine School Announces WSET Dates for 2020! 

Following on from the success of our wine education programme this year, we are delighted to announce an expanded programme for 2020. 

We will be running WSET Levels One, Two and Three. For more details, take a look at the main Wine School page here