Bat and Bottle Wine Merchants

Specialties

Specialist importers of italian wine. Original since 1994. Mail order wine merchants.

History

Established in 1994.

We are Italian Wine Merchants. You can buy wine online or visit our warehouse in person.

We started as a classic kitchen table and van operation that started simply in Uppingham, Rutland and has now travelled all the way to … Oakham, also in Rutland, the smallest county in England! This is not as bad as it sounds, we weren’t in Uppingham very long before we upped sticks and moved to Staffordshire, where we remained until 2003.

We have always been a pared down business, all the frills are found in the stock. At first, we aimed to sell cricket bats as well as a range of wines. The cricket side has been and gone, wine remains a passion, but a much more focused one. We caught the Italian bug thanks to a chance meeting and an introduction to the late Felicita Pask-​Hughes, She had a remarkable eye for quality and was fearless in the wines she imported. In a time of straw-​wrapped bottles of Chianti, she was importing Isole e Olena and Sassicaia. Ben was told (by Felicita) that w

Meet the Business Owner

Ben R.

Business Owner

Ben has always worked in the wine trade, though he still harbors an ambition to be a demolition expert. He buys the wine and sells it, designs and writes the literature and continues to be chief cook and bottle washer. He sneaks in the odd game of cricket too.