| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Genre | Wine merchant |
| Founded | 1698 |
| Founder(s) | The Widow Bourne (the current Chairman is Simon Berry) |
| Headquarters | London, England |
| Products | Wine, spirits |
| Services | wines, spirits, corporate hospitality, private dining, wine storage, wholesale |
| Website | www.bbr.com |
Berry Bros. & Rudd is a wine and spirits merchant based in the United Kingdom. The company sells wine from around the world, including en primeur wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône and Italy. The company also sells a number of wines and spirits under its own label. Other services it offers include wine storage, wine tastings and wine schools. Berry Bros. & Rudd is the only company to have five Masters of Wine in their ranks.[1]
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Berry Bros. & Rudd is Britain's oldest wine and spirit merchant: in 1698 it opened its doors for the first time at 3 St. James's Street, London, United Kingdom, and today it continues to trade from the same premises. The company also has a discounted store in Basingstoke, Hampshire and offices in Japan, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Founded by the Widow Bourne, the company has supplied the Royal Family since the reign of King George III. A first Royal Warrant was awarded in 1903 by King Edward VII and today it holds two Royal Warrants for H.M. The Queen and H.R.H. The Prince of Wales. Customers have included Lord Byron, William Pitt the Younger and the Aga Khan.
In 1923 it created the Cutty Sark Scot's whisky. More recently it created The Glenrothes single malt whisky, No. 3 Gin and The King's Ginger liqueur. The Cutty Sark label was sold to The Edrington Group in 2009.
Berry Bros. & Rudd was the first wine merchant to open an online wine shop in 1994; today it also runs an online wine trading platform called BBX (Berrys' Broking Exchange). It enables customers to sell their wines that are stored in the company's bonded warehouses. Sales have exceeded £1 million pounds, and 11,000 bottles were traded within the first 60 days.[2]
In May 2008, a team from Berry Bros. & Rudd, Jasper Morris, MW, Alun Griffiths MW, Simon Field MW and David Berry Green, drew up a document of speculations into the state of the wine industry in the coming 50 years, The Future of Wine report.[3][4][5] Among the predictions for 2058 were suggestions that China may become one of the world's biggest producers, that grapes will be grown hydroponically in floating offshore vineyards, and honey bees could be trained to detect wine faults.[5]