Berry Bros. & Rudd

Berry Bros. & Rudd
Private
Genre Wine merchant
Founded 1698
Founder 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 seven Masters of Wine in its ranks.[1]

History

Berry Brothers & Rudd shop

Berry Bros. & Rudd is one of Britain's oldest wine and spirit merchants: in 1698 it opened its doors for the first time at 3 St. James's Street, London, and today it continues to trade from the same premises, which is a Grade II* listed building.[2] The company has a discounted store in Basingstoke, Hampshire and offices in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Founded by the widow Bourne, the company has supplied the Royal Family since the reign of King George III. Berry Bros. & Rudd was his wine supplier then. First they sold coffee, and then cocoa, tea, snuff, spices, anything that was considered exotic and new, and became one of London's premier grocers. Its proximity to St. James's Palace and its fashionable location also helped popularity.

A first Royal Warrant of Appointment was granted in 1903 by King Edward VII. Queen Elizabeth II granted her royal warrant in 1995, Charles, Prince of Wales granted his in 1998. Customers have included Lord Byron, William Pitt the Younger and the Aga Khan.[3]

Berry Brothers & Rudd window display

In 1923 it created the Cutty Sark Scotch whisky. The brand was sold to The Edrington Group in 2010. Under the deal, Berry Bros & Rudd acquired The Glenrothes single malt brand from Edrington.

In January 2005, Simon Berry, who joined the family firm in 1977, became chairman.[4]

In spring 2014, Berry Bros. & Rudd relaunched its warehouse shop in Basingstoke, Hampshire. Located on the site of the former bottling hall, the shop now sells bin-end and reduced price wines and spirits alongside a fine wine collection.

Berrys' Broking Exchange (BBX)

Berry Bros. & Rudd was the first wine merchant to open an online wine shop in 1995; 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, and 11,000 bottles were traded within the first 60 days.[5]

Wine predictions

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.[6][7][8][9] 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.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Anderson, Nathaniel. "Berry Bros. & Rudd".
  2. ↑ Historic England. "3 St James's Street SW1 (1264868)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  3. ↑ By Royal Appointment. ITV3. 2012. Event occurs at 8:00pm. Archived from the original on 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2012-06-24.
  4. ↑ "The Marque is a niche online business network managing your online presence - a self-electing, global community of leading business people from all sectors".
  5. ↑ Trade Review, Harpers Wine & Spirit. "Berry Bros wine trading website nets £1m". Harper Wine & spirit trade review. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  6. ↑ The Future of Wine report Archived May 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Berry Bros. & Rudd. "Berrys' Future of Wine Report". Archived from the original on 2008-05-19.
  8. ↑ Styles, Oliver, Decanter.com (May 9, 2008). "China to become leading wine producer?".
  9. 1 2 Meikle, James, The Guardian (May 9, 2008). "Chateau China, a taste of wines to come with climate change". London.
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Coordinates: 51°30′20″N 0°08′17″W / 51.50558°N 0.13813°W / 51.50558; -0.13813

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