Fine wine

There are plenty of great reasons to buy from Laithwaites. Here are just a few:  

• Trust – we’ve been a family wine merchant for 50 years, with over 400,000 happy customers. Our customer service is second to none – reflected in our ‘excellent’ Trustpilot rating.
• Quality – every year our team of buyers taste 40,000 bottles to bring you the best. Just 800 (that’s 2%) make the grade.
• Range – our buyers don’t just sit in an office and make phone calls. They visit wineries all over the world – often small family cellars – to bring you authentic, handcrafted wines that you won’t find in your local supermarket.
• Convenience – no need to struggle to the car with bulky bottles. We deliver straight to your door.
• Peace of mind – with our no-quibble guarantee, you never need to worry about getting a bad bottle. If you don’t like a wine – for whatever reason – you don’t pay for it.  

And last but not least … we’re committed to leading the way in becoming more sustainable in all areas of the business. That’s why we were named Decanter’s Green Champion of the Year in 2023.

The day of your delivery will depend on which option you’ve chosen at checkout.  

• For a standard delivery, we will deliver your order within three working days. Delivery to the Scottish Highlands, some other areas of Scotland, Northern Ireland and offshore islands can take an extra few days.
• Usual delivery times are between 07.00 and 21.00.
• You can select Next-day or Named-day delivery at checkout – but do bear in mind we don’t deliver on Sundays or Bank Holidays.

For the best experience we recommend you subscribe to our Unlimited service. A one-off payment of £29.99 entitles you to free delivery for a year – including free Next-day delivery. There’s no minimum order – you’ll get free delivery even on a single bottle. And you can get delivery to multiple addresses, so it’s perfect for gifting!

Yes! It’s quick and easy to join our Wine Club.

You’ll start discovering new wines for less right away – and once you’re in you can easily tailor your subscription to your needs.

Want to skip or delay a delivery? No problem. Fancy a different style? We’ve a wide range to choose from. Want to swap in some of your favourite wines? It’s easy to do online. We’ll send a reminder email the week before delivery so you’ll have time to make any changes you like.

Learn more about laithwaites wine subscriptions

We want you to enjoy every bottle you buy from us. If you are not completely satisfied with any wine, for any reason, just let us know and you’ll receive a refund.  

Plus, we always want you to receive exactly what you need. If we deliver a case and it’s not wanted, just email us at customerservice@laithwaites.com and we’ll take care of it.

While there’s no official definition, fine wines are broadly speaking those that come from the best vineyards and are made with the highest degree of care and attention. As a result, these wines will have greater balance and more complex, nuanced flavours – and will often have the potential to age gracefully. They are usually made in limited quantities, and often have rarity value, too.

Learn more about the basics of fine wine. 

Mention fine wine and most people probably think of well-established classics like and Bordeaux and Burgundy in France, Rioja and Priorat in Spain, or Piedmont in Italy. These have (for the most part) well-established classification systems – which makes it easier to tell when they fall into the fine wine category.

In Bordeaux for example, a wine classified simply as Bordeaux AOC would be unlikely to be classed as fine wine. A Médoc AOC on the other hand (from a more limited region on Bordeaux’s Left Bank) is certainly approaching fine wine territory.

Step up to Pauillac or Margaux (the top regions in the Médoc) and few would argue that we’re talking fine wine. And then you have the top wines of those regions – culminating in First Growths, or Premier Cru. These are among the finest wines in the world.

You’ll find similar classification systems in many of the well-established classic wine regions throughout Europe – and in general, the finer wines, like Chianti Classico, come from the heart of the more generic wine regions.

Other regions, like Rioja, classify their wines according to how long they are aged. Cult and iconic fine wine regions However, many fine wines come from regions that don’t have a clearly defined quality structure – especially those from the southern Hemisphere.

Examples include the Barossa Valley in Australia, Stellenbosch in South Africa, and Napa Valley in the United States. Wines from these regions have to establish their own fine wine credentials. They are often known as iconic, or cult wines. Examples include Penfolds Grange, from Barossa, Australia, Cloudy Bay from Marlborough, New Zealand, and Stags’ Leap from Napa, USA.

This is just a tiny snapshot of the amazing world of fine wine that is out there for you to discover. For Fine red wine lovers there are hidden treasures like Priorat in northern Spain, or the graceful Pinot Noirs of New Zealand’s Central Otago region.

Fine White wine fans can look beyond Burgundy to Russian River Chardonnays (from the US) or the ultra-fine Rieslings of the Rheinhessen. And for dessert wines, look beyond Sauternes to the exquisite sweet wines of Tokaji in Hungary. There’s so much to explore.

The great news is that fine wines don’t have to cost the earth. Sure, a First Growth Bordeaux is beyond the budget of most – excepting rock stars and hedge-fund managers. But a well-cellared Cru Bourgeois from one of the Médoc’s sub regions – Saint-Estèphe say – will give you a very similar experience – and change from £50.   And the same is true for most iconic fine wines. The RedHeads cellar, for example, produces Trophy-winning wines from South Australia’s top vineyard sites for a fraction of the cost of the big names like Penfolds and Henschke.   Take a look at our fine wine selection above and you’ll be sure to find something that will seriously impress – without breaking the bank.

Wine certainly can be a good investment financially – but you need to be careful how you go about it. We’d certainly advise speaking to a specialist.  

We prefer to see fine wine as an investment in taste. Lay down the right bottles for a few years and you’ll have a collection that will more than repay your patience – and a drinking experience like no other.