DAVIS BELL McCRAITH WINES MAIL ORDER BRISTOL
Have you ever been overwhelmed by the huge number of different wines available these days? How do you sort the wheat from the chaff? Where is the real value for money? Wouldn't it be nice to buy your wine from people who really know their stuff but aren't stuffy with it? Someone you can talk to on the phone who will give you advice and guidance for free because talking about wine is what they like to do?
Davis Bell McCraith Wines
- Adress: 14 Kings Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4AB
- Telephone: 0117 3709930 / 01275 434980
- Email: info@dbmwines.co.uk
- Web: www.dbmwines.co.uk
- Who are Davis Bell McCraith?: Davis Bell McCraith is a team of passionate, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable wine professionals. Richard, Aidan and Susan (aka Davis, Bell and McCraith) have each spent twenty years working in wine, they've tasted thousands upon thousands of wines and visited hundreds of vineyards and met the growers.
They know what's good and what's not (Susan is one of only 300 Masters of Wine in the world), they know where to find the gems and the best prices and can offer you sound advice based on real experience.
Whether you're looking for everyday drinking wine or fine wine to lay down or for investment, you can talk to them.
They believe that building relationships with both winegrowers and you, makes the whole process more enjoyable and more rewarding for everyone.
The business was established in 2009 at Leigh Court, a Georgian mansion just to the south of Bristol. Since then they have moved to a shop and offices in Clifton Village, the thriving residential area of Bristol.
- Bristol Shop: The shop, tucked away in the heart of Clifton Village is a treasure-trove of interesting wines, rare gems, and terrific deals. The range is constantly changing as we find great parcels of Bin-End deals or new vintages of old favourites.
The ability to share our passion and the wines that were previously locked away in the wine store is a real treat - Aidan, Susan and Richard will most often be in the shop or in the office at the back and we would all be delighted to see you when you come to the shop.
Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm - other times by appointment.
- Mail Order: Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer. The products are typically delivered directly to an address supplied by the customer, such as a home address, but occasionally the orders are delivered to a nearby retail location for the customer to pick up. Some merchants also allow the goods to be shipped directly to a third party consumer, which is an effective way to send a gift to an out-of-town recipient.
A mail order catalogue is a publication containing a list of general merchandise from a company. Companies who publish and operate mail order catalogues are referred to as cataloguers within the industry. Cataloguers buy or manufacture goods then market those goods to prospects (prospective customers). Cataloguers may "rent" names from list brokers or cooperative databases. The catalogue itself is published in a similar fashion as any magazine publication and distributed through a variety of means, usually via a postal service and the internet.
- E-Commerce: Davis Bell McCraith is a ecommerce website and stock warehouse system that works perfectly without a high time-consuming manual intervention. It is a platform where you can purchase your wines in a quickly, customer-friendly, and easy-to-use way.
Pros of buying wine on the Internet: Fantastic range; Availability of mature wines; Availability of classic wines no longer in the mainstream; and Door-to-door services.
- Cellar & Investment Advice: Select wines from their Broking List, our latest En Primeur and other Fine Wine offers. Aidan Bell and Susan McCraith MW visit Bordeaux and Burgundy every year to taste the new vintage and select their top wines. They can advise you on building up a cellar of fine wine for enjoyment or for investment and if required we can store your wine in Octavian's superb underground cellars in the safety of our separate storage company WineSafe.
You can also make regular payments into your account to spread your purchases from our wine offers and/or storage charges. You can download a subscription form or contact them for further details.
THE DAVIS BELL McCRAITH WINES TEAM
- Susan McCraith MW: Susan has a star studded CV, having worked for Hennessy in Cognac, been a Director of Howells of Bristol and occupied one of those most exalted of positions, spending 10 years as a Senior Wine Buyer for Waitrose. Susan is also one of the few female liverymen of the City of London’s Vintners' Company. Oh yes, she’s also a Master of Wine, one of just 300 in the world. Stuffy and earnest? Not in the least. She's a restless, passionate soul with bundles of energy.
This experience, helping to build and shape the selection of wines that we’ve come to see and rely on in the high street, provides Davis Bell McCraith with an insight into what does, and more importantly, what doesn’t work with the big retailers. Susan's contacts in the wine trade are invaluable in finding exciting parcels of wine as yet undiscovered by other members of the trade.
Susan is passionate about the environment, social responsibility and ethical trading, so ensures that we address these issues while trading an international product in the modern day. Her favourite wine is red burgundy. "I love tasting young Pinot Noir from barrel with the grower and old Pinot Noir with a smelly cheese!"
- Aidan Bell: Fine wine is a rarefied subject sometimes filled with stuffy, elusive characters who remain aloof from mere mortals. Well, Aidan is the exact opposite of this - entirely approachable, he delights in providing honest advice to collectors and wine lovers alike. Aidan started in the wine trade as an auctioneer, before moving to Howells of Bristol, where he spent years specialising in fine wine, creating portfolios for investment and collectors. Later these skills were employed at Averys, where Aidan headed up the dynamic fine wine side of the business. Aidan is also a liveryman of the City of London’s Vintners' Company.
An ability to find well priced parcels of wine is evidence of his tenacious nature, that and the lunches he enjoys all in the service of networking and opening doors to private collections! When not at work, Aidan can often be found on the water in a dinghy or up to his waist in a river with rod in hand, that or racking the latest addition to his cellar.
Aidan is particularly mindful of giving appropriate advice to our customers and ensuring that our service lives up to our promises. When asked, Aidan says his favourite wine is "a good bottle with friends - or make that several bottles!"
- Richard Davis: Richard started in the wine trade with old established firm Findlater Mackie Todd & Co, pounding the streets of London looking after trade sales. At Waitrose Direct, he got involved in growing the mail order side of the business working closely with Susan. For the next decade Richard was a Director at Averys in Bristol. His skills in organisation and logistics were a great asset in making sure the business grew swiftly while improving customer service. Richard was also the face of Telegraph Wine.
Richard has particular experience of marketing and recruitment, and also has the practical ability to balance the competing challenges and needs of a business.
His business acumen clearly deserted him though when he took on a "money pit" of a house to restore, just because it had a wine cellar! He enjoys mountain biking and motorsport and is a sucker for Pomerol and new world wines with big flavours.
- Bryn Stephens: Bryn is a multi-tallented chap with a degree in music and post graduate diploma from the Royal Welsh College of Music. He has trodden the well-worn wine trade path from Oddbins, Majestic and Averys - But something was missing. After years spent talking about the processes and techniques involved in wine, he did something about it and so followed two years of travelling, working and sweating in the vineyards and wineries of South Africa and Bordeaux. He developed a wide ranging wine knowledge during his travels and brings that passion and enthusiasm to us here at DBM Wines. He drinks pretty much anything, and always has a space in his collection for something new that appears. Although he has a particular interest in the wines of Bordeaux and South Africa and Paso Robles in California, he ultimately confesses a wish to be able to afford more Burgundy and Tuscan wine.
Being Welsh, obviously in his spare time he plays rugby for a local club, and has his own sea shanty group called the Roaring Trowmen!
- James Leith: James started his working life as crew on superyachts in the Mediterranean which must have been a real eye-opener, but taught him a lot about customer service. He then moving to work at the Montalto vineyard on the Mornington Peninsula which got him hooked on wine. Back in the UK he plied his trade with Majestic Wines before discovering the more personal approach of DBM.
James loves White Burgundy and is currently discovering a great passion for Italian Reds, particularly Barbera.
A keen triathlete, representing GB in 2007/8 , he has also run ultra-marathons. Naturally, James is super-fit chap who doesn’t indulge in the office biscuits.