Regional Wines

What Regional Wines does

Regional Wines is an independent, privately held New Zealand drinks retailer founded in 1987 by Grant Jones and headquartered at 15 Ellice Street, Wellington. The business operates as a specialty retailer of wine, beer, and spirits, with a catalog of approximately 1,473 wine SKUs, 1,582 beer SKUs, 942 spirits SKUs, and 218 liqueur SKUs spanning New Zealand regions (Marlborough, Hawke's Bay, Central Otago, Martinborough, Waiheke) and international producers across France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia, the USA, Argentina, Chile, Greece, and Hungary. The company self-positions as one of New Zealand's largest independent drinks businesses, supported by curated sub-brands such as The Whisky Grotto (specialty whisky), Fine Wines on Special, and Case Buys (volume discounts), alongside a tasting event program covering both paid winemaker-led tastings and free in-store tastings.

The business runs a hybrid omnichannel model. Online, it operates a Shopify-powered e-commerce storefront offering nationwide delivery across New Zealand. Offline, it maintains a single physical retail showroom in Wellington that also functions as an event venue. Customer acquisition and engagement are driven by email newsletters, blog content covering wine education and regions, social media, and a recurring tasting event calendar. Pricing is unit-based across a broad range from entry-level to premium SKUs (e.g., Quartz Reef Methode NV at $42.99, Produttori del Barbaresco Rabaja 2021 at $108.99, Ardbeg Dolce at $189.99), with paid tasting events priced at $35-$155 and digital gift vouchers available as an add-on product.

Revenue is generated through transactional retail sales of alcoholic beverages to consumer and small-business buyers, with no subscription or membership pricing model in place. The target customer is a horizontal beverage enthusiast, ranging from casual consumers to serious collectors seeking hard-to-find or imported SKUs not widely available in New Zealand mass-market retail. The company has no parent, no external funding rounds, no disclosed partnerships, and no publicly disclosed revenue figures. The only named member of the management team is the late founder Grant Jones; no current CEO or executive leadership is identified in the input data.

Name

Regional Wines

Legal name

Regional Wines

Website

https://regionalwines.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Regional Wines is an independent Wellington-based retailer founded in 1987 that sells wine, beer, and spirits online nationwide across New Zealand and through a single physical store, serving enthusiast consumers with a curated catalog of approximately 4,000+ SKUs and regular tasting events.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Wine & Spirits Retail

NAICS

Beer, Wine, and Liquor Retailers (44532)

SIC

Retail-Food Stores (5400)

akta.pro primary industry

Liquor Stores (General Off-Premise) (CRANAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Wine Retail (Bottle Shops & Wine Merchants) (CRANABAB)

Keywords

• Wine retail
• Spirits retail
• Online liquor store
• Whisky specialty
• Beverage retail

Headquarters

HQ city

Wellington

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Retail Sales of Wine, Beer & Spirits: Direct retail sales of alcoholic beverages through both online store and physical retail location. Individual product transactions with no subscription component. Products include wine (1,473 items), beer (1,582 items), spirits (942 items), and liqueurs (218 items).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Regional Wines is a Wellington-based specialty beverage retailer selling wine, beer, spirits, and liqueurs through a physical store and a Shopify-powered online shop, with nationwide New Zealand delivery. The assortment exceeds 4,200 SKUs and is complemented by paid tasting events, a dedicated whisky specialty section called The Whisky Grotto, gift vouchers, and case-buy promotions.

Product overview

Regional Wines is an independent New Zealand wine, beer, and spirits retailer offering an extensive online and in-store range. The core products include Wine (1473 items spanning red, white, rosé, sparkling, and fortified wines from New Zealand and international regions), Spirits (942 items including whisky, gin, bourbon, rum, and liqueurs), and Beer (1582 items featuring craft beers and international selections). Supporting offerings include The Whisky Grotto (specialized whisky collection), Fine Wines on Special (premium discounted wines), Case Buys (volume discounts), and tasting events (both paid winemaker tastings and in-store events). The business was founded in 1987 by Grant Jones and is headquartered at 15 Ellice Street, Wellington 6011.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Wine Retail assortment of 1,473 wines available for purchase by individual consumers via the Wellington store and the nationwide online shop.
• Beer Retail assortment of 1,582 beers available for purchase by individual consumers via the Wellington store and the nationwide online shop.
• Spirits Retail assortment of 942 spirits available for purchase by individual consumers via the Wellington store and the nationwide online shop.
• Liqueurs Retail assortment of 218 liqueurs available for purchase by individual consumers via the Wellington store and the nationwide online shop.
• The Whisky Grotto A dedicated specialty whisky section offering curated and premium whisky selections for enthusiasts and collectors, available through the Wellington store and online shop.
• Gift Vouchers Redeemable gift vouchers usable by individual consumers toward purchases of wine, beer, spirits, liqueurs, and related merchandise at Regional Wines.
• Case Buys Multi-bottle case purchasing format offered to individual consumers, typically at promotional pricing, for wine selected from the Regional Wines assortment.
• Fine Wines on Special Promotional assortment of premium and fine wines offered at special prices to individual consumers via the Wellington store and the online shop.
• Tasting Events Paid ticketed and in-store tasting events where individual consumers sample wines, beers, and spirits from the Regional Wines assortment, typically held at the Wellington flagship store.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Wine-Searcher: Global wine price comparison and marketplace platform rather than a direct retailer. Comparable as an adjacent ecosystem participant that both competes for the same enthusiast customer attention and shapes NZ consumer price discovery.

Direct peers

• Master of Malt: UK-based online spirits retailer with one of the largest global catalogs of whisky, gin, rum and other spirits. Comparable to Regional Wines' online spirits assortment and tasting/education content approach, though at much larger scale.
• The Whisky Exchange: London-headquartered online premium spirits retailer with a flagship shop and a deep, curated whisky and spirits catalog. Directly comparable to The Whisky Grotto collection and Regional Wines' premium spirits positioning.
• Fine Wine Delivery: NZ online wine retailer offering extensive domestic and imported wine ranges with delivery across New Zealand. Closely comparable to Regional Wines' e-commerce channel and curated premium-wine positioning, though more online-native.
• The Whisky Shop: Specialty whisky retailer with multiple UK physical shops and an online store. Comparable to Regional Wines' The Whisky Grotto sub-brand in focusing on premium/rare whisky curation across Scotch regions, Irish, Japanese, and other origins.
• Glengarry Wines: Long-established independent NZ wine and spirits retailer with both online and physical showrooms in Auckland and Wellington. Directly comparable to Regional Wines in product breadth, multi-channel model, and target customer base of wine/spirits enthusiasts in New Zealand.

Broad incumbents

• Super Liquor: Large NZ franchise liquor retail banner with nationwide storefront coverage. Competes with Regional Wines on convenience, price, and breadth, but is a generalist operator rather than a curated specialist.
• Liquorland (NZ): Major NZ liquor retail franchise under Foodstuffs, with broad nationwide reach across wine, beer, and spirits. Competes on price and convenience but lacks the curated/specialty positioning of Regional Wines.

Emerging players

• Blackmarket (NZ): NZ wine retailer focused on boutique and harder-to-find producers, with online ordering and Auckland-based retail. Comparable to Regional Wines on the specialty/boutique side of wine curation.

Regional players

• Just Wine: Australian online wine marketplace and retailer aggregating multiple wineries. Operates in a similar online wine-retail category as Regional Wines but serves the Australian market rather than NZ.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/regionalwines
• Facebookfacebook.com/regionalwines

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Regional Wines