The Wine Tasting Company Limited

What The Wine Tasting Company Limited does

The Wine Tasting Company Limited trades as The Wine Tasting Shop and operates a single independent wine bar and bottle shop at 18 Hildreth Street, Balham, South West London (SW12 9RQ). The venue stocks over 300 wines, with a stated specialism in smaller, artisanal and boutique producers including organic, biodynamic and natural selections, and serves wines by the glass alongside artisan cheese, charcuterie and vegan pairings. A Tasting Cellar on-site hosts private and corporate events for up to 30 standing guests, and the business runs a programme of weekly themed tastings, Meet the Makers events with visiting winemakers, biannual Grand Tastings featuring 50+ wines, and Friday live music sessions.

The business was taken over by owners Cat and Rex and their team of wine advisors in September 2021. In September 2023 the venue launched a new WordPress website with an integrated online wine shop (5% discount on 6 bottles, 10% on 12+ bottles, free local delivery), a DesignMyNight integration for online table reservations, and GiftPro-hosted event ticketing and gift voucher subdomains. Additional revenue lines include private tastings for groups of 6+, corporate team-building blind tasting games, and mobile tastings delivered at customer homes and workplaces (with distance restrictions).

Revenue is generated entirely through direct-to-consumer channels: in-store bottle and by-the-glass sales, online bottle sales, paid tasting events (priced from £12 for a 4-wine flight to £52 for a wine and cheese evening), private and corporate hire (no room hire fee but minimum spend applies), gift voucher sales, and a £9 corkage fee. Payments are processed via Visa, Mastercard and Apple Pay. There are no disclosed funding rounds, no parent company, no headcount figure and no published revenue, and the company is privately held under English law with no evidence of external or institutional investment.

Name

The Wine Tasting Company Limited

Legal name

The Wine Tasting Shop Limited

Website

https://thewinetastingshop.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Wine Tasting Company Limited operates The Wine Tasting Shop, an independent wine bar and bottle shop in Balham, South West London, offering 300+ curated wines, tasting events, private and corporate hire, and an online shop.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Wine Retail and Tasting Bar

NAICS

Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) (7224), Beer, Wine, and Liquor Retailers (44532)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Wine Bars (THAFAEAF)

Keywords

• Wine retail
• Wine tastings
• Bottle shop
• Wine bar
• Corporate events

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Wine bottle sales (online and in-store): Retail sales of wine bottles with 5% discount for 6 bottles and 10% discount for 12+ bottles. Free local delivery offered.
2. Wine by the glass and bar sales: Wines available by the glass at the wine bar, paired with cheese and charcuterie. Corkage fee of £9.00 for bringing your own bottle.
3. Wine tasting event tickets: Various priced tasting events including BYOB (£32), themed regional tastings (£35-£50), blind tastings (£48), wine and cheese evenings (£52), and winemaker flights (£12-£20).
4. Private and corporate event hire: Private tastings (groups of 6+) and corporate blind wine tasting games for team building. Cellar holds up to 30 persons standing. Minimum spend required, no room hire fee.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Wine Tasting Company Limited operates a combined wine bar and bottle shop in Balham, South West London, selling 300+ curated wines by retail bottle and serving customers on-site. It layers experiential services on top of the retail offer, including a structured Wine Tasting Carousel spanning a year, live music sessions, private and mobile tastings, corporate team-building events, gift vouchers, and recurring Meet the Makers and Grand Autumn Tasting events.

Product overview

The Wine Tasting Shop is a single-location wine bar and bottle shop in Balham, South West London, operating as a unified hospitality venue. The core offering combines an in-store wine bar (serving wines by the glass from the Wine Tasting Carousel with themed tasting flights) with a bottle shop offering over 300 wines including organic, biodynamic, and natural selections. Food service includes artisan cheese, charcuterie, and vegan options. The business supplements its bar and retail operations with a programme of wine tasting events (weekly tastings in the Tasting Cellar, Meet the Makers events, and Grand Autumn Tastings), live music on Friday evenings, private and corporate event hire, and mobile tasting services. An online wine shop with volume discounts and a GiftPro-powered voucher system support remote customers. All services are coordinated through a newly launched WordPress website integrated with DesignMyNight for reservations and GiftPro for events and vouchers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Wine Bar and Bottle Shop

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Vagabond Wines: London-based wine bar and bottle shop chain with self-serve wine dispensing technology and curated bottles. Directly comparable on-premise/off-premise hybrid wine venue model in the same London market.
• The Sampler: Independent London wine bar and shop concept using Enomatic wine dispensing systems for tasting flights and bottle sales. Closely mirrors The Wine Tasting Shop's bar + bottle shop + tasting events model.
• Borough Wines: London independent wine merchant with multiple neighbourhood locations focused on natural, organic and low-intervention wines. Highly comparable on artisanal curation and small-format neighbourhood venue.
• The Drift: Independent London natural wine bar and bottle shop. Directly comparable concept (natural/lower-intervention wine focus, on-premise + off-premise, tasting events) targeting similar London neighbourhood audience.
• Unwined: Independent UK wine bar/retail concept offering curated bottles by the glass and tasting events. Comparable size, scale and experiential positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Oddbins: UK wine specialist retailer with both physical shops and online presence. Broader portfolio and scale but overlaps in retail wine sales targeting enthusiast consumers.
• Majestic Wine: Largest UK specialist wine retailer with nationwide stores and online channel. Competes for off-premise bottle sales but lacks the focused artisanal/experiential positioning of a single wine bar venue.
• Laithwaites: UK-based online wine retailer with curated producer relationships and subscription models. Adjacent in artisanal producer access but no physical wine bar component.
• Corney & Barrow: Long-established UK wine merchant serving both on-trade and private clients with a curated portfolio. Comparable breadth of producer relationships but B2B-leaning and not a single neighbourhood venue.

Emerging players

• Naked Wines: Online direct-to-consumer wine subscription retailer funding independent winemakers. Comparable focus on smaller artisanal producers but operates purely online without a venue.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/WineTastingShop
• Instagraminstagram.com/thewinetastingshop
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-wine-tasting-shop-limited

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

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 The Wine Tasting Company Limited