La Branche Wijnimport

What La Branche Wijnimport does

La Branche Wijnimport is a privately held Dutch wine importer and retailer founded in 1998 and based at Nassaukade 165, Amsterdam. The company sources European wines directly from small family producers in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, personally visiting and tasting every wine in its assortment before inclusion. Its assortment comprises approximately 176 SKUs across red, white, rosé, sparkling, and orange wines, priced from roughly €9 to €104.95 per bottle, with most bottles in the €10–€25 range.

The company operates three distribution channels: a physical retail store in Amsterdam, a Shopify-powered e-commerce webshop (labranche.nl) shipping nationwide via PostNL with age verification, and direct B2B sales to hospitality (horeca) and wholesale customers — the original business model from 1998. Ancillary revenue lines include monthly in-store wine tastings (€35 per person, last Thursday of each month) co-hosted with external wine experts, and gift vouchers in €25/€50/€100 denominations valid for two years.

The business is bootstrapped and founder-owned with no disclosed external funding, no parent company, and 1–10 employees. Customer acquisition relies on the Shopify storefront, an email newsletter, and Facebook and Instagram organic social. No AI, automation, or proprietary technology beyond standard Shopify tooling is in use; the central differentiation is human curation and direct producer relationships rather than technology scale.

Name

La Branche Wijnimport

Legal name

La Branche Wijnimport

Website

https://labranche.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

La Branche Wijnimport is an Amsterdam-based importer and retailer founded in 1998 that sells a curated assortment of ~176 European wines directly through a Shopify webshop, a physical store, horeca/wholesale channels, and monthly tasting events.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Wine Import & Retail

NAICS

Wine and Distilled Alcoholic Beverage Merchant Wholesalers (42482), Beer, Wine, and Liquor Retailers (445320)

SIC

Wholesale-Beer, Wine & Distilled Alcoholic Beverages (5180)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYCRAOAIAB

Alcohol Importers & Brand Owners (Wholesale)

Consumer Products & Retail/Wholesale, Distribution & Category Management/Alcohol, Tobacco & Cannabis Wholesale Distribution

SECONDARYCRANABAB

Wine Retail (Bottle Shops & Wine Merchants)

Consumer Products & Retail/Tobacco, Alcohol & Cannabis Retail/Beer, Wine & Spirits Specialty Retail

SECONDARYTHAJAGAD

Wine Tastings & Vineyard/Winery Tours

Travel & Hospitality/Tours, Attractions & Experiences/Food & Drink Experiences (Culinary Tours, Tastings, Cooking Classes)

Keywords

• Wine import
• Wine retail
• Wine wholesale
• Wine tasting events
• European wine distribution

Headquarters

HQ city

Amsterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Wine Sales (Retail/E-commerce): Direct sales of wines to consumers through their e-commerce webshop and physical wine store. Products include red, white, rosé, orange, and sparkling wines from European winemakers. Volume discount of 10% box discount applies for purchases of 6+ bottles.
2. Wholesale to Horeca: Supply of wines to hospitality businesses (restaurants, hotels) and wholesale distributors. La Branche started in 1998 serving the horeca sector.
3. Wine Tasting Events: Monthly wine tasting events held at the tasting room (Nassaukade 165, Amsterdam) priced at €35 per person. Events feature 6-8 wines from their assortment accompanied by small bites.
4. Gift Vouchers: Sale of gift vouchers (€25, €50, €100 denominations) that can be redeemed for wines in the webshop. Valid for 2 years from purchase date.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

La Branche Wijnimport imports and curates approximately 176 European quality wines from small family winemakers across France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, selling them to the Dutch horeca and wholesale markets as well as directly to consumers through a Shopify webshop and an Amsterdam wine shop. The company complements these wine sales with monthly paid wine tasting events at its Amsterdam tasting room and gift voucher sales in €25/€50/€100 denominations, with every wine personally tasted and selected by the company before inclusion in the assortment.

Product overview

La Branche Wijnimport is a Dutch wine importer and retailer founded in 1998, operating both a physical wine shop at Nassaukade 165, Amsterdam, and an online Shopify-powered webshop (labranche.nl). The company imports and sells approximately 176 curated European wines sourced directly from winemakers in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. The product portfolio consists of the online/offline wine sales platform, a monthly wine tasting service (Maandelijkse Wijnproeverij), wine gift vouchers (Wijn Cadeaubon) in €25/€50/€100 denominations, and ancillary delivery and box-discount services. The wine collection spans red, white, rosé, sparkling (mousserend), and orange wines across multiple appellations and producers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• La Branche Webshop (online wine store) Shopify-powered e-commerce webshop at labranche.nl offering approximately 176 curated European quality wines imported directly from winemakers in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. Categories include red, white, rosé, sparkling (mousserend), and orange wines, with prices ranging from about €9 to €104.95 per bottle. Free local delivery in Amsterdam/Amstelveen for orders €60+ and free nationwide PostNL shipping for orders €120+.
• Wine Collection (curated European wines) Approximately 176 wine SKUs across red, white, rosé, sparkling, and orange styles from French regions (Beaujolais, Bourgogne, Languedoc, Loire, Sud-Ouest, Rhône), Italian regions (Toscane, Veneto, Piemonte), Spanish regions (Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Valencia, Cataluña), German Pfalz, Austrian Niederösterreich, and Dutch Zeeland producers. Every wine is personally tasted and selected.
• Physical Wine Shop & Tasting Room (Amsterdam) Retail wine shop at Nassaukade 165, 1053 LL Amsterdam, carrying the full assortment from the webshop and offering personal wine advice and food pairing recommendations. The attached tasting room hosts monthly wine tasting events.
• Monthly Wine Tasting (Maandelijkse Wijnproeverij) Paid guided wine tasting events held monthly at La Branche's Amsterdam tasting room, featuring 6–8 wines from the company's curated assortment paired with small bites, priced at €35 per person, co-hosted with local wine experts Robert Schuurman (wijnproeverijamsterdam.nl) and Bronwyn May (Bronwijn).
• Wine Gift Voucher (Wijn Cadeaubon) Gift voucher available in €25, €50, and €100 denominations, redeemable across the full webshop assortment, valid for 2 years from purchase, and deliverable by email with a personal message and redemption code for the recipient.
• Horeca & Wholesale Wine Supply B2B wine supply service for Dutch restaurants, hotels, and hospitality businesses (horeca) as well as wholesale distributors (groothandel). La Branche acts as a personal, reliable, and service-oriented partner, offering its curated European wine assortment with direct-import pricing.

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

Integration1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Robert Schuurman (wijnproeverijamsterdam.nl)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborates with Robert Schuurman of wijnproeverijamsterdam.nl for monthly wine tasting events held at La Branche's tasting room. Schuurman co-hosts the tastings alongside Bronwyn May from Bronwijn.
• Bronwyn May (Bronwijn)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborates with Bronwyn May of Bronwijn for monthly wine tasting events at La Branche's tasting room. Co-hosts tastings alongside Robert Schuurman.
• PostNLcoreOthersPartnership with PostNL for reliable and safe delivery of wines throughout the Netherlands. Age verification (18+) is required upon receipt of alcohol deliveries.
• ShopifycoreTechnology or IntegrationE-commerce platform powering the La Branche webshop. Shopify handles the technical infrastructure for the online store, enabling product listings, shopping cart, checkout, and order management.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Albert Heijn: Largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands and a major seller of wines across price tiers. Represents the mass-market competitive floor that La Branche's premium curation play is differentiated against.
• Gall & Gall: Largest off-premise alcohol retail chain in the Netherlands, owned by Ahold Delhaize, with hundreds of physical stores plus online. Major incumbent competitor across wine retail, horeca supply, and e-commerce - overlaps with every La Branche channel but at vastly larger scale.
• Majestic Wine: UK specialist wine retailer with physical stores, online sales, and direct producer relationships. Comparable multi-channel specialist-retailer model with much greater scale and broader geographic footprint.
• Berry Bros. & Rudd: Historic UK fine wine merchant with a curated European producer portfolio, direct winemaker relationships, physical shops, in-store tastings, and e-commerce. International analogue for La Branche's curation-first, relationship-driven model - at much greater scale and longevity.
• Laithwaites: UK-based direct wine retailer selling curated European wines sourced directly from producers. Comparable business model (direct producer relationships, curated assortment, online + offline) with significantly larger scale and broader geographic reach.
• Naked Wines: Online wine club connecting consumers directly to independent winemakers, with curated portfolios and subscription mechanics. Comparable direct-producer sourcing model but operating as a much larger, venture-funded platform spanning UK, US, and Australia.
• The Wine Society: UK's largest wine co-operative with a curation-led, direct-from-producer ethos and member-driven online retail. Comparable specialist model with direct producer relationships and a similar premium European wine focus.

Direct peers

• Wijnbeurs: Large Netherlands-based online wine retailer offering an extensive European wine assortment via direct-to-consumer e-commerce. Closest Dutch analogue to La Branche's online retail model, though larger in assortment breadth and operational scale.
• Colaris: Dutch online wine specialist offering curated European wines direct-to-consumer. Comparable e-commerce-led model with similar customer profile to La Branche's webshop.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/LaBrancheWijnimport
• Instagraminstagram.com/labranchewijnimport
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/labranchewijnimport

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 La Branche Wijnimport