We hope you will find two key characteristics at Raeburn Fine Wines: as well as the highest quality, the much relished but also much threatened variety of wine, always such a large part of its attraction, fascination.
We taste and travel happily and widely to bring the list to its present state, and are delighted to be able to offer many exciting new discoveries as well as previously selected wines from some of the world’s finest producers. In all cases the criteria for selection have been simple. Above all we have sought out wines which we believe it an experience – a pleasure, a privilege, at best with the added je ne sais quoi dimension of greatness – to drink and to share. For us that means wines which display a definite identity* (cépage, terroir, producer, philosophy, vintage) and a particular personality per se, as well as the highest levels of quality and value whatever the price range.
Thus our focus remains as ever on serious wine from the middle to top end of French and Italian wineries, and a few beyond. Many of the most famous names in wine, they are not featured on account of past or present reputation alone, and only where we feel that this is currently warranted. Equally, the less well known wines are not merely the result of the search for eccentricity, exclusivity or novelty – though many certainly do possess these qualities.
Our general policy of collaborating closely and dealing directly with carefully chosen producers continues to prove richly rewarding. Being conversant with their philosophies, methodology and qualities makes us aware of how other, newer wineries compare in the glass and in value.
Developing personal and professional long-term relationships allows us access to helpful information and precious stocks of carefully cellared, fully mature wines from older vintages which often need many years to reveal their splendours. E.g. Potinet-Ampeau and Michel Gaunoux (Côte de Beaune), Sociando-Mallet’s Cuvée Jean-Gautreau (Left Bank), Moulin Pey-Labrie (Right Bank), Pichot and Spelty (Loire), Petterino (Gattinara), Calabretta’s Nerello VV (Etna), to name but a few.
It also secures us allocations of many of the finest wines from more recent vintages, many of which sell through en primeur, and for which demand always greatly exceeds supply. E.g. the range of red and white Burgundies from the completely different but (almost) equally stunning vintages of 2017 thru 2020, at time of writing.
This is on top of wineries we have accumulated stocks of, making for a superb array of well-stored back vintages to pick between, such as Jean-Louis Chave & Famille Tardieu (Rhone), Roc d’Anglade & Tempier (South), Duline (Collio Orientali), Carnasciale (Super Tuscan), Tabarrini (Montefalco), our Wachau & Mosel growers, Andy Smith’s DuMOL (RRV), and frankly too many in Burgundy to single out.
While for many reasons the quality of wine has arguably never been higher, we can celebrate that this has not generally resulted in corresponding price rises. The chief exceptions, of course, have been all 99+ point wines, Bordeaux GCC post 2008, followed by the elite growers of the Côte de Nuits (rouge) and Côte de Beaune (Grand Cru blanc), where demand, especially for investment and from the Far East, has fuelled price spirals to absurdly and artificially high levels.
Growers in other classic regions such as Côte de Beaune (rouge), Loire, Rhône, much of Piedmont, Chianti, Collio & Carso, Sicily etc. have a less greedy, more prudent attitude. Our belief is that the pleasure provided by these wines should be spread as widely as possible.
Raeburn Wines remains a family owned company. Since first steps as a wine retailer in Edinburgh in the early 1980s, the company has grown organically to be a national agent, importer and distributor of fine wine and spirits, with offices in Edinburgh and London. Each taster has their own values and preferred characteristics: all of our sales team are happy to talk with you about yours, and to find you something to suit.
Raeburn Fine Wines, 2000 to 2022
* For highly interested clients, at the end of the portfolio are some carefully curated focus selections of wines grouped together thematically, covering female owned or operated wineries, Tres Vieilles Vignes (aka tvv), ungrafted vines, high altitude vines, long elevage, art-series labels, homage labels, etc.