VintWire is not a wine merchant.
We don't own wine, hold stock or have an inventory that we need to sell.
VINTWIRE FAQs
Understanding VintWire
What VintWire does, what it doesn't do, how we approach the UK wine market and what the information you see on VintWire represents.
STARTING WITH THE IMPORTANT BIT
First, what is VintWire not?
Understanding what VintWire does starts with understanding the role we deliberately do not play in the wine market.
VintWire is not a marketplace.
We don't take orders or payments and we don't sit between you and the merchant in a transaction. If you find a wine through VintWire, you buy it directly from the merchant offering it.
VintWire doesn't store or ship wine.
Storage, fulfilment, collection and delivery remain between you and the relevant merchant.
VintWire isn't here to promote one merchant over another.
We bring together information from across the UK wine market. Our job is to help private customers understand the choices available to them, not to steer them towards stock that VintWire needs to sell.
VintWire is not an investment platform.
We provide wine market data, comparisons and independent analysis. We don't manage portfolios, execute trades or provide personalised investment advice.
VintWire isn't a passive directory.
Bringing the data together is only part of what we do. We organise, compare and analyse it so that private customers can see what is happening across a fragmented market.
SO, WHAT IS VINTWIRE?
A clearer view across the UK wine market
VintWire is an independent UK wine market information service built for private customers.
We bring together offers and market information from across the UK wine trade to provide a clearer view of what is available, who is offering it, how prices compare and what is changing.
By combining data from across the UK wine market with independent analysis, VintWire helps private customers navigate a market that would otherwise require searching across many individual merchants, offers and sources.
We have no wine inventory of our own to favour. Our analysis is not determined by which merchant's stock we need to sell.
VintWire may have affiliate or other commercial relationships with some merchants, and we will disclose those relationships appropriately. They do not determine our comparative pricing, market analysis or editorial conclusions.
THE VINTWIRE IDEA
VintWire brings the market together — and then helps you make sense of it.
The information layer between the private customer and the UK merchant market.
THE MARKET
What part of the wine market does VintWire cover?
VintWire's focus is deliberate: the UK merchant market, viewed from the perspective of the private buyer.
Why does VintWire focus on the UK?
The UK has long played an important role in the international wine trade. London in particular remains an important centre for merchants, collectors and the wider infrastructure surrounding fine wine.
For a private customer, that creates an unusually varied market. Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Tuscany, Piedmont, California and wines from many other regions can be offered simultaneously by numerous independent UK merchants, often at different prices and on different terms.
That fragmentation is exactly the kind of market VintWire is designed to make easier to understand.
Our UK focus is therefore deliberate. Rather than trying to aggregate every wine market everywhere, we want to build a deeper and more useful view of the market we track.
The wines themselves may come from around the world. The market VintWire is observing is the UK market.
How does VintWire choose which merchants to track?
Our current merchant coverage is primarily practical rather than preferential.
VintWire began by bringing together merchants whose publicly available offers could be accessed, identified and structured reliably by our systems. Inclusion does not represent an endorsement, ranking or preferred status, and the order in which merchants have been added should not be interpreted as a judgement about their importance, quality or relevance.
What we can observe also varies between merchants according to how they publish their offers, the information they make publicly available and the capabilities of our collection systems.
As VintWire's technology and coverage become more sophisticated, we expect to add more merchants and broaden the information we can collect from existing ones.
Does VintWire collect every wine a merchant sells?
No. Nor is that our objective.
One of the wonderful things about wine is its extraordinary variety. The UK market contains everything from widely distributed wines offered by numerous merchants to tiny allocations, exclusivities, mature parcels and bottles that may appear only once or in one place.
VintWire is principally interested in the part of the market where bringing information together creates useful comparison. We therefore tend to focus on wines and offers with the potential to appear across more than one merchant.
This does not mean that a wine must currently be offered by multiple merchants to appear on VintWire. Rather, it reflects the kind of market VintWire is designed to illuminate.
Our objective isn't to catalogue every bottle of wine for sale. It's to make the comparable part of the UK wine market much easier for private customers to understand.
Does the absence of a merchant, wine or offer mean it isn't available?
No. VintWire's coverage is growing and is not intended to represent every merchant or every bottle available in the UK.
The presence or absence of a merchant, wine or offer should not be interpreted as a recommendation, judgement or statement that the wine is unavailable elsewhere.
Will more merchants and wines be added?
Yes. VintWire is a developing market dataset. Merchant coverage, wine coverage and the range of information we can observe will continue to expand as our systems develop.
Expansion does not only mean adding new merchants. It can also mean improving the depth and reliability of the information we collect from merchants already tracked by VintWire.
THE DATA
What does the information on VintWire represent?
Wine market data becomes useful when it is clear what is being compared and what the numbers actually mean.
How current is the information on VintWire?
VintWire is designed to provide a current view of offers and activity across the UK wine market. We regularly collect and update information from the merchants and market sources we track, and offers displayed on VintWire reflect the latest information available to us.
The wine market is constantly changing. Prices, availability, stock status, delivery terms, tax or duty treatment, bottle and case formats and other information can change at any time. Information supplied or published by merchants may itself also be subject to change, delay or error.
VintWire's data may also be affected by external factors outside our control, including changes to merchant websites, source availability and technical interruptions.
For these reasons, while VintWire aims to provide timely and accurate market information, no price, availability or other third-party information should be treated as guaranteed. Where making a purchase, users should confirm the final price, availability and terms with the relevant merchant.
What does “Best Price” mean?
Best Price identifies the lowest relevant offer currently identified by VintWire within the merchant data we track for the corresponding wine, vintage and comparable format.
It is a comparison within VintWire's observed market, not a claim that the price is the cheapest price available anywhere in the UK or elsewhere.
Different merchant listings may also have different commercial terms. Bottle size, case configuration, tax or duty status, availability and other conditions can affect whether two prices are meaningfully comparable.
What does a price movement mean?
A price movement on VintWire means that we have observed a change in relevant merchant offer data.
It does not necessarily mean that the underlying market value of the wine has moved by the same amount. Merchant asking prices are not the same as completed transaction prices, executable bids or formal valuations.
The value of tracking those observations is that, when viewed together, they can begin to show how merchant behaviour and pricing are changing across the market.
How does VintWire know when two merchant listings are the same wine?
Merchant websites often describe the same wine in different ways. VintWire organises those listings around a canonical wine catalogue so that merchant descriptions can be connected to a consistent wine identity.
Vintage, bottle size, format and other relevant characteristics remain important. Our objective is not simply to match similar-looking names, but to compare offers that genuinely belong to the same wine market.
Where identity cannot be established with sufficient confidence, our preference is to hold the listing back from comparison rather than force an uncertain match.
Why might a price on VintWire differ from a merchant's website?
Merchant markets can change between observations. A merchant may update a price, sell through an allocation, change the format offered or alter the commercial terms attached to a listing.
Source information can also contain delays or errors. VintWire is designed to update its view as new information is observed, but the final price and terms of any purchase should always be confirmed with the merchant.
Are historical prices transaction prices?
Not necessarily. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, historical pricing on VintWire represents merchant offer prices observed by VintWire.
An observed asking price does not establish that a transaction took place at that price and should not be interpreted as a formal valuation or executable market price.
Are prices in bond or duty paid?
The tax and duty treatment of wine offers can vary between merchants and listings. Where VintWire has reliable information about the basis on which a price is quoted, we aim to preserve that distinction.
Users should not assume that two prices are directly comparable solely because the headline figures are different. The merchant's own terms should be checked before purchasing.
INDEPENDENCE
Does impartial mean VintWire cannot have a view?
No. Impartiality does not mean silence.
If the data shows that an offer is particularly competitive, that prices are moving, that one merchant is materially cheaper than others, or that a new release deserves closer scrutiny, VintWire can say so.
The important distinction is how that conclusion is reached.
Our analysis should follow the evidence rather than the commercial interests of a merchant, advertiser, affiliate partner or VintWire itself.
OUR APPROACH
Our aim is not to avoid conclusions. It is to reach them independently.
Does VintWire receive money from merchants?
VintWire may earn revenue through advertising, partnerships, subscriptions or qualifying outbound links, including relationships with businesses that appear on the service.
Relevant commercial relationships should be disclosed appropriately.
Can commercial relationships affect VintWire's analysis?
They should not determine our comparative pricing, market analysis, editorial conclusions or the identification of the most competitive observed offer.
Independence does not require VintWire to have no commercial relationships. It requires those relationships not to control the conclusions we present to users.
Does VintWire recommend wines or investments?
VintWire can provide market observations, comparisons and editorial analysis, including views about pricing and market activity.
That is different from personalised financial or investment advice. VintWire does not manage portfolios, determine whether a particular purchase is suitable for an individual or guarantee future prices or returns.
Does VintWire handle my purchase?
No. VintWire helps you understand and navigate the market, but the transaction remains between you and the merchant.
Payments, contractual terms, storage, fulfilment, collection, delivery, returns and customer service relating to the purchase are handled by the relevant merchant.
YOUR ACCOUNT & THE SERVICE
Corrections, privacy and control
What should I do if I find incorrect information?
Please tell us.
VintWire brings together information from a large and changing set of external sources. Despite the controls we use to identify and compare wines, mistakes or outdated information can occur.
If you spot something that appears incorrect, you can contact VintWire and provide the relevant wine, merchant or page so that we can investigate it.
Can I delete my VintWire account and personal data?
Yes. You can request deletion of your VintWire account and associated personal data at any time.
Certain information may be retained where required by law, for legitimate security or accounting purposes, or where it has been irreversibly anonymised.
Account deletion is separate from cancelling a paid subscription. Where applicable, any active subscription should also be dealt with as part of closing your relationship with VintWire.
Where can I read more about how VintWire uses data?
Our dedicated Our Data page explains how VintWire approaches merchant coverage, wine identity, comparison, observed prices and market movements in greater detail.
We are publishing that methodology because the meaning and limitations of market data should be understandable to the people using it.
STILL HAVE A QUESTION?
Ask VintWire
If something about the service, our data or our approach isn't clear, we'd rather you ask.
Contact VintWire