SEARCH FOR WINE
 
  Advanced Search
  QUICK ORDER
Guarantee
"If, for any reason, you find the wine you ordered from us reaches you in an unsatisfactory condition, we will refund you or replace it without any fuss."
John Avery, MW, Director
Home > About Averys > History
Over 200 Years of Great Wines


Averys may be centuries old but we’re a modern wine merchant. Only when it comes to the personal touch could you call us ‘old-fashioned’ . In today’s world of big brands and multiple retailing, Averys is proud of its independent wine merchant status, offering wines of flair, flavour and character often neglected by the multiple distributors.  For in a world where customer service is on the decline, we’ve made it our forte. 

Steeped in history, focused on the present


Averys has featured prominently in the history of the English wine trade for over 200 years. It has survived recession, depression, war, the devastation of phylloxera in European vineyards and pioneered many of the aspects of the trade winelovers now take for granted.


Chairman John Avery measures the company’s success, however, not in decades or centuries or even column inches in the Oxford Companion to Wine, but by loyal and satisfied customers. And in spite (or because) of the rise of supermarkets, Averys has many times more customers now than at any point since 1793.  If you love fine, affordable wine and being treated as a much-valued customer, you’re in the right place.


The firm can trace its roots back to 1793 when it was established in Bristol.  An unfortunate date for our Bordeaux suppliers as it marks the murder of the Girondins and the establishment of the Terreur in revolutionary France. The west of the UK, from Bristol to Liverpool and Glasgow, was an important route for goods coming into the country, as they didn’t have to pass through the dangerous English Channel. It is no coincidence that these three cities built their wealth on the back of tobacco, slavery and alcohol imports.

 

The original John Avery purchased the historic premisis on Park street in 1860, today you can visit the shop in the historic cellars, or hire them out for parties, events and conferences.

 

A Pioneering Spirit - Classics regions and new frontiers

Averys prospered locally until the 20th Century when, flourishing under the guidance of dynamic chairman and buyer Ronald, the business developed an enviable reputation as one of the finest wine merchants in the country,  and a serious rival to the equally famous traditional merchants in St James’s in London.


Averys has always had a keen interest in classic wines and a pioneering urge to discover the new. It’s a balance that keeps our wine list diverse and dynamic and our customers coming back for more.

Ronald Avery, the current Chairman's  father, was a wine trade legend. In the 1920s he pioneered the practice of traveling to wine estates to taste and choose when the norm was to buy from an agent. Ronald also introduced great wines from Saint- Emilion and Pomerol at a time when they were little known, including the now legendary Pétrus. Ronald, affectionately referred to as Uncle Ronald by Hugh Johnson, was one of the trade’s most colourful characters and links that he established over 60 years ago are still flourishing today.

 

John inherited his fathers pioneering spirit and was the first to import top names from Australia, including Penfolds Grange in 1968, and the first to import the wines of New Zealand long before the New World wine boom got under way. Indeed it’s a spirit that has been passed down to John’s daughter Mimi, who joined the business in 1999.