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Tony Laithwaite
Founder, Laithwaite’s Wine
Tony Laithwaite’s name is synonymous with
wine, having founded the eponymous retailer
50 years ago. And he has been a constant
force for progress throughout the birth and
growth of the modern English wine industry.
His family is steeped in it: Laithwaite’s wife
Barbara is a co-founder of Wyfold Vineyard,
while his son Henry runs the hugely respected
Harrow & Hope winery in Marlow, Bucks.
His enthusiasm for native slosh was fun-
damental in bringing brands like Ridgeview
to the masses. “They are probably the most
long term and invested retailer in English
wines and have promoted this tirelessly to
their membership for over 20 years,” says
Ridgeview’s Roberts.
“It was [wine writer] Hugh Johnson and
Tony Laithwaite who visited my dad in the
late 1990s – only a couple of years after we
planted our vineyard and were making wines
from bought-in grapes.
“They straight away purchased some of
our 1996 vintage, and we created an exclu-
sive label for Laithwaite’s and Sunday Times’
wine clubs called South Ridge, which has
been bottled every year since.”
Today this online wine specialist’s dedi-
cation to English wine continues, predomi-
nantly via his eponymous site. It’s clear this
is a true labour of love.
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Eric Heerema
CEO, Nyetimber
Nyetimber is en route to becoming a truly
global brand. The West Sussex winery’s pro-
duction hit one million bottles this year, and
the brand – which Dutch businessman Eric
Heerema snapped up for £7.5m in 2006 – has
kicked off a major international expansion
plan. It’s currently in 19 markets.
Nyetimber was one of the first English fizz
producers of note, and was well-regarded
before Heerema came along. But it was
Heerema’s purchase and subsequent cash
injection that have propelled the brand to
the point it is at today. Exact figures are
unknown, but Heerema has made no secret
of having ploughed ungodly sums of his own
cash into the brand, snapping up swathes of
land in Sussex, Kent and Hampshire.
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