1.   Who’s behind Vintage Roots, and how did it all start?

Neil and Lance founded Vintage Roots back in 1986, with Peter, who left in 1991, through Margaret Thatcher’s Enterprise Allowance Scheme. It gave budding entrepreneurs a chance to keep their £40 a week dole money for a year, as long as they could put forward a credible business idea. We started following research trips to France, meeting organic growers and being inspired by their stories and their wines too.

We have always been 100% organic since that first year; it was the message at the heart of the business and what motivated us from the beginning. We knew nothing about the traditional wine trade, which perhaps helped us approach things differently from the outset.

Better Food (and before that Real Foods) were among the very first shops we worked with back in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Their quality organic food offerings were a great match for us, and there was a natural connection between better food, better farming and better wine.

2.   What has stayed important to you as Vintage Roots has grown and evolved?

‘Think and Drink Organic’ is what we like to say. For us, the message goes beyond what is simply in the bottle. Not only are the wines made with fewer synthetic inputs, but the wider environment is protected, biodiversity is enhanced and vineyard workers benefit from safer farming practices. We feel it is important to support suppliers who are doing it right.

Everything we sell carries organic certification, and Vintage Roots itself is regulated by the Organic Food Federation.

We have always tried to run the business in an ethical and sustainable way. We are corporate partners with the Soil Association, we help raise funds for the Born Free Foundation through sales of our branded ‘Wild Thing’ wine range, and we constantly work to lower the environmental footprint of running our business. In 2024, we also became a certified B Corp.

3.   Sustainability is an important part of what you do, how does that show up in the way you run Vintage Roots?

We are not actually producing anything ourselves, but as merchants and importers, our whole range is from growers and producers who farm organically and, in many cases, biodynamically. We want to help support healthier soils, greater biodiversity and a better wider environment with every extra bottle we sell.

Sustainability also influences the way we operate as a business, from the suppliers we choose to work with to the way we think about packaging, transport and our own environmental impact.

4.   What do you think sets Vintage Roots apart?

Forty years of being 100% organic, and being one of the UK’s original specialist importers of organic wine, gives us a perspective and level of experience that is fairly unique. Our company still maintains its family feel, we look after our employees, we are B Corp certified and our purpose has not wavered. We also try to have some fun along the way.

We have long-standing relationships with many of our growers, and that personal connection to the people behind the wines remains a really important part of what we do.

5.   Do you have a favourite wine at the moment, or one you really want to celebrate

Hoopoe Nero d’Avola/Syrah 2024 – a Vintage Roots own label from Sicily – offers a lot of wine for the money, with generous fruit, warmth and plenty of character.

Château Rochecolombe Côtes du Rhône is so good, and remarkably consistent from vintage to vintage. Full of warming, rich black fruit flavour, with gentle spice and herbal tones too. It is a brilliant autumn and winter red and a wine we come back to year after year.

6.   What do you hope people feel when they pick up your wine at Better Food?

We always say that we are ‘Making the Case for Organic’, and by that we mean we aim to promote organic wine in the best possible light, by working hard to select the very best wines at accessible prices. We know our suppliers, many of whom we are proud to call friends, and customers can be reassured that all our wines are certified organic.

Above all, we hope people feel confident that they are choosing a wine that tastes great, has been made with care and comes from producers whose approach to farming and the environment genuinely matters.