WATCH: Yorkshire wine expert Alexandra Edwards on mission to make wines 'less scary' gives best recommendations for spring tipple

"I messaged: ‘Look, there’s even a wine shop’ because I’ve always had a big passion for wine,” she recalls.

Eight years later, she now owns the business near the village of Sheriff Hutton and has ambitious plans to grow.

The firm was predominantly wholesale, selling to bars and restaurants and shops within a 50-mile radius of the headquarters.

Since the pandemic, the retail side of the business has increased, both online and with a move to bigger premises at the end of 2022. It’s now about 30 per cent of the company, up from about 10 per cent.

The firm’s turnover is £1.5m and it employs 12 staff.

"When I joined in 2018 I felt there was an opportunity for retail to be a bigger proportion of the business,” says Edwards. “We were physically restricted at our old premises, which was a small shop on the high street, so when we moved, part of the criteria was to have a bigger space for a shop and to be able to host wine tastings for both retail and wholesale customers.”

During Covid-19 the company realised there was a big opportunity to grow its online sales so now Edwards is focused on growing the retail side, both online and in the shop, as well as the wholesale side of the business.

After moving to the area in 2015 with her husband and two children, now ages 12 and 14, Edwards joined York Wines in a sales role three years later.

"I really enjoyed it and thought the industry was great,” she says. “I had some discussions with the owner and we came up with a plan that I would buy the business over five years and he would gradually retire.”

Brexit and Covid-19 accelerated those plans and at the end of last year the owner retired completely.

The wine shop was part of his home so Edwards set about finding new premises, which are now in a converted stable block on a farm near the village.

"Buying wine should be a nice experience,” she says. “We’ve had lots of customers say how much they like the new premises and parking is much easier.”

As well as the move, Edwards has invested in rebranding the business, including a new website and has migrated to a new software system specifically designed for wine merchants.

Part of the longer-term strategy is about educating customers and helping to make the world of wine accessible to everyone.

"Historically the business was referred to as a specialist wine importer and that scares people a little bit because they think they’re not going to be able to afford it or they won’t like the wine,” she says.

“So now we call ourselves independent wine merchants.”

She adds: “People, and particularly women, sometimes think they shouldn’t go into a specialist wine shop because they think they don’t know enough about wine but I always say that wine is totally subjective.

"If you taste a wine and you like it, and you want to have another sip, then that’s a nice wine. If you can learn a bit along the way then that’s an added bonus.”

As well as offering advice to customers in the shop, York Wines recently launched Wine Wednesdays, a ticketed wine tasting event on the last Wednesday of the month. The last event, which was attended by one of its Portuguese suppliers, was a sell-out.

"A few people who have come to the tastings have said ‘I thought I hated Chardonnay but now I know that if it’s an unoaked Chardonnay then I’ll probably like it’. It means that when they go to a restaurant they’ll have more of an idea about what they like on the wine list,” says Edwards.

“Wine a massive subject that can be quite inpenetrable so I like to bring it back to simple descriptions that people can relate to.”

York Wines imports most of its wines from France which, according to Edwards, makes the business competitive on price. But it also imports from Italy, Spain and Portugal and stocks wine from Germany, Chile, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Austria and Romania.

Edwards says she looks at regions around the world which she believes are good value for money. Its imported wines start at £8.

South Africa, Spain and Italy are some of those places at the moment, she adds.

Edwards’ role has taken her to meet producers at vineyards in Italy, Sicily, France and Spain, but the company usually orders wine samples for the team to taste and discuss together in the office – a practice that gave it a head start during the Covid travel restrictions.

The impact of climate change on the wine industry is vast due to the unpredictability of weather. Cost of living, fuel and materials are also major challenges.

"It just seems that everything is happening at once at the moment,” says Edwards.

“There’s a shortage of glass bottles in France and a shortage of lids in Italy. There are random things all the time.”

Edwards, who describes herself as positive, enthusiastic and courageous, was born and brought up in Ellesmere in Shropshire. She studied management sciences at the London School of Economics and worked as a speech writer in the House of Lords as a student.

Her first graduate role was in advertising, working for M&C Saatchi London before moving to another advertising agency.

She later moved into into local government as a policy analyst for Wandsworth Council before the family moved up to Yorkshire.

A good sense of smell led to her interest in wine and she attended numerous courses and tastings as a hobby. “I’ve always been interested in business too,” she says. “So I’m now combining that with the perfect product.”