Show your support for independent wine producers

24th June 2020

 

OCC Patron Lynne Levin and her husband David Levin MBE are strong advocates for independent, family-owned vineyards which supply exceptional quality wines to well-informed customers. 

 

Lynne and David Levin are the founding partners of Great Wine Estates, which offers UK customers direct access to wines from award winning, regionally authentic, organic, family-owned vineyards (currently from France, Spain, Australia and the USA). With their own sales and customer service team, storage facilities and delivery system, they bypass the dominant importer-distributor model, which often overlooks more idiosyncratic producers. In short, they adopt an approach that appeals to thoughtful consumers who care about origin, cultural traditions and sustainability.

 Lynne and David are themselves vineyard owners. David established domaine Levin, in the Loire Valley in France, back in 1986. As owner of The Capital Hotel, an exclusive boutique property in London’s Knightsbridge, his original motivation was to produce his own private label wines, of outstanding quality, to serve to his hotel guests.

Through his annual visits to Australia, David developed an admiration for modern New World wine production techniques. In 2003, with advice from his oldest Australian friends, Len Evans and Brian Croser, he had a winery designed in South Australia (the same design as the Shaw Smith winery in the Adelaide Hills) and built on his Loire Valley estate.

Today, Lynne manages the domaine and the export of wines to 14 countries. She has overseen the expansion of production to 150,000 bottles per year and a seven-year transition to organic certification, finalised in 2011.

Lynne and David have recently launched a user-friendly online ordering platform for Great Wine Estates. They are happy to offer a 15% loyalty discount to friends of the Oxford Cultural Collective. Simply enter the code LOYALTY15 when prompted.  Shipping and delivery are free of charge on all orders (in UK) of two dozen bottles or more.  Follow this link to order. 

This short film reveals more about David and Lynne’s unique story.