About Us

Let your taste buds travel with every bottle - Erik Laan - The Vineking

 

We are an independent wine merchant with shops in Surrey, with almost two decades of sourcing, selling and delivering delicious wines from around the world.

Our Vineking motto is “Explore great wine without the nonsense” which reflects our purpose and passion; to help you confidently discover wines beyond what you know and already love.

To do this our team of “Vinekings” are always engaged, easy to chat to and excited to share the exploits of our wine sourcing travels.

Tell us about the styles of wine you love, but also what you love cooking, where you love going, what you love doing and we’ll be happy to help you select something suitable, special and exciting to try.

An wonderful, no nonsense world of wine is waiting for you to discover;

Pop in store to chat and or join us at our tasting events, wine courses and club, pop restaurants or even take one of our Vineking wine travel guides on holiday with you.

All are welcome to let their tastebuds travel with us - The more Vineking explorers the merrier!

 

Erik

Erik

I set up The Vineking in 2003 from the proverbial kitchen table, having worked for a series of great but more traditional merchants, I wanted to do something different. The idea was to provide a more specialist retail offering, with the knowledge that there were customers out there who wanted delicious, rather than industrial wines. From the very outset, The Vineking motto has been “great wines, no nonsense” and this concept has been our guiding light.

Over the years I have managed to persuade many other like-minded souls to The Vineking Banner and having the right people is key. We might appear to be a little haphazard in our recruiting style (read on!) but it sure seems to have worked so far and my thanks go to all those who have joined me in the past too, as each one has helped make The Vineking, what it is today.

The joy of wine is an ever-changing subject, so join us and hop on board for a great vinous journey!

Frank

Frank

I joined the Vineking in late 2012, coming from a background in hospitality where I looked after weddings, events and restaurants etc. The funny thing was, I only popped into The Vineking, to pick up a couple of cigars to toast my cousin’s first child and twenty minutes later, I left with a job. I maintain, it is Erik’s greatest upsell!

So, seizing upon my previous hospitality experience, I quickly became involved in setting up and running Reigate’s Pop-Up Restaurants, whilst also taking on the role as no.2 in Reigate’s Church Street shop. Soon, convinced I might know what I was doing, I was left to run the store as manager and it’s all worked out pretty well!

Please contact me for any event management needs you might have, from the simplest “how much booze do I need” to us even running the whole event for you. We can look after anything from a perfect private dinner or an entire wedding.

The Vineking Charitable Contribution

Giving back and sustainability are an important part of our ethos. For years we have done this with voucher and bottle donations, hosted tastings, spare change pots in our stores and over the years have supported many local charities, including the brilliant SportinMs, PSDS, ShootingStar and Loveworks (to name a few).

Now we wanted to do just a little more, by bringing our passionate team to the fore.

Every month, we will support a new charity chosen by a member of our team. This charity is close to their hearts.

It’s important to us that we give back to causes we hold dear and to support the incredible work they are doing.

Supporting a new charity every month enables us to work with a wide range of amazing organisations, working across every sector.

For one weekend of every month, we will donate 5%* of all sales made from our website to the chosen charity – every order placed over the whole weekend, big or small.

Our team member will be sharing with you why they support their chosen charity.

*Net Sales

Previous Charities

July - Support the Rhinos
September - RNLI
October - Mental Health Charities
November - WaterAid