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SA online retailer launches ‘one stop shop’ in UK

Published:  15 October, 2020

South African online wine retailer Port2Port is launching a marketplace allowing UK trade to sell Cape wines direct to consumer.

Created five years ago by tech entrepreneur Nicolo Pudal and Saxenburg Wine Estate’s owner Vincent Buhrer, Port2Port has already signed up six UK importers of South African wines, aiming to greatly expand this number by the end of 2020.

Currently Top Selection, Humble Grape, Les Caves de Pyrene, Museum Wines, K&L Wines and Frontier Wines are on board, with the platform allowing consumers to directly access their collective portfolio of South African wines.

Port2Port is looking to replicate its success in South Africa, where it claims to have the largest range of Cape wines on offer, including many rarer and harder to find bottles from smaller producers.

The UK site will go beyond “just a list of wines”, with a “magazine style format” at the front end featuring articles and opinion pieces from leading industry commentators and producers, said Pudal (pictured).

Michael Fridjhon, Ken Forrester and Harpers columnist Tim Atkin MW are among those that have contributed to the site so far.

“I wanted to bring my tech expertise to the wine industry and create an easy to navigate, aesthetically beautiful, intuitive marketplace for wine lovers,” he added.

“I also want Port2Port to be known for its wide selection of wines that are hard to obtain, even obscure, and largely from small producers. This will be our competitive edge and is the priority so, although we are aiming for a list of around 1,000 wines within the next six months, we won’t compromise.”

The company’s ambitions stretch beyond the UK, with a longer-term aim to expand into Europe, Australia and USA, with regional logistical hubs “enabling Port2Port to handle as many as 25,000 SKUs”, with the idea being to create a one stop shop for South African wines in each market.


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