Who We Are

Australian Vintners was, like all good ideas, born over a bottle of wine between two great friends.

The question we kept coming back to: why do so many of Australia's greatest wines never reach the UK? So many of the best bottles never even leave their home state, let alone the country.

Through our connections on the ground and a shared obsession with finding the extraordinary, we set out to change that — bringing the finest, most distinctive wines to a new audience, while helping the small, family-owned wineries we love to find new drinkers on the other side of the world.

Meet the founders

Ben Harvey


Having worked in London for 20 something years and I found myself in 2019 sitting in a tasting room in the Barossa Valley with my future father in law tasting some dazzling wines, the likes of which I just didn’t know Australia produced. Better still it was immediately apparent that I was not alone in the UK having not tasted them. I am blessed to be able to use the incredible history and experience of my Australian family to connect with some really unique and wonderful wine producers. I want to show people the amazing wines that result from this incredible country and the passion of those making wine there.

I want us to become the go to importer for small Australian growers who want to get their wine to the UK, but don’t have the capacity or desire to deal with the big importers or the swathes of paperwork needed to do that. One of our Australian winemakers said to us - "the only thing I would like better than seeing my wine on a wine list in Australia, is seeing it on one in London". This is what we are looking to do!

Meet the founders

Paul Bartram

For me the thrill is about finding a wine that tastes great. Sometimes that is an expensive super tuscan. Sometimes it is a first growth bordeaux. And sometimes it's a cheap burgundy you got from Majestic. The best wines to me are those that taste great, but have an occasion to go with it. Having friends over for a Sunday roast or enjoying a glass of rose in the sun with a BBQ. Wine is about experiences and not just consumption.

For me, Australian vintners is about all of that. It's about uncovering wines that you can't find elsewhere. It's about showcasing wines from Australia that aren't just chardonnays, (although I am sure we'll have some of those) or robust Shiraz but Italian or Spanish varietals that grow so brilliantly in Australia. It's discovering wines that are expressive, not too expensive, that you can share with others and say "I bought this from those great guys at AV."