The UK has changed in recent years from a nation of beer drinkers to country of wine connoisseurs. Jake Woodhouse hopes to make the most of this newly found love with a business dedicated to specialist Italian wines.   

Name: Jake Woodhouse
Age: 30
Business: Divino Wines
Type of business: Wine importer
Start date: May 2005

When did you first decide you wanted to start your own business?
I’ve done many jobs, initially I was a musician but I got bored and retrained to be a winemaker in New Zealand. I then worked in Italy for a few vintages before returning to the UK where I got a job in an independent wine merchant. I had been thinking about starting a business for a while and working there gave me the idea for Divino.

Tell us about your business
Divino wines imports wines from small producers in Italy who make interesting, distinctive and an exciting wines (ie. not supermarket wine). Selling is done through the website direct to customers and as we import the wine ourselves we offer good value as well as interest. There are a couple of other websites selling Italian wines that I know of, but they all buy in the UK from wholesalers and as a consequence offer neither value nor interest, and they all offer the same wines. I also sell to a few specialist independent wine merchants and I am looking to expand this side of the business.

Was it your first business idea and where did it come from?
No, it wasn’t my first. When I came back to the UK from Italy I briefly worked at a craft brewers in Devon. And I thought ‘if I can make wine I can certainly make beer’ and planned to start my own organic microbrewery. Two things put a stop to that plan; firstly the start up cost of buying the brewing equipment is enormous; secondly it turned out that I’m a coeliac and therefore can’t drink beer any more - and I refuse to make beer if I can’t drink it!

What makes you think there’s a market for your business?
The explosion of wine drinking in the UK over the last ten years or so has been largely fuelled by the supermarkets providing basic, cheap wines. Many people who have been introduced to wine in this way are starting to realise that there is a lot more to it and want to find out more. Whilst working at the specialist wine shop I ran several six week wine courses and realised through this that there is a real thirst for knowledge of wine and discovering more interesting wines.

Once you’d decided to start a business, what did you do first?
I did a lot of research into every aspect of the business, using startups.co.uk as a starting point. Importing alcohol is not particularly easy. I needed to find a transporter who could give good rates despite the fact that to begin with I would be importing relatively small amounts. A bonded warehouse is also needed to avoid paying huge amounts of duty upfront. I also had to learn to do the maths pretty quickly.

What advice did you seek?
I went on a business startup course recommended by Business Link which was quite useful.

Does the government need to provide more help to people trying to start a business?
Maybe there should be more grants available to cover start up costs, I’m sure the government could find some money somewhere.

Talk us through the process of writing your business plan.
I found it tough going. I tend to prefer to just do things and see if they work.

How much did it cost to start the business?
For the wholesale side – nothing - as I negotiated consignment stock terms with most of my suppliers. So, effectively I only pay once I’ve sold the wines. The website cost £2000 and I have to say I was extremely pleased by the speed and quality of the web designers. They took everything I said on board, came back with a draft version and it was all finished on time. And, I’ve never even met them as they are based miles away from me!