We're finally here!
Welcome to By The Bottle.
Two years in the planning, By The Bottle launches today, offering you a carefully curated selection of organic, biodynamic, and artisanal beverages, delivering nationwide to your door.
By The Bottle is a new online beverage retailer founded by us - Ashley Roberts, Pete Connell and John Connell. By the Bottle is why Pete and John decided to return home to New Zealand in January this year, after living overseas for a long time - and why Ashley, an Australian native, decided to make Auckland home. After accumulating a combined 50 years’ experience in the wine and hospitality industries, we wanted to channel that into something of our own, in a country that offers so much, and share it with you.
What you see on our site today is a thoughtful selection of wine, beer, spirits, and non-alcoholic beverages from some of New Zealand’s most exciting, interesting, and courageous producers. After the year everyone has had and the time we’ve spent away, we wanted to celebrate home, our local bounty and the people who’ve worked so hard to create what we’re bringing you by the bottle.
To round things out, we have also sourced a range of our favourites from around the world. We have tasted every single beverage we sell and if asked by friends and family for recommendations on what to drink, where and when, every single bottle would make it onto one of those lists.
That’s the ethos we’re bringing to By the Bottle. A hint of gooseberries and a smooth finish are interesting details for some people - we enjoy wine nerd chats as much as the next wine nerd - but we also know that what most people remember about their food and drink experiences is where they were and who they shared it with.
That is what we’re setting out to do with By the Bottle. We want to make it easy and enjoyable for you to buy the beverages that complement those times in your life - the occasions, the celebrations, the great days and the great nights. We want to help you discover new flavours and styles and to be able to gift our range with confidence and panache.
So here we are, launched. We look forward to getting to know you and what you enjoy drinking and buying, by the bottle or by the dozen.
Finally, we want to thank everyone who has helped us get here. So many kind, clever, and generous people have supported this venture, sharing their time, expertise, and wisdom with us, and now we look forward to doing the same thing with you.
So here's to By the Bottle, here’s to you and here’s to a much deserved and relaxing summer, in this country we’re delighted to call home.
A bit about us...
Ashley got her start in hospitality at 15. Honing her skills in some of the top restaurants, bars, and hotels in her early years, Ashley moved to London in her early twenties where she worked at the River Cafe. On returning to Melbourne she studied at Swinburne University and completed a Bachelor of Business Marketing while working at The Stokehouse before moving into a marketing role with HQ Group.
John started his career in hospitality early and gained a Diploma in Viticulture at EIT in Hawkes Bay. He worked under Jenny Dobson at Te Awa and, after vintages in Hawkes Bay and Napa Valley and a stint making Robert De Niro his morning coffee at Locanda Verde in New York, John moved to London where he worked for Vinoteca and as a sommelier for the Hakkasan Group. Moving to Melbourne in 2013, he managed Andrew McConnell’s Cumulus Up, and boutique wine retailer Magnum and Queens.
Armed with a Bachelor in Viticulture and Oenology from Lincoln, and with vintages in NZ and France under his belt, Pete worked as a sommelier at The Ledbury, a 2 Michelin-starred restaurant in London. He went on to work in wine sales for Liberty Wines, a leading UK wine distributor. After moving to Melbourne, Pete worked at The Stokehouse as sommelier and assistant manager before managing Fitzroy wine bar Harry and Frankie. Before coming home to New Zealand, Pete worked for importer and distributor, CellarHand.
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