Founded by Gregoriy Galitzine in 1995, Galitzine Wines boasts a list of more than 250 carefully selected wines from around the world. Gregoriy believes fundamentally people should not be forced to follow fashion, but to drink what they like. He takes great personal care in helping his clients to choose wines that they really will enjoy - whether it is a sophisticated Bordeaux Claret from Laulan Ducos, an easy drinking Catamayor from the New World, or excellent examples of house wines sourced from selected family producers. The core business to date has been hotels and restaurants, and a select number of corporate and private clients. The most unusual event he has catered for was the Russian Ball at his late father's estate where, among other wines, the guests tasted the 'Noviy Svet' bubbles from the vineyard founded by his great Uncle, Prince Lev Galitzine.

Having worked in the wine business for more than 25 years, Gregoriy now enjoys being his own boss in the tradition of his forbear, Lev Galitzine (alternative transcriptions of the name are Golitzin, Golitsyn and a few others), the founder of Russian wine making, and a creator of the noted Massandra wine collection. Greg recalls a family anecdote: "My great Uncle Lev started a famous vineyard in the Crimea, then Russia, and, to the surprise of many (including French experts), his sparkling wine claimed the grand prix in Paris in 1900! However, the poor fellow almost bankrupted himself in a futile attempt to wean Russian drinkers in Moscow from vodka to wine. I can't imagine his reasons for doing so, but he was a well-known eccentric, and at least he had a go!" As Russia is now developing the taste for fine wines Galitzine hopes that wines from his list will find their customers in modern Russia.

Gregoriy's own family history is an interesting one. Educated at Milton Abbey, he is a third generation émigré. His grandfather was the Tsar's military attaché to Emperor Hiro Hito in Japan at the time of the 1917 revolution and had to flee Russia because of it, settling in England. Greg, who has recently married Svetlana (neé Permyakova), a medical doctor born and bred in the middle of Russia, hopes not only to learn Russian "quickly", he says, but to establish -in due course - trading connections with high quality wine producers in the ex-Soviet Union and introduce their products to his customers in the UK.

This is a plan for the future. What's on offer now is a range of wines and services which would attract most wine consumers and collectors. Browse through a dozen of our pages and find out for yourself but, most importantly, enjoy our wines!