About Hic!

 

~~ OUR STORY ~~

Thanks for taking the time to discover more about us and what we do.

Collectively, we are Michelle & Andy....Team Hic!

Andy has been retailing wines and spirits for 25+ years, establishing his first shop in the mid 1990s’ and then Hic! at Ledston in 2004 at the family home he shares with his partner Michelle.

Andy's formative years were spent in the hospitality industry (isn’t everybody’s?) working front-of-house in some of the country’s smartest establishments - ties, trousers, proper shoes and everything - and it is where his passion for the wine trade really all began.

During his time spent serving in the “on-trade” Andy discovered the increasing popularity of wine consumption at home, alongside a growing movement of “real” wine drinkers, seeking out genuine quality and originality when selecting their wines; something distinctly lacking at the time on many of the shelves in the high-street stores.

Consequently, he embarked on his retail adventure intent on promoting a range of interesting, well-made wines from some of the most desirable wineries in the business, many of which had previously only been available to hotels and restaurants. Working with a select number of specialist importers, Andy introduced his range directly to a growing band of discerning and knowledgable drinkers.

Many of the wines to be found on the shelves at Hic! are from family-owned producers, each with great personalities and who are passionate about producing authentic, individual and unique wines from the land that they own. The passion for the wine which they produce, the way in which they farm the land, value the environment, their vinification practices, approach to sustainability and respect for traditions all weigh heavily in our selection criteria and we are proud to support them through our website and retail store.

Considering our experince in hospitality, it should come as no surprise that we pride ourselves on the outstanding levels of customer service we offer. Our independence gives us tremendous flexibility and freedom to operate within the industry and allows us to offer a bespoke service you will find hard to match elsewhere. We want all our customers to be happy and confident in using Hic! and so we are always on hand should the shopping experience with us be anything short of excellent.

Although our online store and website is a major part of Hic! we do also inhabit a “real” retail shop, which is located in the picturesque village of Ledston, on the outskirts of Leeds in West Yorkshire. If you wish to make a pilgrimage to our humble abode you will find a very concise and focussed range of quality wines, champagne, spirits and malt whiskies for sale by the bottle. This is a carefully selected range of quality wines that you perhaps would not encounter on the shelves of your regular high street store, so well worth a visit if you are planning a special occasion dinner, event or want that special gift for someone.

Additionally, if you would like to stay and have a drink you're more than welcome to take a seat in our courtyard and partake in a tipple! We have a range of wines available by the glass or we can open up any bottle from the shelves for an additional flat rate of £8.00 corkage...taste & take home! (NB: Over 18s Only)

We also have in store an Enomatic Machine which we use for our themed, monthly wine tasting experiences. The machine holds 8 bottles of wine and allows us to deliver bespoke wine tasting sessions to individual parties and groups on any day & time we are open. If you would be interested in booking a tasting experince the please get in touch!

Whilst 'boutique' in many senses of the word, our little oasis of a shop also provides a handy staging post for those customers who wish to access some truly fine wines at great prices by utilising our collect in person facility available at checkout on the website. We usually process these orders within 5 working days and notify you when your order is ready to collect in store at a more convenient time.

We would like to thank you for taking the time to visit and if we haven’t already met, we hope to do so, either in store or in the wider reaches of the world-wide-web.

Cheers!

Andy & Michelle

Team Hic!