About Wyard Druitt

Having joined the wine trade in London in 1955, Michael Druitt started what was to become a lifelong interest in wine related antiques. One of his first purchases was a beautiful inlaid mahogany box which on first sight he thought was the wine cooler he had been searching for. On opening the lid however, he was amazed to find it full of decanters. It was an old coaching box, dating from 1790 and contained 12 large decanters, 4 small ones and a padded tray for 4 "no heel-tap" glasses. As he started to use the decanters he decided to buy some decanter labels to identify the contents. He was soon fascinated by the different designs, the variety of the names and the beautiful workmanship of these small silver examples of Georgian graceful living.

In 2001, with the day to day running of the wine company safely in other, younger hands, Michael—an active member and past president of the Wine Label Circle—had time at last to realise a long-held desire to recreate some of the rarer, more unusual labels he had collected and share them with a wider audience.

Michael is a strong advocate of using decanters to serve most red wines, believing that a young wine will be improved by the extra aeration and that an older wine can be gently removed from any sediment which may have accumulated in the bottle. The colour of most red wines is enhanced by being displayed in a decanter rather than its original bottle and in the Druitt household decanters are certainly not kept hidden away and brought out only for special occasions, but used on an almost daily basis.

Dorothy Druitt has joined her husband in running Wyard Druitt. She spent 14 years working in the London wine trade, gaining the wine trade Diploma and studying for the Master of Wine exam, before children came along and she put her career on hold.

Wyard Druitt (Wyard is an old family name) work with a firm of silversmiths in Birmingham who share their love of creating beautiful and original designs. Customer satisfaction is very important and Michael and Dorothy personally handle all customer enquiries for special engraving or commissions.

Photo shows silversmith at work hand-engraving silver decanter labels

Hand engraving silver decanter labels

A Short History of Decanter Labels

To find out more about the background of the decanter label from its practical origins to the present day, read Hugh Johnson's article, "A short history of decanter labels".