What a year. We have seen the demise of Waverley, Thierry's, Stratford's and D&D. Who would have predicted that 12 months ago? Then there was the news that Tesco has given up on the USA.

I find it daunting, surprising and ridiculous that companies such as these cannot make it work and yet both Copestick Murray and Cornerstone (our USA company) continue to thrive.

Recently I was asked to reflect on our seven years and how we had evolved. I replied saying that when Paul and I started out in the summer of 2005 it was just meant to me selling a bit of wine and Paul running the office, although we had no employees and no office! Now we have 20 staff, combined turnover of nearly £30,000,000, offices in Wiltshire, California and Arizona, a warehouse and a lorry! We are selling wine to many countries spread across four continents and a brand in I heart that could just be the start of something very big.

Despite the chaos, 2012 has been a good year for us in the UK. We will more than double our sales for the year, we are profitable, we have added one major supermarket as a key customer as well as three blue chip on trade companies. Our customer and supplier base continues to become more diverse and we have added some more expertise to the Copestick Murray team.

This growth looks like it will continue in 2013 but I still feel disappointed in a couple of aspects of our business.

Firstly Copestick Murray and Cornerstone continually go the extra mile for our customers but I don't feel the same commitment to us from many of my customers. This worries me.

Secondly we and others like us are often accused of not innovating enough and yet when we innovate we are often rebuffed at stage one of the selling process. I often feel it is the gatekeepers' lack of confidence and belief in us that stifles this innovation. This frustrates me.

As always though we will plough cheerfully on in the belief that we offer great products, great ideas and a great service. A new and very exciting supplier relationship in Australia will see us become a major player in this market and I am sure our great partners in South Africa, Italy, Spain, Romania, France, USA and Chile will continue to see the benefit of our growth.

Bring on 2013. Hopefully it will be lucky for us all.

* Robin Copestick is co-founder of the wine business, Copestick Murray.