Wine has never been a job for me, but always a passion. And whilst unplanned, wine has been a constant throughout a haphazard adulthood: from student life at Cambridge, to advertising in an era when we entertained at both lunch and dinner, sports marketing (where exercise allowed one to burn off excesses), then film marketing for Buena Vista. (Cool dad status was secured with Disney premieres, world championships and London 2012).
My first en primeur vintage was 1986. My first wine tasting group, Who Nose, has met 271 times, which probably reflects how slowly we've learnt. A more professional pop up, We Don't Spit, was launched in 2013 to take wine education out of the classroom and into the bars. Covid and lockdown gave time to complete the WSET Diploma; then, probably under the influence, the MW programme seemed a natural next step. Year one quickly taught me two things: how little I knew and how slowly I typed.
It did, however, persuade Hedonism to let me host the enomatic wine tasting area, which must be one of the greatest jobs in wine.
