I grew up in Edinburgh and went on to do a degree at the Royal College of Music in London where I studied the trombone. During my studies I needed to find a part-time job and fortuitously our local branch of Fuller’s Wine Merchants in West London were hiring. I did not have any real interest in wine; I was more attracted by the proximity of the shop to my halls of residence and the prospect of cheap beer! Almost immediately that all changed, thanks to the interesting range of wines the shop carried and the regular staff training and tasting. I was also aware that my late grandfather, whom I have always admired, had been passionate about wine. I became very interested in the story behind the labels, and was keen to learn more about the vast subject of wine. After a month or so I had the opportunity to attend the 1999 London Wine Fair at Olympia. Attending such a vibrant event made me want to pursue a career in the wine trade. After I graduated I moved back to Edinburgh. I successfully applied for a job with Oddbins, and my wine career commenced.    

That first job in the industry as a part-time wine assistant and then as an assistant manager for Fuller's were my first steps.  I began studying for the various Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) exams and the role of course gave me wine retail experience. This experience continued and expanded when I worked for Oddbins. I began as a wine assistant and within three months, rather than the usual two years, was promoted to a branch manager position. It was very much an “in at the deep end” experience back then, which on reflection was the best possible way to learn quickly. I had a lot of freedom in terms of what wines we stocked, how we promoted them and what ranges we focused on. In many ways it was like having my own business and as such our team took a lot of pride in what we did. When I was appointed as branch manager, that outlet was the worst performing store in Scotland for the company.  After seven months it became the fastest growing store for sales and profitability. That success came through tailoring our wine range for the local demographic, enhancing the layout of the shop and engaging with the community.  

I moved to Forth Wines in 2007 as a sales account manager for Edinburgh and the Borders selling a wide range of wines to hotels, bars, restaurants and independents, both family owned single outlets and also some national accounts. I was responsible for the existing customer portfolio and expanding it as well as providing staff training for customers, shaping wine lists and helping to develop and grow wine sales.  I also completed my WSET level 3 and level 4 DipWSET while in the role. Halfway through studying my Diploma I became increasingly interested in becoming a wine buyer, whilst I was still enjoying the sales role I relished a new challenge, and the chance to travel more and gain a deeper understanding of wine production. The position of wine buyer at Forth Wines became available in late 2012 and after a detailed assessment process (such as being tasked with finding a new Bordeaux and Bergerac producer for the portfolio) I was appointed into the role four months later.   

After the merger between Inverarity Morton and Forth Wines I became the Wine Buyer for Inverarity Morton and ultimately became Senior Wine Buyer for the company. It was a wide-ranging role and gave me extensive experience in managing a vast wine portfolio whilst continuing to source new wine agencies, taking market needs and demands into account. Quality control and fault analysis was, of course, essential as well as managing a stock control team and being responsible for the requirements of importing from around the world. I continued to arrange wine tastings, but on a larger scale, as the company held Scotland's largest trade wine tasting annually which I organised. I also continued staff training, primarily in house, in this role. The diverse nature of my job meant I also developed bespoke labels and brands as well as creating unique blends for the company. The role required regular and extensive solo international travel which I always found enjoyable and stimulating, especially the contact with producers in their own environment.    

Due to the diversity of my different roles I feel very fortunate to have developed a large and transferrable skill set in; wine buying, brand creation, wine blending, wine importation and inventory management, wine judging, wines sales, wine fault analysis, diagnosis and quality control. I have years of experience of buying wine at all price levels from low priced bulk to first growths and almost everything in between. With brand creation I have being involved in the entire development process;  I have experience in liaising with design agencies, the intellectual property office, wineries, shippers and bottlers. When wine blending I have worked both with producers on one-off projects, such as Cava Vilarnau’s gold award winning Extra Seco, and with others annually at every vintage to ensure a consistent style and regional typicity to clients and my employers private label wines.  

Having managed a team which imported around 6 million bottles of wine each year for seven years has given me extensive wine importation and inventory management skills. I have managed an award winning portfolio of 1200 wines for over seven years. This included being solely responsible for wine fault analysis, diagnosis and quality control for wine importation and distribution for over seven years. I also feel privileged to have been regularly invited to wine judge and have done so in international competitions including IWC, IWSC, Concorso Bacchus, London Wine Competition, Harpers Wine Stars as well as other regional competitions around the world. In wine sales I have significant experience in both retail and business to business.  

These skills and experience have all, in different ways, helped my understanding of many of the major components of the wine industry and given me a well-rounded and global viewpoint. Whilst I am a passionate wine enthusiast, I have always made sure that passion does not get in the way of understanding the needs of the consumer. I want to make wine easier to understand and less daunting for the casual drinker. Understanding the commercial reality of our industry is important to be successful, and in my opinion does not in any way mean “dumbing down” on quality or authenticity.  

In terms of wine tourism, I have frequently organised bespoke itineraries and taken customers on overseas trips, and presented wine dinners and tastings, both for the trade and consumers. I also have experience of presenting wine videos. More recently I have presented wine tastings via online streaming platforms.