Justin started his own consultancy business (www.thehivewine.com) in 2012 and advises a wide range of wine businesses around the world, helping them to maximise their potential. Prior to branching out on his own, Justin spent 3 years with Laithwaite's Wine (aka Direct Wines), the world's largest and most successful Direct-to-consumer wine business, as the Global Wine Director. Before this Justin spent 14 years as a wine buyer in the UK off-trade, including stints at supermarket chains Safeway and Sainsbury's. This culminated in almost 5 years in charge of the wine department at Waitrose, the UK's most successful premium supermarket where he led the team that garnered, and continues to garner, so many awards. In his early life, he worked in wine shops, ran a wine school, worked as a cellar-hand and assistant winemaker in 4 different countries. Since 2007, Justin has produced his own wine (www.domaineofthebee.com) from 4 hectares of vines in the Roussillon region of the South of France, near the village of Maury.

Current employer: The Hive Wine Consulting Ltd

Primary area(s) of work: Wine production, Trade, Strategy, Communication

Industry sector(s): Business owner, Buying, Consultant, Distribution, Educator, Events, Market access, Marketing, Off trade, On trade, PR, Viticulture, Wine business strategy, Wine buying, Wine judge, Wine tourism, Winemaking

Wine styles: Aszú, English sparkling wines, Natural, Orange wines, Sparkling wine, Still red, Still rosé, Still white, Still wines, Sweet wines, Tokaji, VDN

Wine region expertise: Auckland, California, Canterbury (NZ), Central Otago, Chile, Eastern Europe, England, France, Georgia, Greece, Hawke's Bay, Hungary, Hungary Tokaj, Languedoc, Marlborough, New Zealand, Priorat, Rhone, Roussillon, South Africa, South America, South-West France, Spain, UK

Market expertise: Asia, Canada, China, England, North America, United Kingdom

Specialisms: Acquisition of vineyards, Commercial advice on vinyard establishment, Financial, Harvesting of grapes, Life cycle of the vine, Regenerative, Startup and profitability, Sustainability, Economics of wine production, Fermentation, Maturation and blending, Processing of grapes, Production costs, P&L, Whole cluster fermentation, Blending, Bottling, Bulk shipment, Elevage / maturation, Packing and labelling, Sensory evaluation , Branding, Digital communications, Direct to consumer, Ecommerce, Education, Events, Financial and commercial structures, Identifying and meeting consumer demand, Independent retail, Investment strategies, Marketing wine, Events, Podcasts, PR, Restaurant wines, Routes to market, Supplier/customer relationships, Supermarket and multiple retail, Wine labels, Wine laws and regulations, Wine tourism, Wine judging