Neil Hadley is a former Chair of the Council of IMW. On July 6th 2020, he passed the point where he has been a Master of Wine for more than half his lifetime, having passed the exam at the tender age of 26 - and at the time being the youngest Member of the IMW on the planet. Neil joined the UK wine trade in retailing with Lay & Wheeler in 1984. He departed the UK to travel and work the vineyards of Australia for 1 year in 1987, then returned to the UK to take a position in education at Grants of St James's School of Wine. Neil migrated to Australia in 1993, passing the MW in that year and taking a position as Marketing Manager for winemaker Rosemount Estate, leading via corporate takeovers to several years as Brand Director for Penfolds wines and the Group Product Development Director within the Southcorp Global Marketing team. After a stint at Villa Maria Estate, in 2007 Neil returned to Australia, joining family-owned Taylors Wines as GM Export, where he remained for 16 years.

In May 2023, Neil relocated with his wife to Salzburg, Austria to take on a senior role within Aldi’s Global Sourcing Wine Team. Neil’s role sees him working to define core wine profiles and collaborating with associated wineries to ensure best quality standards are achieved and maintained across the portfolio of wines under the Aldi Global Sourcing wine buying team’s remit. This work enables Neil to apply his MW skills to making a material and ongoing contribution to the quality and consistency of wines sold by this major global grocery business, reaching countless shoppers in four different continents.

Current employer: Aldi Global Sourcing Wine Buying Team (as of May 2023)

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

Industry sector(s): QA/QC, Marketing, Sales, Buying, Educator

Wine styles: Still white, Still red, Still rosé

Wine region expertise: Australia, New South Wales, South Australia

Market expertise: Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Asia, North America, United Kingdom, China, Scandinavia, Canada, South East Asia

Specialisms: Marketing wine, Supplier/customer relationships, Identifying and meeting consumer demand, Routes to market, Supermarket and multiple retail, Wine labels, Branding, Wine judging