My passion for wine was sparked at University where running the student Wine Circle went glass in hand with my studies in English Literature. Launching into the wine trade on graduation I've shared my infectious enthusiasm for wine with customers, colleagues and friends through many and varied roles, including buying and blending wine for major retailers, managing a fine wine merchant, leading the wine courses at Leith's School of Food & Wine, writing blogs and articles, judging at international wine competitions, presenting at corporate and consumer events and being actively involved in wine education. In 1991 I became a Master of Wine and enjoyed a varied freelance career before joining Asda in 2006. After a decade of creating award-winning wines for Asda and accepting the accolade of Decanter Wine Supermarket of the Year 2015 on their behalf I left the company in early 2016 to combine two career passions: retail consultant, building wine ranges and creating bespoke blends for clients with writing about wine. I also bring a lifetime of expertise and a huge sense of fun to my informative and unstuffy tasting events. I am married to Peter, a fellow Master of Wine, and we are parents to two daughters, neither of whom are currently very interested in wine. But we are working on it...