After studying oenology at Bordeaux University, Sarah worked for Harvey's of Bristol, St. James's bonded warehouse in Bermondsey, Brown & Park at the Stockwell Bottling plant and IDV, where she passed the MW Examintation to become the first lady MW. She became wines and spirits buyer for Sam Smith's Brewery, before taking over as controller for wines, spirits and beer at ASDA Superstores. She moved to London to become Marketing Director for Stowells of Chelsea at the time of the launch of the 3 litre winebox. After a move to Scotland with her husband, she opened Glasgow's first wine warhouse, The Barrel Selection which later, due to ill health developed into an agency supplying wine to the Scottish wholesale trade. In 1997, Sarah retired from the wine trade when she purchased her first Georgian, Edinburgh property as offices, for conversion to residential use under the BSA property banner. This led to other, similar building projects, and her appointment in 2000 as consultant to Knight Frank International seeking suitable property for oversease buyers, her property development interests have now moved to Portugal where the second property is currently under re-construction.

Primary area(s) of work: Trade, Retired

Industry sector(s): Winemaking, QA/QC, Marketing, Sales, Agency/Importer, Buying, Wine judge, Wine tourism

Wine styles: Fortified wines, Port, Sherry, Madeira, Still white, Still red

Wine region expertise: Argentina, Casblanca Valley, Central Otago, Chile, Colchagua Valley, Limari Valley, Mendoza, Portugal, Bordeaux, Champagne, Jerez, Maipo Valley, Oregon

Market expertise: New Zealand, North America, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Lebanon

Specialisms: Rootstocks and grafting, Maladies of the vine and their control, Vine varieties, Processing of grapes, Fermentation, Stabilisation and clarification, Production of fortified wines, Blending, Preparation of finished wine for bottling, Quality assurance and control, Bulk shipment, Bottling, Investment strategies, Identifying and meeting consumer demand, Importation, Supermarket and multiple retail