I have been deeply interested in wine since I was a teenager, when a schoolmaster once said that if he met a pupil smoking cigarettes and drinking beer, he would report them to their housemaster, but that if they were smoking a cigar and drinking a fine wine, he would wish them a good evening. That image stuck with me, and through my teens and twenties I took every opportunity to learn as much as I could about wine-making, wine regions, wine making techniques and the importance of terroir.

 

In my late twenties I was persuaded to give talks on wine for the first time, and I did so for Reader's Digest in London, for El Vino's wine bars, for the Wine Guild of the United Kingdon and for various other clubs and societies.  I edited the newsletter of the Wine Guild for about 5 years, and was elected as a member in 1994.

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Since then I have visited vineyards and winemakers in Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Mexico, the USA, Italy, Spain, Morocco, Australia, Germany, Hungary, Croatia, the Rhone valley and much of southern France, the Loire, Canada, South Africa and, of course in the United Kingdom.

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I was always impressed by the Platter's Wine Guide in South Africa, and thought it was time that the UK had a similar simple and definitive guide.  It is going to take some time to create, I am after all, just a passionate amateur, but it's my project, and I hope you'll join me on my journey.

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