Description

I am a trailblazing and entrepreneurial drinks professional with over two decades in the industry giving me a unique 360 degree overview. In 1999 I moved to the Rheingau to work as an apprentice winemaker. On my return, I landed a dream job as tastings coordinator for the world’s first wine website WineToday.com (The New York Times) working with industry legend Oz Clarke.

I started writing about wine in 2000 and in 2002 won the UK Young Wine Writer of the Year award. I have since contributed to wine titles including Harpers, Wine & Spirit and jancisrobinson.com and luxury titles including Esquire, Trader Monthly and Dealmaker.

From 2002-2006 I worked as the assistant wine director for the Michelin starred MARC group (now defunct), with four restaurants in London including The Greenhouse (winner of The Wine Spectator Grand Award) and New York helping to create some of the most extensive wine lists in the world. Working with a portfolio of high-end restaurants gave me a detailed knowledge of fine wine, wine lists and fine dining.

In 2006 I moved into PR and have since worked with generic bodies (Champagne Information Bureau, Sherry Information Bureau, Wines of Germany), luxury brands including Rémy Martin, Louis XIII, Laurent-Perrier, G.H. Mumm, Perrier-Jouët and supermarkets including Aldi, Lidl and Morrisons.

A specialist area is food and drink pairing and I have worked with many brands including Dark Horse (Gallo), Castello Cheese, Jacobs Crackers, Premier Foods, Peperami, Ferrero Rochet, Mumm, Perrier-Jouet and Pernod-Ricard to develop thought-provoking pairings.

For 4 years I worked as part of the team developing Corkscrew ‘A sommelier in your pocket’ - a wine app to help consumers find the perfect wine in UK and US retailers. I was Corkscrew's ambassador, in-house sommelier and co-creator of the OmniPair™ food and wine pairing algorithm based on our proprietary ‘numerical wine DNA’.

Industry field of expertise

Languages

English
Native or bilingual
French
Conversational
German
Conversational

Workplace preferences

Can work on-site

London (up to 50km)

Daygustation Wines
Owner
January 2020 - Today (6 years and 5 months)
London, UK
• ● Established and managed an independent wine shop and bar - sourced all products independently and managed supplier relations.
• ● Assigned a unique QR code to each wine allowing customers to quickly access bespoke information about the wine's producer, region, grape and food compatibility.
• ● Curated, perfected and evolved a small BWS range that services multiple tastes and price points while accommodating customer feedback and requests.
• ● Fostered positive relationships with new/repeat customers by assessing their needs/budgets/preferences and furnishing tailored recommendations.
• ● Managed the direct to customer marketing offers and social media channels.
• ● Organised inspiring dinners, tastings and events.
• ● Staff training and development.
Freelance
Wine Writer/Copywriter
January 2012 - Today (14 years and 5 months)
London, UK
• ● Winner of the 2002 Circle of Wine UK Young Wine Writer of the Year Award.
• ● Presented wine segments on Sky One, Radio 2 and LBC London.
• ● Articles featured in titles including Esquire, Harpers Wine and jancisrobinson.com. Here is a recent article published in the St. https://shorturl.at/pvT1G
• ● Lifestyle editor of Trader Monthly (HNW title) writing features on wine, luxury and travel.
• ● Developed content and awards entries for various brands including Morrisons.
• ● Copywriter for Aldi, Lidl and Morrisons.
Daygustation Limited
Food and Drink Pairing Expert
January 2006 - Today (20 years and 5 months)
London, UK
• ● Formulated drink pairings, recipes and gastronomic cocktails for Castello Cheese, Ferrero Rochet, Dark Horse (Gallo), Peperami, Aldi, Morrisons and Pernod Ricard.
• ● Devised the idea of GCMS (gas chromatography/mass spectrometry) food pairing. Worked with a flavours and aromas expert to analyse G.H. Mumm champagnes in order to create food/beverage combinations based on complementary molecules.
• ● Ideated temperature-controlled food pairings in partnership with Peter Barham Professor of Molecular Gastronomy at Bristol University who worked with Heston Blumenthal.