Monkeyshed Wines

Some twenty years of blissful happiness have taken me all over the world looking for a definitive answer to Dinner Party Question #3 “what is your favourite wine?”

It all kicked off in the formal splendour of the The Treasury Restaurant at the Hotel Inter Continental Sydney. Three years tasting my way through our wonderfully classic list and adding from the newly resurgent local industry cannot be beaten as a grounding.

Too many late nights later I jumped the fence and spent the next three years supplying Sydney’s top restaurants and bottle shops with a portfolio of Australia’s finest independent wineries - someone had to do it.

Keen to expand my knowledge and having passed the entrance exams in Sydney, London was to be my base in the quest to become a Master of Wine. Gainful employment intervened. For the next twelve years I set up and ran the wine and spirits business of Harvey Nichols. After the original selection for The Fifth Floor responsibility burgeoned to include tailored ranges for all our satellite stores in Leeds, Birmingham Edinburgh and finally Manchester. Life also included lists and training for two stand alone restaurant operations at Prism in the city and The Oxo Tower on the Southbank. The remit was to cover the wine world The combination of retail and hospitality outlets required a selection, about one thousand active lines, that ranged from affordable house through the finest classics, a selection that could be drunk now or reserved to mature - very much like running a particularly large private cellar.

A move to Sussex took me to the wonderful world of consultancy before becoming manager for the set up and opening of The Kennels, the Goodwood Estate’s fantastic private restaurant and bar, with the best wine list in Sussex!

That done it’s time for a new venture – and adventure – with Monkeyshed Wines.