Wining and dining

"With all the eating and drinking in this job, it's important to exercise so I'm on the jogging machine in the gym three times a week at 6.30am. Although I live in Wandsworth, London, my company is based in Guildford and despite the advent of e-mail and cell phones, I still think it's extremely important to be present as much as possible. So when not at the gym, I get up at 7am and try to be in the office for at least a couple of hours each day from about 9.30am.

It allows me to chat with the staff and meet with my operations director, Paul Greenhalgh, and my sales director, Douglas Wregg. I'll also pick up mail and messages and go through my diary for the next few days.

Often I'll have a meeting with a potential new customer and this could be at 11am or 3pm. And there are constant tastings to attend to showcase various wines. These are as likely to happen in the morning as in the afternoon or evening.

Whatever happens, I'll usually head in to London to have lunch with one of my clients for about 1pm. That might be a sommelier or a chef or an owner/manager of a restaurant. I'll normally take them to eat at one of the other restaurants that I supply and who know me. I'll bring along a few bottles of different wines which we'll then try out. Although my job is about selling, it's a very relaxed method and is full of bonhomie and trust.

That's our philosophy. We deal in wines that are "true"; wines that have "terroir". That means you can experience how they have been affected by the soil, the microclimate, and by the locals and their culture. For instance, you'll pick up scents of local pine forests or apple orchards or aspects of the environment such as mountains or arid regions.

Lunch normally lasts until about 2.30pm and during the afternoon until after 6pm, I'll spend a lot of time talking to the growers who we buy from around the world. Although we are known as specialising in wines from south-west France, that is now only about 10% of our business. We import from many countries across South America, South Africa and Australasia, as well as from the traditional European destinations.

With climate change, I think England will produce some fantastic wines in the future, although its viticulture needs a lot more investment.

But the British and certainly London diners are becoming incredibly experimental and open-minded in their wine tastes. That's in contrast to New York where I've just been. There, it's much more conservative and the wine lists have few surprises.

I travel a lot with this job, probably every six weeks. It takes me to vineyards all over the world and allows me to meet the growers and make new discoveries.

If I'm not away travelling, then there is always something happening in the evenings, which is an opportunity to present more new wines. A lot of my job is about partying and socialising so it doesn't feel like work. The hours are very fluid. But as a benchmark, I'll normally be home some time after 11pm."