With Christmas Day looming large our Sales Director Simon “Santa Emilion” Staples explains what 25th December holds for his household – with a truly drool-worthy vinous line-up (all en magnum, of course) I get hundreds of emails and calls at this time of year from customers asking me to help them look in their cellars […]

As the first day of tasting Bordeaux 2015 en primeur gets underway, Simon Staples considers the art of tasting wine from barrel and the new vintage’s potential. New moleskin notebook? Check. Thesaurus with highlighted alternatives to the word “blackcurranty”? (Don’t bother looking, there aren’t any, I just checked.) No white shirts, tan chinos or ties […]

Earlier this year Simon Staples – our Sales Director in Asia – was auctioned off as part of a rather remarkable lot; he was to guide the winning bidders around Bordeaux’s finest establishments, all in aid of Room to Read. On an unusually sticky evening in early April of this year, the auctioneer’s gavel fell […]

Simon Staples – Sales Director of our Asia wing – describes how he persuaded Jancis Robinson MW and Eric Boissenot to join his vinous band and blend a Claret with a cause – the Room to Read charity. I have been a huge fan of all the amazing things Room to Read have accomplished over the […]