I am a Brit who was fortunate to travel to France, Italy and Switzerland frequently as a kid and also spend two 3-week periods living with a French family in the Loire Valley as a teenager.

I went into hotel management, trained with The Savoy Group in London and also spent a year in Lausanne, Switzerland. After graduating the Savoy's management training program, I secured a Food and Beverage Manager position at a hotel in Cambridge, England, where my wine knowledge increased 10-fold by being able to attend regular tastings at the various colleges of Cambridge University, whose wine buyers had, it seemed, limitless budgets for fine Bordeaux, Burgundies and Port in particular. I was exposed to amazing wines and had the chance to travel to European wineries regularly.

I moved to USA in 1994 and knew little about New World wines, having, I admit, a rather snooty opinion about them. However I quickly learned the errors of my ways and became a proponent and lover of many wines from California, Oregon and Washington, in particular, visiting the wineries and getting to know the winemakers. I also became a Certified Specialist of Wine and Certified Wine Educator with the Society of Wine Educators in Washington DC, living and working in Virginia, Wisconsin and Montana. I have been the wine columnist for Wisconsin Golfer Magazine for the last 8 years.

I am married to a Canadian and lived in Canada for 3 years about 15 years ago before returning to the States for various positions in hotels and resorts.

Having recently come back to Canada to operate my own training, development and wine education practice, I am astonished at the growth of the Canadian winemaking industry and the quality of wines being produced here.

I am married to my wife, Virginia, and we each have three children and now three grandchildren. We live in the Kitchener/Waterloo area close to Ginnie's daughters. Her son lives in Vancouver and my three daughters are in UK.