Brian Peacock

Brian Peacock has been honing his wine buying skills damned near since dinosaurs roamed the vineyards, okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but he has been involved at the sharp end of the  wine trade since the mid-eighties and witnessed many changes, some good – and some, such as the increased formulaic approach to big company winemaking, not so good.

It was during his period as wine buyer for La Reserve, one of the finest independent chains in London, if not the UK, that Brian honed his skills which have enabled him to stay ahead of the game and continue to search for, and find, those up-and coming wineries – often small, family run enterprises, that provide the consumer with that magical combination so often abused by marketing men; quality and value.

Brian travels widely in the pursuit of the good grape, mostly in nearer locations such as Italy, France and Spain but also has also on occasion, and when the wind has blown fair, forced himself to nose barrels in the Australia, South Africa and New Zealand – not to mention recent, fabulous discoveries in the States.

Brian’s philosophy is simple; his farming background taught him early on that good fruit comes from the tree or vine, and not from a marketing department.  Good wine is made in the vineyard, it can be spoilt by a poor winemaker but a good winemaker cannot make great wine from poor fruit.  ‘Most of the winemakers I work with are hard to get hold of; if they’re not in the vineyard they’re in the cellar’.