Wine & Hospitality
Wine has been a lifelong passion and one of the most rewarding threads throughout my career. What first drew me to wine was not simply its taste, but its remarkable ability to bring together agriculture, science, geography, history, culture, hospitality, and human connection. Few products tell such rich stories or create such memorable experiences around the table.
Working as a sommelier helped fund my law degree and sparked a fascination that, years later, led me to become a Master of Wine—one of the world's most demanding professional qualifications. It also shaped a lifelong commitment to making wine expertise more accessible, helping more people discover, understand, and enjoy great wine.
“Making wine expertise accessible so more people discover, understand, and enjoy great wine”
Thirsty Logic
That mission ultimately led me to co-found Thirsty Logic, an AI-enabled Beverage Intelligence Platform. Built on proprietary datasets, structured expert knowledge, recommendation algorithms, and artificial intelligence, the platform helps hospitality businesses create stronger beverage programs, personalize guest experiences, and increase revenue, while helping consumers discover the best beverages to pair with the foods they love. By making expert guidance available wherever beverage decisions are made, Thirsty Logic helps people make more confident, personalized, and enjoyable beverage choices.
The Future of Fine Wine
Fine wine has thrived for centuries because it continually evolves while remaining rooted in tradition. Today's evolution is being driven by changing consumer expectations.
Younger generations are approaching wine differently. Many discover wine later in life and have a broader range of beverage choices than any generation before them. They also expect the same personalization, guidance, and ease of discovery they experience throughout their digital lives.
Having worked as both a sommelier helping guests navigate wine lists and as a director of one of the world's leading luxury wine companies, I have seen firsthand how powerful expert guidance can be. Yet most consumers encounter wine without access to that expertise. Closing that gap is one of the industry's greatest opportunities.
“I believe the future of fine wine will be shaped by how successfully the industry makes wine more discoverable, more approachable, and more connected to the moments where people naturally gather—restaurants, hospitality, travel, and shared meals.”
Artificial intelligence has an important role to play—not by replacing expertise, but by making it more accessible. Thoughtfully designed recommendation tools can help consumers discover wines that suit their tastes, meals, and occasions while giving hospitality businesses new ways to create memorable guest experiences.
I remain optimistic about the future of fine wine. By combining the traditions of wine with the possibilities of hospitality and artificial intelligence, we can introduce a new generation of consumers to one of the world's richest and most enduring cultural products.
The articles below explore some of the topics that continue to shape my work and thinking across wine, hospitality, artificial intelligence, and the future of the beverage industry.
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How Food & Wine Make Each Other Better
From the science behind successful pairings to memorable entertaining experiences and one of the simplest yet most exhilarating food and wine combinations I've ever encountered.
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How Technology is Reshaping Wine Discovery
Technology is making expert wine guidance more accessible, helping consumers discover and enjoy wine with confidence. Thirsty Logic combines wine & hospitality expertise with tech to improve guest experiences & beverage performance.
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Introducing a New Generation to Fine Wine
For thousands of years, wine has been passed from one generation to the next. Today, the industry faces one of its most significant generational shifts as younger consumers embrace a broader range of beverage choices and drinking occasions.
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What is a Master of Wine? And Why is it so Difficult to Attain?
I hear this question often. Earning the Master of Wine is a lot more than passing one of the world's most demanding examinations. It is a journey that tests technical knowledge, analytical thinking, resilience, and humility.
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Blind Tasting: If You Don't Use It, Do You Lose It?
Like any developed skill, do wine blind tasting skills atrophy if you don’t regularly blind taste wine? Some interesting lessons on expertise, memory, & the importance of continuous learning
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What Lifelong Learning Looks like in the Wine Business
If you tried a new wine made from a different grape variety every single day, it would take you more than 27 years to cover off all of the known grape varieties in the world.
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How Does an MW Add Value On A Board?
If it’s a wine business, ensuring that the business is meeting the needs of its consumers and driving product/technical innovation are both paramount. Of course, the same is true for all businesses.
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Wine Products, Places & Services That I Love
From personalized Lego, to wine authorities and gadgets. Here is my list of wine products, places, resources, and services that I love and that help me in the wine business.
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What am I drinking? What am I not drinking?
Every Master of Wine gets regular phone calls & texts from friends seeking wine advice. Here’s what I’m drinking in Summer ‘26 and please, keep calling!
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Recent Wine Travel
Travel helps shapes how I think about hospitality and consumer experiences. Wine is almost always made in beautiful and inspiring locations and so the question is which wine region to visit next?
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Wine, Romance, and Reality
Beyond the vineyards and fine bottles, wine and hospitality are complex industries shaped by consumer behavior, brand building, and business performance.
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Advising Iconic Organisations About Wine
I feel privileged to be able to bring my passion for wine to work every day. One of the benefit is that genuine passion translates to better performance.
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Join Me at Master of Wine Events Around the World
Institute of Masters of Wine’s global calendar:
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Happenings at and with Baron Philippe de Rothschild
Find the latest news and information here:
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My Secret Projects
Wine and hospitality-related technology innovations in the works. Password-protected, by invitation only.