At the start of what was to become several Covid lockdowns in 2020, I was one of many who did a 180 from a great job into the abyss of a new industry - for me it was a deep dive pivot into the world of wine...

My CV back then was all luxury hotel and tourism marketing - the only reference to wine was in the ‘hobbies’ section - I liked to drink wine, usually Aussie and plonk at that.

It was the Covid lockdown combined with a mid-life need for purpose that changed everything.

With a taste for Aussie wine as a benchmark, I set out to tackle the world renowned WSET wine courses in London, initially as a fun thing to do while I considered my next career move - but mostly to impress friends and family who always seemed to know more about wine than I did.

What I didn’t consider was how it would turn my world upside down.

Four years on, I’m a fledgling freelance wine, food and travel writer, a wine tourism marketing consultant, investor in two fabulous London wine bars, a co-editor of an international wine book, and have completed the mighty WSET Diploma in Wine.

My biggest revelation to date?  Studying wine has ironically made me drink less of it. It’s all about quality over quantity. I’ve become a bit of a wine snob and I’m proud of it.

Today I still consider myself a new world wine girl. I love my Aussie wine but it’s a little better than plonk now. And along with my hometown (that happens to also be a wine region), Orange in New South Wales, Australia, I’ve added the latest new world wine region to my passion list - the UK.

Having helped at three harvests in West Sussex and one in New South Wales, I now have great respect for the years of blood, sweat and tears it takes to go from vine to wine - it’s a tough business. Mother Nature can be a bitch sometimes.

I am passionate about the never-ending stories of wine, the charismatic and generous people behind the vines and bottles, the ever-changing landscape of the wine world and its drinkers; and the fact that we are involved in something that is millennia old yet constantly evolving.

Wine, in whatever form that takes, is my forever career now. It’s a never ending cycle of learning, but the joy is in the wine journey as much as the wine destination!