Waitrose Head of Wine Moves to Laithwaites Wine.

Nostalgic talk with our Dan Snook today. Leaving. Been buying for us fifteen years, apart that time he went to Paris to do Chateau Online. So always knew he and Jo had this yen for France.

Going to be a Pukka Fine Wine Negociant in Bordeaux - which was always his dream since he, like me, worked in Bordeaux as a student.

So it's not as if we'll lose touch.

Anyway, we needed a New 'Global Wine Director'.

We feel we've done very well indeed to get Justin Howard-Sneyd, M.W.

Justin; Head of Wine at Waitrose is instantly likeable, never mind being super-qualified and experienced. He'll fit in here perfectly well. Especially being as he's also a wine producer. In Maury too (Roussillon), where, in fact, our Mark Hoddy used to work on his 'Domaine of the Bee' (which is ace). Small world; wine.

Next year looks like it's going to even more packed and manic than this one.

Some might be surprised at the term 'Global'. But Justin will be in overall charge of all wines for the Wine Merchant businesses we now have around the world.

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