WINE TASTING NIGHT

Simon has spent over twenty-five years in the international wine trade and drinks business, working in both import & distribution as well as in production with experience in France, Spain, the UK and Ireland.

Simon’s commercial experience stems from working for Groupe Castel/La Société des Vins de France in Paris, Balls Brothers and C & Wines in the U.K and Roberts/Woodford Bourne in Ireland. In 2003 he established and ran Tyrrell & Company Wine Importers before selling the business to Tindal Wine Merchants in 2016. Tyrrell & Company was voted ‘Wine Importer of the Year’ by The Sunday Business Post a record eight times between 2007-2015. His role in Tindal today is comprised of supporting the sales team, assisting the Director of Wine Harriet Tindal MW in seeking out new suppliers and also overseeing the company’s own wine production ventures in Spain.

On the production side, Simon studied viticulture and oenology for two at Plumpton College,
University of Brighton, emerging with a Distinction. He then went on to establish Domaine Les Deux
Cols in the Southern Rhône, as well as starting a grape purchasing négociant business, Atelier des
Sources. Between the two operations, they currently farm 12 hectares of vineyard. Half the estate’s production is sold domestically in France and the other half to export markets in Ireland, the U.K, Norway, Canada and Sweden.

His other experiences in the drinks industry include the founding of Craigies Cider, an award winning, Irish based cider production business that was eventually sold to Ireland’s largest independent brewer. During Simon’s time in charge (2011-2016), Craigies developed export sales to the U.K,
Austria, Italy, Canada and the USA with their ‘Ballyhook Flyer’ cider winning the coveted ‘Best European/Imported Cider in the U.S’ at the Chicago Cider Summit in 2017.