We have a human alarm clock in our house in the shape of our two-year-old son Felix, and our five-year-old daughter, Erin. They either wander into our bedroom or just shout from outside the room until we wake up. The first thing I do when I get up is make the porridge for everyone and take a cup of tea to my wife, Cara, so that the day can begin.

 

Cara and I set up a wine and whisky merchant a couple of years ago. We don't really have job titles as such. We basically sell wine to customers through our shop, or to restaurants and private clients. There's no set routine. I can be in the shop or office depending on the day, or speaking to our producers and suppliers.

 

We have both enjoyed wine since our days at Edinburgh University. When we were in Australia in 1996 for work, we ended up spending more time in the vineyards than working. From there, it was a case of just learning more and getting into a position where we would be able to give wineselling a good crack.

 

We were looking at opening somewhere in Scotland and thought Bridge of Allan fitted the bill. It has a lot of independent shops and lots of passing trade because it's right on the A9. We get a mixture of people coming in, whether it's tourists wanting to buy whisky, or our regular customers, or people who have heard about us through friends. We also provide wines for restaurants on Mull, Inverness, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

 

Our shop is laid out in a  fairly unique way, by style of wine rather than by country. We usually have about half a dozen bottles open so there's always an opportunity for customers to try something new. Apart from Cara and I, there are two full-timers in the shop, as well as some administrative and support staff. Between us, we've certainly tasted 99% of the wines we sell, although there's a couple that are especially expensive that we might not have tried for a while.

 

Because we're passionate about the products, we can guide people through their options. Every customer gets an A4 sheet of tasting notes for the wines they buy, which we also email out to them. It means that if they come back again they can just ask us what they had last time and we can tell them.

 

We also go out and look for interesting casks of whisky to bottle. If you buy a brand malt, maybe a thousand casks have gone into making it, but we always hand pick the best individual casks. Given there are five different whisky regions in Scotland, we label our bottles with numbers from one to five. As with the wines, people get an information sheet telling them  which distillery it's from, how it was aged, and any additional tasting notes.

 

I wouldn't describe myself as a wine connoisseur, but I'm always adding to my knowledge. Each year, I probably try about 5000 different wines, but I don't drink every bottle! From those, we end up selecting between one and two hundred for the shop. Generally, we're looking at the price, whether the wine's a good example of where it is from, and whether it sums up the taste of a region. You have to stand back a bit from your own personal taste.

 

We were named best Scottish Independent Merchant at the International Wine Challenge last year after being in business only eight moths, which is something we aimed for, but really didn't expect. There were a number of factors, but the judges particularly liked the fact that there were no 'filler' wines on our list and that, rather than just filling a space on our shelves, every single wine was fantastic.

Every couple of weeks we have dinner for all the staff where we can just relax and enjoy a few bottles of wine. On Friday mornings we also have a blind tasting of the wines that have been sent to us to work out whether we should stock them or not.

 

It's good working with Cara because we can support each other in ways that wouldn't be possible otherwise. But we have to be very careful the job doesn't intrude into out home life. We have defined rules as to when we're not allowed to talk about work any more because we don't want to be discussing it all the time.

 

During the week I like to play squash a couple of times and try to finish working at five. To unwind, I also play a bit of football. When the kids go to bed at seven, there's a strong likelihood that there will be more work to do. It could be going out  and doing a tasting for people, whether at a restaurant or with a private group - or it might be catching up on paperwork and putting together offers. Cara and I like to have one night out a week where we go and try out a new restaurant. We're also quite lucky in that we get invited to quite a few events with wine makers.

 

Even in my free time, I always want to open another bottle of wine, just to try it, because every bottle is new and exciting. I love the fact that nature plays a part in the process. Even exactly the same bottle opened three months later will taste different because it's a living thing. I've yet to be bored by wine.

 

 

NB

With thanks to full timers Shane and Kim and adminstative staff Lynn, Debbie and Robin - without whom, nothing would actually happen!