Meet the Team

Established in 2005, the RED&WHITE team has a rich balance of knowledge, understanding and youthful enthusiasm.
Our role of communicating the quality and interest in the wines that we supply, means we have not only selected people with a good global comprehension of the worlds wines, but also those who understand the trade that we supply. 
We aim to break down the barriers of the traditionally stuffy wine trade and make wine engaging for the consumer.  We are therefore always looking for new people who would like to enhance the way that wine is sold in this country. 

Liam has been a high profile member of the wine trade for the past 12 years and in 2005 he founded RED&WHITE.  Having played key roles within two leading London wine merchants, he is passionate about the product, and translating the skills and wants of the producers through to the end consumer. At RED&WHITE he oversees all of the buying decisions and advises our leading Hotel & Restaurant clients on their wine needs.

Liam became the world’s youngest Master of Wine in 2004 when he passed the notoriously difficult exam. One of only 257 Masters of Wine worldwide, he is recognized internationally for his understanding of the subject and now mentors a number of students currently working towards the qualification.

His success in sales has largely been because of his ability to quickly understand the needs of the customer.  He has advised high profile accounts such as Firmdale Hotels, Silverjet, Hotel Tresanton, the Groucho Club, the New Angel, Dartmouth Naval College and Virgin Wines.

Liam is also a regular commentator in the media. He writes for the Western Morning News and Devon Today, and frequently judges on the tasting panels of Decanter and Wine Magazine.

It’s not all wine though for Liam, as well as having a young family, he plays football and windsurfs when he can.

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Luke began life in the wine business at the tender age of 17, working a long, hot summer delivering wine and spirits to local hotels, restaurants and pubs in the South Devon area. He must of enjoyed it as soon after college he worked full time for the same local Wine Merchants progressively moving up the ladder from driving the vans, running the office and then finally out on the road in a Sales role. He continued in this position for over 3 years looking after customers in the local area whilst also gaining a comprehensive knowledge of the trade.  

After a brief career diversion and a couple of years ‘flirting’ with the Construction industry, Luke decided to quickly return to his first love of ‘wine’ and started working at RED&WHITE in the Summer of 2008.

Having previous experience and knowledge in most areas of the running of a Wine Merchants, Luke is an integral part of the team and can lend his hand to anything that needs doing. Most of his time is spent looking after RED&WHITES Restaurant, Pub and Hotel customers, whether its amending wine-lists, talking through new wines or just simply popping in for a coffee. Don’t get him talking though as he’ll never leave…!

Luke has a passion for all things ‘wine’ related and has recently passed with 'Distinction' the Advanced Certificate in Wines and Spirits to  hopefully enhance and improve upon his wine knowledge further. Apart from  lots of  socializing , he enjoys Football, Rugby and Golf (watching more than playing!) Film and TV and likes to think of himself as a pretty good cook to!

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Brought up in South Devon, Chris is our retail expert and has recently moved back to the area having spent the last 15 years in Manchester, where he moved to study for a music degree.

9 years in the restaurant trade followed (what else do you do with a music degree?), working front of house and managing a number of successful restaurants and wine bars, developing a love of wine which inspired Chris to join the wine trade in after gaining his WSET Advanced Certificate in 2007.  He managed Manchester’s top independent shop for three years, all the while plotting his relocation to the South West.

Already familiar with many of our wines from his work up north, Chris is enjoying familiarising himself with the rest of our range and spends most of his time in The Wine Store in Kingsbridge, helping the people of the South Hams find their ideal wines, keeping the shop looking good (sometimes) and running Taste Buds our wine club.  If you’re getting a flood of emails from us, it’ll be Chris writing them!  He’s also a keen malt whisky fan and is working hard on putting together a selection for the shop, so look out for a Scotch invasion very soon.

When he’s not redecorating his new house Chris enjoys tramping over Dartmoor, watching cricket and rugby, playing the odd round of golf and thinks it’s about time he got his violin out again!

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A recent addition to the Red & White team, Andrew works part-time to help Liam and Luke with Business Development and Sales/Support for both our wholesale and retail customers.

A wine enthusiast with an eagerness to learn – Andrew brings a wealth of expereince from the hospitality indsutry to the team having previously served as national account manager and barista trainer for a local speciality coffee roaster, as well as running many bars, restaurants and cafes both domestically and internationally.

Having just moved back to his home of Devon from Bath where he recently set up and ran one of Red & Whites newest accounts – Jika Jika – Andrew is hoping to reemmerse himself in the westcountry life he loves whilst also enhancing his wine knowledge as much as possible by studying for his WSET Certificates under Liam's tutelage.

Andrew keeps the office in good supply of some fine coffees too so be sure to pop in and see us when he’s around! He loves getting in the sea or sliding down a mountain and also fancies himself as a bit of a foodie... Liam’s mission is to ween him off New Zealand wines' but this could take some time!

email: andrew@red-white.co.uk

Andy has been part of the RED&WHITE team from the very beginning and has played a crucial role in the success of the business, forging strong personal relationships with our customers.

Having worked previously for a number of local businesses, he is very much part of the South Hams community, and knows the area intimately, making him a very quick and efficient delivery driver. Importantly to us, Andy does more than deliver the wine, collate orders and ensure our stock levels are correct; because he sees our customers far more than we do he is very much the face of RED&WHITE.

Andy's personal life is a mystery to us all and we believe that 'under-cover' work in the 1980's led to his profile being deleted by the Government....photos are not readily available, and attempts by us to fit him with a personal tracking device have failed!

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Graham is our part time delivery driver, store-man and shop assistant. He is also a full time farmer, which for us a shame for RED&WHITE because he brings so much to the team with his speed of work and vibrant personality.   Luckily, farming is quiet in the mid summer months, so when we need him most, we and our customers get to see a bit more of him. 

Ask Graham about his fantastic Beef that he sells to friends and family.  He is even considering the wine concept of 'Terroir', which is a French viticultural philosophy that assumes that soil, climate and other natural conditions affect the way that a wine tastes.  Graham believes that such a concept must also apply to livestock.  Believe it or not, we throroughly recommend you try his beef, it really does not get any better!

Jackie is the company Book-Keeper, and keeps the whole ship afloat (not that she would want to be shouldered with that responsibility!) She has great experience of working with small businesses and her grasp of the company accounts keeps us streamlined and efficient, for which we are all incredibly thankful.

Apart from her apparent enjoyment in being pretty much the only person who can keep Liam in check, she really would prefer to be out in the local countryside, riding her horse.

After his formal training as an hotelier nearly 40 years ago, followed by 10 years in the hotels, restaurants and pubs of the SE, Bruce eventually drifted into health clubs with some success during the 80’s and 90’s.  Eventually his girth looked so out of place he sold up and moved into pubs in late 1999 in the SW.

This too has been a successful foray starting with the Ship Inn at Noss Mayo, a huge renovation project, then followed by The Turtley Corn Mill at Avonwick and more recently Bistro Bacchanalia at Sutton Harbour, Plymouth.     

If you feel so inclined Bruce can share with you his hard earned experiences of our chosen trade, provide you with a few good ideas and tell you about his bad ones.  Sometimes it’s wine talk, mostly it’s not!

His role at Red & White is to work with Liam and his team, providing them with the guidance and support that sometimes an older head is best set to do!