Webinar: Trading up with Cava, Premium Cava and the new regulation, with Richard Bampfield MW

Richard Bampfield graduated in French from Cambridge in 1981 and immediately decided on a career in the wine trade. He managed retail wine shops in the Northwest of England for JW Lees Brewers for 7 years, then spent a year working in vineyards in different countries around the world, including California and Australia.

Having passed the Master of Wine Exam in 1990, he joined the Australian producer, Brown Brothers, and managed their European operations until 1999. He left them to set up his own company, specialising in public relations and offering wine talks, tours and courses.

His principal clients include Lidl, Albert Bichot (Burgundy), Leith’s School of Food and Wine, Santa Rita (Chile) and Château Brown (Bordeaux). He is also a partner in Wine Ring, the leading personalisation software for the wines and spirits industry. A growing interest in sustainability led him to become a founder member of the new international organisation Sustainable Wine Roundtable.

Most recently, he has been instrumental in organising and hosting numerous virtual tastings for the private members’ club 67 Pall Mall during its enforced closure during the pandemic, focusing on everything from masterclasses on luxury wines from California and Bordeaux, to discovering Argentina, to tasting the differences between the red wines produced by different villages in the Burgundy region.

Richard was President of the Association of Wine Editors. He is currently Chair of Judges for the prestigious International Wine Challenge, both in the UK and in China.