| After returning from a stint in Hong Kong where all you could get in supermarkets was the lovely Blossom Hill range, Ben caught the most virulent strain of the wine bug in his late twenties. The catalyst that encouraged him to leave a promised life of dot com riches and make the move into wine was when his parents, with no previous wine experience bought the 65 hectare Domaine Saint Hilaire in the Languedoc, as you do. They asked him to help sell their wines and he jumped at the chance, setting up Indigo Wine in 2003.
Ben adores fine Burgundy and serious Beaujolais but doesn’t sell much of that, as surprisingly enough most of these agencies have already been snatched up. He also loves the Mediterranean and buying trips to Spain where there is still much undiscovered vinous gold, although large tumblers of Gin and Tonic, the Spanish winemaker’s tipple of choice, at 4am are starting to take their toll.
At weekends he does his real job - looking after his triplet toddler boys.
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| Nick’s wine career only began after a long stint in finance. The years in the City were not wasted, however, as Nick took full advantage of the many lunches and dinners to fine tune his palate and broaden his love of wine. After several holidays in French, Spanish and Italian wine regions, Nick decided to study WSET courses as a hobby, gaining a distinction in his Diploma in 2004. Eventually Nick’s (half) French blood got the better of him and he made the move from finance into wine, teaming up with Ben and a fledgling Indigo in early 2005. At last his skills could be put to good use… |
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| Originally hailing from Winchester, Olly lived and travelled extensively in Spain and Latin America whilst completing his Spanish degree, which would later turn out to be useful after all.
After spending ten years in the gourmet speciality coffee business, where the basics of tasting were learnt and honed to a reasonably good level, he made the jump to wine. Having spent time at Planet of the Grapes and studying at the WSET, he spent a great year with Green and Blue Wines as a general manager, where he made his biggest strides in terms of broadening his knowledge, particularly of natural wines. After trips to Tuscany and Jerez, the seeds were sown for a potentially expensive lifelong habit for Italian red and also a nascent obsession with Sherry.
Enter Ben looking for a Sancho Panza for his Don Quixote.
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