Clive Barlow – MW

Clive started his wine career when working at the vineyard in Hampshire’s New Forest in the late 1980s. The work in the vineyard and winery inspired him to seek a career in the wine trade and learn more about the subject of wine.  He continued his progress in the wine retail sector for supermarkets and specialist chains and studied about wine with the Wine and Spirits Education Trust and the Institute of Masters of Wine.  He became a Master of Wine in 1999. He has worked with a number of companies in the UK, include Sothebys, Whitbread, Adnams, Waitrose, Lidl, Institute of Masters of Wine and others. Today the business has a retail core but also runs wine courses and offers marketing and consultancy services. In addition, he has tasted for publications such as Decanter and Drinks Business as well as judging for Decanter World Wine Awards, SEVA and is currently a Panel Chair for IWC.

Ever since his introduction to English wines in Hampshire Clive has been a keen observer of the rise and development of local vineyards and wineries. In 2019 he was one of the partners of the Canterbury Wine Festival, the first festival to celebrate the growing wine industry of the county. He is keen to see a further development of the English wine industry and was  on of the founders of Corkk, an English wine specialist, in 2019 , based in Canterbury and about to open their second branch in Tunbridge Wells.

Nick Oakley

Nick Oakley has been in the wine trade for over 35 years, starting at wine merchants Lay & Wheeler in Colchester.  In the late 80s he had a ‘road to Damascus’ moment following a visit to Portugal, and as a result he established his own business as an import agent specialising in Portuguese wine. Wines from NW Spain were added about ten years ago. His company, Oakley Wine Agencies, is today one of the UK’s leading Portuguese specialists and counts most major supermarket group in its client portfolio.

In recent years, the company has also started supplying Portuguese & Spanish wines to overseas markets, including Japan, Ireland, Australia, USA and Japan. Oakley Wine Agencies celebrated 30 years trading in January this year.  Nick also judges for Decanter and IWC.

Rebecca Palmer

Rebecca Palmer is Associate Director and Head of Merchanting Buying for Corney & Barrow Ltd based in London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai.

She is responsible for the core portfolio of Corney & Barrow’s merchanting business globally, heading up an eight-strong team, and covering most world wine regions.  A modern languages graduate, Rebecca has extensive experience of the wine industry in a career spanning almost three decades and roles in buying, sales and marketing, business development and strategic consultancy. Rebecca is a regular judge for a number of major wine competitions including Decanter, IWSC and also Wine GB. She is a passionate advocate for the UK’s burgeoning wine industry.

A 4th Judge is to be confirmed but will be a member of WineGB