If I were to compare Napa Valley, one of the gems of the American west coast, to a piece of high jewellery, it would be an IF diamond. Flawless is reserved for only the finest, purest and best, and like every wine-growing region, there are exceptional to mediocre estates.
My career started in 1983 when I worked for a small whisky company on the east coast of Scotland. I had the best of both worlds working there; I was 18 and I had a job, but I was also given the opportunity to go and study chemistry in Aberdeen at the same time. Working for such a small company gave me an incredible range of experience so, when the opportunity came up to join the Pernod Ricard family, I already had a very solid grounding in the whisky business. I became Master Blender of Ballantine’s at the end of 2005, and there is no better job as far as I’m concerned.
