My passion for the Langhe, a wine-growing region of Piedmont in northwest Italy, started by chance in an Italian restaurant in Bury St Edmunds in November 1993…

I was trying to impress my future wife, Carol, so I bought the most expensive bottle of wine on the list. At the time I knew nothing about wine, but the bottle of wine I'd ordered just happened to be a 1988 Riserva Barolo. That bottle of Barolo was the start of our romance.

We went on to spend three days of our honeymoon at the excellent Hotel di Barolo, in the village of Barolo in the heart of the Langhe. The hotel was owned by the Brezza family who now - some 15 years later - have become one of our producers.

Our time in Barolo was just the beginning of our love affair with the region, its people, the cuisine and, of course, the wine. 

In the summer of 2008, out of passion for Barolo and encouraged by a couple of producers, I set up Monforte Wines, Monforte being my favourite commune in the region. A year later my niece, Rebecca Nightingale, joined the business and runs it on a day-to-day basis.  We are a small family business, just like our producers.