Simon turns his love of wine into print

CORKING IDEA . . . wine connoisseur Simon Woods and his new book

A DOBCROSS man who turned to the bottle to uncork a new career for himself is celebrating the launch of his latest book.

Wine connoisseur Simon Woods, who gave up a job in computer design at Ferranti to become a full-time taster, is renowned for his down to earth, humorous style in an otherwise stuffy industry.

His latest book “I don’t know much about wine, but I know what I like”, an occasionally irreverent guide to the world of wine” — is available on Amazon.

“It’s for people who enjoy drinking wine and are interested in finding out a little bit more about it, but don’t want to get too bogged down,” said Simon.

“Most books in this field are hardback, 500 pages long and cost around £25 where as mine is much more user friendly.”

Simon said it turned out to be a good year when he decided to turn to professional wine tasting, which came about following a night course at Saddleworth School and a year in Australia picking grapes and working in a wine shop.

His first job was as a co-ordinator of the annual International Wine Challenge, eventually becoming a judge, tasting thousands of wines from around the world

He has had a column in the Financial Times, is former editor of the Which? Wine Guide and regularly tours the country talking all things plonk.