This Week I’ve mainly been drinking…

Kevin Smith - Regional Sales Manager Kevin has been with Alliance man and boy, starting some 15 years ago! Having developed a large, loyal customer base, Kevin concentrates on not only keeping them happy but on Sales Management and the development of key accounts along with significant work in recruitment. Kevin is possibly better qualified that anyone to comment on what makes Alliance different: “The common threat that I share with all my team mates is a love of wine and it is through this that we can create a great partnership between Alliance and our clients”.

So Kevin, you are the longest serving member of the sales team. What have been the major changes you have seen at Alliance since the 80's?

Really hope that question does not make me out as an eighties throwback, don’t answer that Ed.! What I do remember about Alliance all those years ago is still as important today as it was then, we enjoy (nay love) what we do and persist in making it succeed. So I guess what I am saying is that the size of the company may have changed but the ethos of what we are here to do remains the same.

You have embarked on many trips away with the Sales team what are your favourite memories from your travels?

We have, as a team been on some memorable trips and always managed to remain partially coherent enough to learn a great deal. I have lifelong memories of tasting wines in the place where they are made whether it’s France, Italy, Spain or South Africa. I could go back to Sienna a dozen time for instance. I had thought I was sworn to delete all embarrassing content of those trips from my memory, but I did keep one or two things up my sleeve in case of an emergency. During our recent trip to South Africa we all thought the landscape and the wine were the highlight, how wrong we were when treated to haunting images of Giles Cooke M.W. sleeping in a cot (e-mail me for photos at kevin.smith@alliancewine.co.uk)

Within the extensive range at Alliance which wines do you turn to when you want a safe bet to wow a customer?

Where to start is sometimes the difficulty, there are many good examples of core wines to suit each client’s needs. In order to truly show what we have to offer I find it interesting to suggest a new wave wine such as Stella Bella Tempranillo from Oz or the simply wonderful Crozes Hermitage from Albert Belle.

Kevin, I understand in your spare time you like to slip into some rubber and occasionally you go diving in the Clyde? What do you like to drink to get that salty taste out your mouth?

It can sometimes be really cold in the Clyde even in the summer so perhaps a Marc de Bourgogne to warm up. A good Barbeque on the beach afterwards would be an ideal way to warm up, while drinking something rounded and ripe like the Pinotage from Mc Gregor in South Africa or to really push the boat out (pardon the pun) I would have the Du Plessis Shiraz, a wonderful wine with big fruit and structure.