Nick Wise

Author, wine-lover, raconteur, dog lover and rock'n'roller. I was born in New York City, USA before my family decided to relocate to UK by when I was two. I attended bording school as many other English kids did and occassionally would manage to sneak a sip of wine from the local pub, junior common room or indeed Sunday Church sermons when brave enough.

The Highlights of school life were always the seldom weekends when were allowed home back to our family. My Father had always held a passion for fine French wine and on occasion would hand me two glasses each containing a thimble of wine and would ask of me not of which of the two wines I preferred, but rather the difference of taste and nuance between each of the scrawny drops.

At this time of my life music, especially punk rock had been the everything to me- I knew every band, every song, every member, dates of recordings, obscure past tour dates and collected, played and saw as much about rock'n'roll as I could possibly Ingest. Ask me the second venue the Sex Pistols played at or the date the Dead Boys second album was released and I was right there. My brain had somehow figured out a way to store or compartmentalise minute, mostly useless facts. By the time i was eighteen and had really caught the 'wine bug' I soon figured out I could transfer this minor talent towards my developing love of wine. Chateaux, vintages, regions, winemakers and above all the recall of taste started to share a place next to name of Black Flag's second vocalist. Soon I had developed a pretty good palate- or at the least I had begun to know what wines I liked and was able to discern the multitude of grape varietals the world had to offer. But alas my passion had to be restrained when I returned to school in the United States (the legal drinking age being 21).

I was also a keen oil painter and was accepted to The School Of The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston before attending Tufts University to complete my degree. After waving farewell to Boston I returned to London and began writing books on rock'n'roll bands that i loved- Nirvana, Courtney Love, Suede the Manic Street Preachers to name a few, but the Ol 'wine bug never left me and soon I began studies at the WSET or better known as the Wine and Spirit Education Trust which is the organisation or school responsible for highly lauded Master Of Wine program. I also then officially joined 'the wine trade' working for well known companies such as John Armit, Fuller, Smith and Turner and others- buying, selling, tasting or promoting.

I decided after 10 years it was time to start my own company named Casevalue.com selling wine and Champagne to mostly to corporate clients. My main pleasure within the company quickly became the travel involved to the tens of wine regions throughout the World where I would promote the company and the wines we carried. Soon I began noticing a trend- celebrities that were joining the wine-world as a second profession. And this how the book Celebrity Winemakers evolved.

This is the first in a series of five and is only the beginning as there has currently been an explosion in this field with many every month it seems joining the ranks. I only wanted to include serious personalities in the book, those who actually were in someway seriously involved with the winemaking process and not just keen to slap a label with there name on the bottle. I also just didnt want a book full of scores and technical data-I wanted to relay a fun journey that everyone could enjoy, learn a little about wine and get to know the well- known faces behind the juice produced. I hope you enjoy the book. I currently live in London, with my beautiful Polish girlfriend Aneta and my pride and joy Lily- a very cool two year old Parson Jack Russell dog