EWP names communicators of the year

English Wine Producers (EWP) has named husband-and-wife wine experts Peter Richards MW and Susie Barrie MW as its Communicators of the Year at the 2015 UKVA awards.

Susie Barrie MW and Peter Richards MW receiving their award at Camel Valley vineyard, Cornwall (Photo: UKVA)

The pair are best known for their regular appearances on the popular BBC cooking show Saturday Kitchen, which attracts around 3 million viewers per week.

Evidence of the impact they have, on Barrie’s last appearance on the show, the wine she recommended was so popular it crashed retailer Majestic Wine’s website. It sold out immediately, making for the busiest hour in the website’s history and creating a backlog of orders for 30,000 bottles.

“We are chuffed to bits,” said Richards. “It’s a real honour to receive this joint award. We’d like to thank the EWP and UKVA, and most importantly raise a huge cheers to all the fabulous English and Welsh wine producers who make world class wine – whatever the British climate throws at them.”

“We’d like to congratulate the other brilliant winners at the UKVA awards,” added Barrie. “And thanks to everyone who makes our job so rewarding.”

Barrie and Richards couldn’t attend the award ceremony as they were on holiday in Cornwall at the time, but they took time out to visit local vineyard Camel Valley to receive the award from UKVA Chairman Sam Lindo. A video of Susie and Peter accepting the award can be found here.

In her speech at the UK Vintners’ Association awards in London last week, EWP marketing director Julia Trustram Eve said, “Susie and Peter are a dynamic duo on the world of wine. They are the youngest married Masters of Wine, widely-renowned and award-winning wine writers, presenters and educators.

“Susie and Peter display a genuine and tireless enthusiasm for our industry and highlight English wines whenever the opportunity arises. They are truly great ambassadors for this industry and we couldn’t be more delighted to award them this trophy.”

Barrie and Richards’ next challenge is tackling the Surrey Bacchus Half Marathon, a run based out of the Denbies Wine Estate near Dorking and which features wine stations and fancy dress. The team effort, featuring various international wine trade members, is raising funds for the Vintners’ Foundation. More details can be found on their JustGiving page.