Sherry Wines UK director retires

Wine industry veteran Graham Hines is to retire from his position as director of Sherry Wines UK, the organisation has announced.

Graham Hines retires from Sherry Wines UK following a career in wine that spans more than half a century

Hines has held the directorship at Sherry Wines UK, the official office of the Consejo Regulador de Jerez, for eight years. He will be replaced by Angeline Bayly, managing director at specialist wine marketing agency Bespoke Drinks Media, who has worked alongside Hines for the past seven years.

Hines began his career in the wine industry 53 years ago at Lay & Wheeler. He progressed through the ranks of various wine companies, including Colman’s of Norwich, Matthew Clark and Gonzalez Byass, before joining ICEX in 1984 as director of the Sherry Institute of Spain.

In 1995 he took over the additional role of director of Wines from Spain. He was appointed as the director of Sherry Wines UK in April 2008.

“It is with mixed feelings that I have decided to retire, after a challenging and rewarding time working with Sherry. I shall continue to follow its fortunes with interest and wish every success for the future,” Hines commented.

Beltrán Domecq, president at the Consejo Regulador Jerez-Xérès-Sherry and Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda, praised Hines for all he had achieved for Sherry in a challenging market.

“It has been a turn-around time for Sherry in the UK over the past eight years and we have been very fortunate to have someone of Graham’s standing in the industry to preside over such an important period in our history,” Domecq said.

“Under Graham’s guidance, we have achieved a stronger position from which to build in our most significant export market. And this includes, most notably, a record number of importers and bodegas represented, with a strong and growing presence for many of the lesser known styles of Sherry.”

Bayly will continue to work closely with the Consejo Regulador Jerez-Xérès-Sherry and Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda to implement the consejo’s marketing strategy for the UK market.

“It has been a privilege to work with Graham on a wide variety of activities over the past seven years,” she said.

“We have learnt a great deal from him, for which I am particularly grateful. While his extraordinary knowledge of Sherry will be missed, I am confident that we have an exciting and innovative campaign in place for Sherry throughout 2016, which builds on the projects Graham and I have worked hard to develop.”

The UK remains the single most important export market for Sherry, where it has been increasing its activity in recent years, notably with its successful, and now annual, Great Sherry Tasting, Sherry Festival and International Sherry Week.