TEAM
Robin Copestick
Director
| Question | Answer |
| Name | Robin Copestick. |
| Position | Dynamic Left Hand Opening Bat (only on the cricket field, I'm actually very heterosexual) and Director of Copestick Murray. |
| Family | No one will marry me but have been with Melissa for 25 years. One son, Freddie and a border collie, Dillon. |
| Home(s) | Clapham Common, Trevose Golf Course, The Britannia Stadium, Bangkok Restaurant. |
| Hometown | Stoke-on-Trent. |
| CV | Man and boy (as in the photo aged 18) at Moreno Wines, shop boy, delivery boy, invoice boy, first salesman, first Sales Director and eventually joint Managing Director. Followed by three years, working for McGuigan (now AVL) in UK and Europe. Founded Copestick Murray in May 2005 with Paul. |
| Education | Undistinguished times at Shrewsbury, Taunton and London University. Made some great friends though and scored the odd 100. |
| Favourite Varietal | Pinot Noir when it is very good. Malbec for everyday red. |
| Desert Island Wine | The new Cosme 1894 Red and Krug 1995. |
| Most Prized Possession | Three DVDs. Stoke beating Chelsea in the League Cup Final in 1972, England winning the Rugby World Cup in 2003 and Freddie being born in 1997. I was at all three events although came close to missing Freddie's birth as I was in the pub. |
| Favourite CD | The Bends. |
| Guilty Pleasure | Watching every Stoke goal at least 5 times on Football First and sneaking off to the golf course. |
| Teams Supported | Stoke City FC , England at any sport and anyone who plays against Andy Murray (he's not Paul's brother by the way). |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | Fun, different, dynamic, loyal and my only hope of a decent pension. |
Paul Murray
Director
| Question | Answer |
| Name | Paul Murray. |
| Position | Full Back or Fly Half - oh professionally - does everything no one else wants to do. |
| Family | Wife and 2 boys. |
| Home(s) | Marlborough, Newport Beach, California and New Quay, West Wales. |
| Hometown | Newcastle Upon Tyne. |
| CV | Morgan Stanley 11 years, Warburgs 6 Years, Merrill Lynch 2 Years, started Copestick Murray with Robin May 2005. |
| Education | BA (hons) Accounting and Finance and Durham School (left a little prematurely). |
| Favourite Varietal | Malbec - hairy chested, no nonsense, the Motörhead of wines. |
| Desert Island Wine | Silex - Didier Dageneau, God rest him. |
| Most Prized Possession | Any retained profit and my midnight blue Rickenbacker 370/6. |
| Favourite CD | Could be White Album or Stone Roses, nope Blue Lines - Massive Attack. |
| Guilty Pleasure | I have a separate iPod with all supposed cutting edge stuff on it, dig deep though and you'll find Sugababes, Girls Aloud and Take That …either that or my bloody boat - Terrifying. |
| Teams Supported | Newcastle United (obviously) and Los Angeles Angels (less obviously). |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | Organisation without walls, all voices need to be heard and carry equal weight with agenda set by the customers. |
Stuart Bond
National Account Manager
| Question | Answer |
| Name | Stuart Bond. |
| Position | National Account Manager. |
| Family | Her indoors and a cat. |
| Home(s) | Country pile, penthouse in Chamonix. |
| Hometown | The 'Shire. |
| CV | After University joined Constellation Europe covering wholesale & convenience accounts. Then Gaymers Cider Company as a National Field Sales Manager. Followed by a stint at Brown-Forman covering convenience and National Mults ...then Copestick Murray. |
| Education | The usual. School, college, university ...all a dim, debt-laden memory now. |
| Favourite Varietal | A good Cabernet Sauvigon. |
| Desert Island Wine | Probably the '89 Crystal I drank one Xmas with friends ..a bit bling, but it was bloody lovely. |
| Most Prized Possession | My house ...well, its the bank's, but it will be mine. |
| Favourite CD | Too many to mention ...probably, Charlatans - Us and Us Only. Helped me through my Uni dissertation. |
| Guilty Pleasure | Wasting my hard earned on buying needless snowboarding kit. |
| Teams Supported | Wolves ...its a family thing. Somerset Cricket Club ...the cider connection. Anyone involved in Winter Sports for UK. |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | Brilliantly different. |
Rachel Archer
Project Manager
| Question | Answer |
| Name | Rachel Archer. |
| Position | Project Manager specialising in new product development. |
| Family | 1 husband, 1 baby, 1 well travelled Labrador & 3 siblings. |
| Home(s) | Colerne, Wiltshire. |
| Hometown | Spent my formative years in Manchester. "All Manchester's lacking is a beach. If it had a beach it'd be a great city" Ian Brown. If it had a beach, it would be the best city. |
| CV | 5 years during the boom of UK agent Western Wines, followed by 4 fantastic years in South Africa working for Origin Wine. Made the difficult decision to move back home but quickly found Copestick Murray with a huge amount of new products needing to be realised in a very short space of time! |
| Education | Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, brief stint at university but proudly without a degree. Entered the world of full time work for a couple of years, followed by art college, but then happily fell into the wine industry. |
| Favourite Varietal | A steely, flinty Sauvignon Blanc bringing back many happy memories of many happy bottles consumed in Cape Town. |
| Desert Island Wine | Springfield Special Cuvee Sauvignon Blanc or, on a cold winter's day, Cheval des Andes. |
| Most Prized Possession | The Labrador (brought home at great expense from South Africa, with 9 months in Amsterdam - for him, not us unfortunately). |
| Favourite CD | Off the wall - Micheal Jackson. Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde ...Jay-Z MTV Unplugged 2001, Music of the Spheres - Ian Brown ...any Stanton Warriors ...The Stone Roses ...the list goes on. |
| Guilty Pleasure | Watching The Goonies. |
| Teams Supported | Manchester United of course! |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | A dynamic, forward-thinking, can-do place to be. |
Laura Hope
Business Development Manager
| Question | Answer |
| Name | Laura Hope. |
| Position | Business Development Executive. |
| Family | Long suffering boyfriend and 2 cats, Evie and Womble. |
| Home(s) | Bristol overlooking St George's Park |
| Hometown | Bournemouth. |
| CV | Started at Majestic as a fresh-faced graduate trainee in 2002 then reclaimed my weekends by moving to Averys in 2005 as a private client wine advisor. After 3 1/2 years of talking to some lovely customers I joined Hicks & Don as sales manager and have now made the move to Copestick Murray. |
| Education | From Talbot Heath School, Bournemouth to Kings College Taunton then to Liverpool Uni for a BA in Latin American Studies. Yes, a rather random course but I got to spend a year in Chile where I discovered my love for wine and ended up writing a 15,000 word dissertation about it! |
| Favourite Varietal | Chardonnay |
| Desert Island Wine | Domaine Dujac Morey St Denis Blanc 1er Cru Mont Luisants 2002. |
| Most Prized Possession | Evie & Womble our Bengal cats. |
| Favourite CD | Far too many to choose from - Marvin Gaye, Dionne Warwick, late 80s / early 90s U2, Simon & Garfunkel, Laura Marling, Red Hot Chili Peppers... |
| Guilty Pleasure | Macaroons, the more colourful the better. |
| Teams Supported | 2 Many Tonys softball team. |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | A breath of fresh air. |
Tom Rew
Project Assistant
| Question | Answer |
| Name | Tom Rew. |
| Position | Project Assistant. |
| Family | Widely spread settlers across the globe. |
| Home(s) | A farm in Wiltshire. Always have been a country lad. |
| Hometown | Ludlow. |
| CV | Wine and English related work in Spain followed by a couple of years retail work with Wine Rack and Jeroboams. |
| Education | Gordonstoun School and UWE Bristol. |
| Favourite Varietal | Loving my German Rieslings at the moment. |
| Desert Island Wine | Etienne Sauzet's Batard Montrachet '03. |
| Most Prized Possession | My bike - nearly as old as I am. |
| Favourite CD | Currently Fat Freddy's Drop - Based on a true story. |
| Guilty Pleasure | Shaving the wrong end of my pencil and rubbing the rubber shavings between my fingers - I love it. |
| Teams Supported | Wanstead Rugby Club. |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | A friendly, no nonsense, positive and robust team. |
Sally Milles
Brand Manager
| Question | Answer |
| Name | Sally Milles |
| Position | 329th in my last triathlon and desperately trying to improve on that this summer! Regular BBQ's with a beer on the beach won't help my cause! |
| Family | A boyfriend turned husband after 10 years who apparently does believe in marriage! |
| Home(s) | A tiny flat in Southfields, home of the AELTC (answers on a postcard!), and Kennexstone campsite on the Gower. |
| Hometown | Edwinstowe in Nottinghamshire, once home to Robin Hood and his merry men. |
| CV | North Notts Graduates into Industry Scheme after graduating in 2000. Joined Majestic Wine in 2001. After being a retail manager for 5 years across London I moved to head office and performed various roles including Public Relations Manager and subsequently Brand Development Manager. I met Robin in 2009, he seemed like a good bloke (!). The rest is history! |
| Education | The Rufford School followed by Coventry University where I fostered a healthy reputation as a connoisseur of all things gastronomic. |
| Favourite Varietal | Got to be Chardonnay. Responsible for Champagne and white Burgundy ...what more can I say! |
| Desert Island Wine | Salon 1996 and Haut-Brion 2000 after the canapés! |
| Most Prized Possession | My red van known as "the piglet". Being 5'3" tall it makes me feel more powerful on the busy roads of London and its revolutionised my camping experiences (I can plug my hairdryer in!) |
| Favourite CD | Tea for the Tillerman, Cat Stevens. An oldie but a goody! |
| Guilty Pleasure | Cheese of all varieties ...ideally in front of Eastenders (sorry guys!) |
| Teams Supported | Nottingham Forest, although I couldn't name a single player or tell you their league position (or league for that matter!) |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | A down-to-earth, dynamic, approachable, honest and fun team utterly passionate about wine! |
Sandy Rex
Accounts
| Question | Answer |
| Name | Sandy Rex. |
| Position | Under a huuuge pile of papers, on accounts and company related subjects. |
| Family | Married with two children, a girl and a boy, who now live in Godalming, Surrey. |
| Home(s) | Burbage, Wiltshire. |
| Hometown | Hampton, Middlesex. |
| CV | Nursery Nurse and Nanny, followed by clerical and accountancy training and accounting based jobs. Mother and part time accounts, followed by computerised accounts training and back to work full time. Joined Copestick Murray late 2007. |
| Education | Kneller Girls School and the rest is a blur. |
| Favourite Varietal | Merlot or Shiraz. |
| Desert Island Wine | Would have to be made by Cadbury's!! (With a fridge to keep it cool.) |
| Most Prized Possession | My Burbage Beer Festival Beer mugs 2007,2008 & 2009 - irreplacable. |
| Favourite CD | No favourite - Love to sing along to lots of different styles. |
| Guilty Pleasure | Southern Comfort and Cadbury's chocolate ...No, Cadbury's chocolate and Southern Comfort. |
| Teams Supported | Manchester United. |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | Lots of great people, working hard with plenty of personal success stories. |
David Clarke
Sales Director for Source Wines
| Question | Answer |
| Name | David Clarke. |
| Position | Sales Director for Source Wines. |
| Family | 2 children - 1 daughter and 1 son. |
| Home(s) | Only 1. |
| Hometown | Swadlincote. |
| CV | 8 Years with Paragon Vintners, Sales Director Midlands/North, 2 Years Financial Services with Cattles PLC, 13 Years at Bass PLC in Sales Account Management, Tele Account Management, Training, UK and Europe. |
| Education | Granville Secondary Modern, Burton Technical College. |
| Favourite Varietal | Pinot Noir and Riesling. |
| Desert Island Wine | Noval Nacional 1931, with only a couple of dozen bottles left in the world from around 200 original cases, my dream wine! If I cant get the 1931 Nacional, I'd settle for 1931 Noval Vintage Port, about as rare but I dont want to appear too fussy! |
| Most Prized Possession | Camera. |
| Favourite CD | O mio babbino caro - Montserrat Caballé. |
| Guilty Pleasure | Chocolate Brazil Nuts. |
| Teams Supported | Not really. |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | Never a dull day. |
Chris Tew
Logistics
| Question | Answer |
| Name | Chris Tew. |
| Position | Logistics and general factotum for Source. |
| Family | 2 daughters, a wife and a dog. |
| Home(s) | Cardiff- Guardamar del Segura- New Quay. |
| Hometown | Cardiff. |
| CV | Hotels, Pubs, Restaurants,Bars, Sports Arena's most things involving alcohol really then a stint in food sales. |
| Education | Long and varied. |
| Favourite Varietal | Merlot. |
| Desert Island Wine | Anything cold - Magnums preferably. |
| Most Prized Possession | My dog Mungo. He is a Sharpei. |
| Favourite CD | I have no favourite but I do like rocking out to a good 80’s style power ballad! |
| Guilty Pleasure | Scoffing chocolate. |
| Teams Supported | Wales Rugby, Cardiff Blues and Manchester United. |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | Pro-active. |
Martin Parry Davies
Operations Director
| Question | Answer |
| Name | Martin Parry Davies. |
| Position | Operations Director. |
| Family | Lots. |
| Home(s) | Marlborough. |
| Hometown | Cefn Code. |
| CV | In the fashion business man and boy...until now! |
| Education | There was some education involved. |
| Favourite Varietal | Simple tee, good jeans, Prada shoes. |
| Desert Island Wine | Anything with a screwcap. |
| Most Prized Possession | On a need to know basis. |
| Favourite CD | As above. |
| Guilty Pleasure | Definitely as above. |
| Teams Supported | Anything Welsh. |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | Like the fashion trade but with longer leadtimes. |
James Le Grys
National Account Manger (On and Off Trade)
| Question | Answer |
| Name | James Le Grys. |
| Position | National Account Manger (On and Off Trade). |
| Family | The Girlfriend and the rest of the clan in Kent. |
| Home(s) | Bristol. |
| Hometown | The glorious weald of Kent. |
| CV | In the industry for 12 years, got the usual start in wine with Majestic, then a spot of wine making in NZ for 4 years then back to the UK and did stints with Berkmann wines, Matthew Clark and Bibendum wine. I have finally landed at Copestick Murray. |
| Education | Plumpton College doing wine making diploma, with a final year in Lincoln Uni in New Zealand. |
| Favourite Varietal | I am very much a Pinotfile. |
| Desert Island Wine | 1982 Petrus, indulgent and incredible. |
| Most Prized Possession | My golf clubs. |
| Favourite CD | Muse, The Resistance. |
| Guilty Pleasure | Watching the Sharpe and Hornblower TV series. |
| Teams Supported | Exeter Chiefs, A team that rarely disappoints. |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | Small but well formed, punches above its weight. |
Tom Craven
Project Manager
| Question | Answer |
| Name | Tom Craven. |
| Position | Project Manager. |
| Family | Loads! |
| Home(s) | London & more recently the thriving hamlet of Bagshot. |
| Hometown | London. |
| CV | Sommelier, events organiser, PR, winemaking, & salesman in the UK, Spain, Italy & Argentina. |
| Education | Marlborough College, Oxford Brookes University, Plumpton College. |
| Favourite Varietal | At the moment... Erbaluce. |
| Desert Island Wine | Pientate Lunghi, Rossini, Rosso Conero 2005. |
| Most Prized Possession | My guitar (which I can't yet play). |
| Favourite CD | Manu Chao, Esperanza. |
| Guilty Pleasure | Buying lots of wine which I can't afford! |
| Teams Supported | Chelsea (until they all became chest waxing prima donnas) and now Real Betis (who used to be good). |
| How do you sum up Copestick Murray? | Fun, challenging, dynamic & resourceful. |