Thorpe has more than 30 years’ experience working in the retail wholesale sectors including Waitrose, Constellation, Negociants and John E Fells.

Latterly he has been running his own consultancy operation to provide business, brand and management advice to companies throughout the supply chain.

“I have spent a large amount of my wine industry career working with wines from around the world in the UK market,” said Thorpe.

“Now I have the opportunity to champion our own brilliant English and Welsh producers and help them to build a great and exciting future – that is a fantastic and hugely motivating challenge. 

“It will a busy agenda from the start with our lead campaign to promote our Classic Method wines and a focussed Christmas campaign.

“One area of focus is furthering our relationship with Westminster to benefit this industry as it looks to the future. Importantly I am looking forward to getting to know the industry better and to understanding the challenges and aspirations of Wine GB members and how we can best serve their needs.”