James Dodson

Before founding Vine-Works in 2006, James spent his early working life practising archaeology all over the world until a passion for wine saw him take up a career in wine retail for Oddbins in 1996. Working as a fine wine manager, training co-ordinator, and manager of large wine retail shops afforded a unique opportunity to learn about the world of wine. The need to get out of the shops and work in the great outdoors inspired a career change to wine production. So it was off to Plumpton College to study viticulture and enology and the rest is history.

As a student, he worked for various vineyards and recognised that the new plantings all needed to be trellised. He saw there was a growing demand for viticultural services to the ever-expanding English wine industry - one of the last frontiers of the wine producing countries. So Vine-Works was formed with the help of a fellow student and the business grew from a trellising company to one that offers full establishment consultancy and post-vineyard establishment services. In 2010, Vine-Works Ltd was formed with D'Arcy Gander to broaden the range of services we can provide.

James has a BSc (Hons) Viticulture and Enology from the University of Brighton (Plumpton College) and a WSET Higher Certificate. He has published articles in the "The Grape Press", UKVA Journal. He is a Wine Skills educator/lecturer delivering courses on practical vineyard skills, and is a member of the UKVA. James has worked for Waverly as an Assistant Winemaker in their co-operatives in the South of France, and has done vintages in California and France.