I worked closely with Ben for 10 years at Naked - Ben as a young, up-and-coming winemaker in the Languedoc, me as a young, mostly-winging-it Managing Director in the UK.

It’s fair to say we both had a role to play in growing our respective careers and businesses - Ben is now one of Naked’s most successful winemakers.

Not only are we great friends, but this guy makes the most delightfully drinkable and characterful French wines you could possibly imagine.

Which is why he was one of the first people I phoned up to tell all about my plans for WineSpark. Thankfully he was thinking what I was thinking, and we agreed we had to find a way to keep working together.

A few days later, an unlabelled sample turned up in the post from Ben. One sip and I was transported to the Minervois - I knew we had the perfect red for WineSpark customers.