People
Montse comes from Tarragona. She has studied Economics and she finished her studies as an exchange student in Krems an der Donau (Austria) specialising in Export and International Relations. After her time in Austria, she became interested in learning languages so, she decided to take a gap year and travel around Europe learning german in Munich, french in Paris and English in Brighton.
Recently, she joined Moreno Wines as a part of the internship offered through the Spanish Chamber of Commerce with the Young European Entrepreneur Programme. She combines her tasks in the office with some courses in the Regent's College in London.
Montse is a very active and social person who loves travelling and enjoys discovering new cultures. However, she thinks that her favourite city in the world is her native city in Catalonia,Tarragona, where the weather is always warmer than London.
Jaime comes from Jerez, where our wonderful Valdespino Sherries come from. He began his studies in Pamplona at the University of Navarra, Jaime studied International Degree in Management spending 6 months as an exchange student in Lisbon.
He played a lot of tennis, since he was 4, he played against Rafael Nadal! Jaime studied the last year of high school in Texas and at the same time he was competing tennis all around the USA.
During his time in Pamplona, he worked as a tennis coach at Club de Tenis Pamplona, and as an external relation at Reverendos. Jaime took part in the rugby, tennis and paddle university teams.
In his spare time he plays paddle, tennis and if he is in Spain, he loves hunting!
A former Sociology Lecturer, Manuel turned his interest in people to good use in business. Taking up the reigns from his parents Juan and Salome Moreno he directed the wine company they had started and expanded it into an agency business serving all parts of the trade, becoming the top Spanish wine company in the UK. As well as his work in Spain giving customers access to Ribera del Duero, Rueda , Navarrete Rioja, Chacoli and Alella to name a few, he was instrumental in putting Chile on the map in the UK and has encouraged suppliers across the board to raise their game and face the modern challenges of an ever more complicated wine arena.
He continues to build an ever more impressive portfolio that has expanded successfully into France, Italy, New Zealand and Australia. Outside of wine, Manuel has made a major contribution to the history and understanding of Spanish Exiles in Britain and their fight for democracy.
He received the Cruz de Merito Civil from the Spanish Ambassador Carlos Miranda this year in recognition.
Carlos is a linguist and graduate of Edinburgh, whose first career was in logistics only to end up following the vinous parental footsteps of father Jan and gourmand mother Maite.
A historic contributor to Decanter, Wine, and in the late 1980s the Spanish correspondent for Wine & Spirit, despite continuing to be the primary source of the Spanish section of Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Guide, he devotes himself to finding, identifying, and where necessary correcting the Spanish offerings that find their way onto our list - and beyond; for he is also a major commercial motor within the Company – looking after our ever more interesting non-UK Sales, Scotland, and the Spanish requirements of our largest and most exacting customers.
Very specific, much in demand and hard to get hold of, the general consensus is that if he takes on your case – be it as a winery or a client - it will all have been worthwhile!
Alex Canneti has had a long career in the wine trade including working as an Export Director of a major Rioja and Navarra company between 1992 and 1997. Alex ran the French and Spanish division at IWS from 1997 to 2002 introducing Aragonese wines from Campo de Borja, Calatayud, Carinena and Somontano to the the UK.
He also ran the considerable Loire and Bordeaux businesses. Alex joined Moreno after many years of friendly rivalry from PLB where he ran the Spanish and Italian business. He built up the Piccini Chianti brand from scratch to achieve a top 10 Italian brand in 2 years. He also helped to put Albarino on the map accounting for 60% of all UK sales.
Alex now runs the Sales and Marketing teams and has introduced a few major agencies from France and Italy. He believes in the holy trinity of Chianti, Rioja and Bordeaux.
Email : alex@moreno-wines.co.uk
Mobile : 07825 040783
Gary heads up our finance department and joined Moreno Wines recently, having worked in a similar capacity in fashion retailing and the manufacturing industry for some years. Gary grew up in Hong Kong and travelled to London when he was 19 to continue his studies. He is married with two daughters and enjoys visiting his local church at the weekend as well as squeezing in the odd game of tennis or badminton. He doesn’t claim to be a wine boffin but does comment that he has found the business ‘ Very fruity and aromatic’ so far. He would like to visit Rioja to see where some of our great wines are made.
Abbi has many fond memories of the wine trade, helping her Grandparents (Juan and Salome Moreno) at the Merchants, by packing cases and delivering wine to the Spanish Restaurant trade in London, during her school holidays, also she got to taste great Spanish food and have the occasional sip of wine. However, she blazed her own trail outside of wine to begin with and started working for a chain of French restaurants in Soho as their area manager.
Abbi then followed this with many different roles in many different trades, from floristry to fashion, where she gained experiences in various areas of business, from sales to finance. Finally Abbi couldn’t resist the pull of the wine trade and began working for Moreno Wines, the family business, 6 years ago.
She has progressed with Moreno wines moving from marketing to Office Manager and is now carrying out many different roles including sales. As a grown up she can now enjoy a slightly bigger sip of her favourite wines.
Email : abbi@moreno-wines.co.uk
Mobile: 07974 260921
Mike joined Moreno in 2007, and has the joint responsibility of covering sales in the Home Counties and selected London accounts, as well as selecting and purchasing wine from France, Chile, Argentina and New Zealand. Through a long and varied career, he has worked in warehousing, distribution, broking, sales and buying, and passed his MW in 2002. Apart from Bonded warehousing, his wine strengths are Spain, Bordeaux and Australia. Favourite wines include a glass of sparkling Torrontes or a chilled fino. He has a lively line in creative writing and this is seen in his pithy tasting notes. Email : mike@moreno-wines.co.uk Mobile: 07880 872187
Being part of the Moreno clan Marcel has always worked with Spanish wines. At school he too can remember earning pocket money helping his granddad stacking shelves or going out on deliveries with his uncles. Later at Art college in Camberwell and afterwards, he made a small living as an artist and supplemented this with work as a technician, making sculptures in fibreglass and bronze, and of course, working with Moreno's selling wine!
Inga hails from Sweden and has been living in the UK since 1984. She has a colourful and interesting history having worked for the football genius George Best at his Private Members Club in Mayfair "Blondes" as Receptionist and Members Secretary, she then followed George to " Bestie's " Bar & Brasserie working for the soccer maestro for eight years in all.
Since then, Inga has used her considerable customer service skills in four restaurant positions. She joined Moreno in 2007 and is for many customers their most frequent point of contact with us. Inga is very quick to learn and has embarked on wine courses since joining so she really does know Chardonnay from her elbow!
Veronica was born in La Rioja and her grandparents used to have vineyards in Varea ( Logrono). As a child she used to used to help them press the grapes in the traditional way, with her feet! They sold their land to Marques de Murrieta when they retired.
Veronica studied Business in the University of La Rioja, and then moved to the Netherlands for a year meeting new friends from different parts of the world. She moved to England to do the same. Veronica worked in the travel industry, including a stint in a tour operators accounts department.
She joined Moreno this year as Accounts Assistant and is getting to know all our suppliers. She is enjoying her role within the company and makes use of her Spanish on a daily basis. Even though she complains every day about our weather (!) she loves the culture in London but misses the San Mateo Festival. It’s a week long festival where every year people from Rioja celebrate the harvest.