Ed Gardner
Founding Partner
Specialism – Strategic planning & implementation, Business Development and Retail
Ed began his career in sales and marketing at Charles Wells Brewery in Bedford and spent the next ten years developing brands within the on-trade, before moving into retail at the renowned Corney & Barrow Group.
During fifteen years as an Executive Director, Ed led teams across Corney & Barrow Bars, national on-trade sales, international supply chain and commercial buying. He was instrumental in growing not only UK-wide sales teams but also launching English wine brands like West Sussex’s Wiston Estate.
After leading the successful sale of Corney & Barrow Bars in 2016 he founded a joint venture with Enterprise Inns, the UK’s biggest pub group together with Balfour Hush Heath Wine Estate to form a 'Pub with Rooms’ business. As Commercial Director of Balfour Hush Heath he worked with the owners on a significant fundraise to double the winery’s capacity and create a state-of-the-art visitor centre, alongside a brand repositioning and development of new nationwide sales channels.
In 2019 Ed exited his other interests and set up Bacchants Consulting, initially to support big pub companies maximise wine sales, particularly English wines, through their pub estates. However with the surging interest in domestically produced wines and the UK leaving the EU, the consultancy now largely focuses its efforts in the English Wine sector.
Matching a passion for wine and hospitality with unparalleled commercial insight and experience, he also took the opportunity to get some hands on experience in the vineyards while at Hush Heath, and more recently in the winery at Ridgeview for the 2020 vintage. Ed is also an Enterprise Mentor for the Prince’s Trust, supporting young disadvantaged entrepreneurs in the Sussex area to set up their own startup businesses.
In 2017/18 Ed completed the Principles of Viticulture & Vinification course at Plumpton and also holds the WSET Diploma.
Alex Taylor
Creative Marketing Lead
Specialism – Marcomms, Content, Brand and PR
Alex is a highly creative award winning marketer with strong entrepreneurial leanings and an obsession with the power and potential of communication, community, and the English language.
Well known in the English wine marketing space as the man behind The IEWA indie English wine competition, he is a freelance marketing consultant with an active portfolio, who uses 20 years of cross-sector experience in wine marketing and PR, law, and insurance, to craft high quality multi-platform strategies and communications to help client businesses succeed in their goals.
Based in Bristol, his professional profile as a high functioning and agile contemporary marketer is constructed around quality creative content, comms innovation, strategic awareness, a keen focus on brand and tone, adept stakeholder management, and a near evangelical belief in social media.
With a law degree from the University of Liverpool, and an early career background in law and audit, Alex’s attention to detail, work ethic, and professionalism are all highly evolved - but he headed in the direction of marketing and professional communication in pursuit of more creative pastures. Early highly regulated marketing assignments in the financial services sector proved an interesting and formative marcomms test, and awards followed, but his interest lay in food and drink communication.
The past ten years have been dominated by Alex’s work as the founding Director and driving force behind two companies providing very different marketing services: ‘The IEWA’ (Independent English Wine Awards) wine competition, and micro-agency ‘Taste Bristol’, whose handful of carefully chosen marketing clients exist within the wine and craft beer, and on-trade training space, and include several English wine producers from the south west and south east.
Alex holds WSET levels up to Level 4, and 4/6 of the Diploma, which is on permanent hold due largely to repeatedly moving house, having children, and taking on new clients.