Alan Rickford lives in London with his family, but has a summer house in Kent. As a child, he would always accompany his parents during the Summer when they went to pick up a new bottle of wine. Instead of going to the wine shop, his parents always visited a winery. With its lush vine-covered hills and rolling countryside, the winery felt like something out of a storybook. While his parents chatted with the winemaker and carefully selected bottles for their collection, Alan would wander between the rows of vines, plucking grapes when he thought no one was looking. The scent of ripe fruit and fresh earth became part of his summer memories, mingling with the laughter of long lunches on the terrace and the clinking of glasses in the golden evening light.
The owners of the winery became close friends of the family and their children befriended him. “My first job was with the winery. During harvest season my friends and I would run across the fields cutting off as many grapes from vines as possible. It wasn’t exactly high-level vineyard work—more like a race to see who could fill their basket the fastest, with the occasional grape fight breaking out when no adults were watching. At the end of the day, our hands would be sticky with juice, our clothes stained purple, and our pockets suspiciously full of the sweetest grapes we ‘accidentally’ sampled along the way.” Of course, back then, Alan didn’t think much about the wine itself. He didn’t analyze the acidity or ponder the complexities of terroir. Wine was just something the adults cared about—something that required patience, conversation, and a level of seriousness that didn’t interest him at the time. But looking back, he realized those carefree summers among the vines had shaped his appreciation for it in a way no textbook or tasting class ever could. 30 years later, the owners of the winery have passed and left the winery to their children, his friends. The sisters, Charlotte and Sienna decided to run the wine business together. “Things were moving swimmingly for a while. We hired a new winemaker, invested in new equipment to modernize production, and even expanded our vineyard to plant new grape varieties. For a while, it felt like we were on the brink of something exciting—taking our family’s winery into a new era while still honoring the traditions that made it special.” But, as Charlotte put it, “Wine, much like life, doesn’t always ferment the way you expect.”
Their ambitious plans soon ran into obstacles. The state-of-the-art equipment they had invested in turned out to be more complicated than expected, requiring expensive maintenance. A particularly unpredictable harvest meant lower yields than projected. And while their new winemaker had impressive credentials, he also had strong opinions—ones that didn’t always align with the sisters’ vision for the winery. “Sienna and I had this romantic idea that running a winery would be all long lunches and swirling glasses in the sun,” Charlotte admitted. “Turns out, there’s a lot more spreadsheets and weather watching than we anticipated.” Still, despite the challenges, the sisters remained determined. After all, their family had been making wine for generations, and if there was one thing they knew for sure—it always takes time for the best vintages to truly shine. Then, tragedy hit in early 2021. “Sienna found a lump in her breast.
Then, tragedy hit in early 2021. “Sienna found a lump in her breast.” At first, they told themselves it was nothing—just one of those things that turn out to be benign, a minor scare. But as the tests came back and the doctors spoke in careful, measured tones, reality set in. It was cancer. “Everything stopped,” Charlotte recalled. “One minute, we were talking about harvest schedules and new wine labels, and the next, none of that mattered. The business, the plans, the stress of running a winery—it all faded into the background.” Sienna, ever the optimist, insisted on keeping things as normal as possible. She was determined to continue working at the winery between treatments, refusing to let illness dictate her life. “I remember her saying, ‘If I have to slow down, fine—but I’m not stopping. This vineyard is our family, and I’m not going anywhere.’” The vineyard, once a place of carefree childhood summers and ambitious business plans, became a sanctuary. Long walks through the vines gave Sienna moments of peace.
The winery team rallied around the sisters, ensuring the business kept running even on the hardest days. But some battles, no matter how fiercely fought, cannot be won. In late 2022, Sienna passed away, surrounded by family, in the place she loved most. “Losing her was like losing a part of myself,” Charlotte said. “We had built this dream together, and suddenly, I had to carry it alone.” Yet, just as the vineyard had weathered harsh seasons before, so did Charlotte. In the months that followed, she poured herself into the winery—not just to keep it going, but to honor Sienna’s memory. “Wine is about patience. It’s about resilience. It’s about waiting through the hard seasons because you know, in time, something good will come,” she reflected. “Sienna believed that. And as long as this vineyard stands, so does she.” The family rallied around Charlotte and her brothers stepped in to help as much as possible. But they knew nothing and soon they found that the vineyard was bleeding money. That’s when they approached Alan and asked to borrow money to save the winery they all grew up in before the bank could take it over.
The family rallied around Charlotte, and her brothers stepped in to help as much as they could. But the truth was, they knew nothing about running a business, much less a winery—at least, not the way Sienna had. The long hours, the unpredictable harvests, the delicate balancing act between tradition and modern business—it was more than they had anticipated. And soon, they discovered a harsh reality: the vineyard was bleeding money. The debts piled up, and with each passing month, the pressure mounted. The winery that had been in their family for generations—the place where they had spent their childhood summers, where Sienna had poured her heart and soul—was at risk of being taken by the bank.
That’s when they approached Alan. “I could see it in their faces before they even asked,” he recalled. “They needed help. They needed money. And honestly? I didn’t even have to think about it.” Alan had built a successful career working in publishing and running his own bookstore in London, far removed from the winery of his youth, but he never forgot the summers spent running through the vines, the joy of the harvest, the warmth of Sienna’s friendship. He knew that without intervention, the place that had meant so much to all of them would be lost. So he agreed. Not as a loan, but as an investment. But there was one glaring problem: Alan knew nothing about wine. Sure, he enjoyed drinking it, but running a winery? That was an entirely different challenge. He didn’t know the first thing about vineyard management, fermentation, or the delicate art of blending. “I could barely tell a Merlot from a Malbec, and suddenly I was supposed to help run a vineyard? It was absurd.” Determined not to let his lack of knowledge sink the business further, Alan enrolled in wine courses, he sat through lectures about viticulture, practiced blind tastings, and spent hours poring over textbooks filled with words like “terroir,” “malolactic fermentation,” and “botrytis.” “I thought learning about wine would be fun—like an extended tasting session. Turns out, it’s like learning a whole new language, except half of it is in French.” In between courses, he shadowed vineyard workers, learned how to prune vines, and even tried his hand at blending under the watchful eye of their winemaker. He made mistakes—plenty of them. He overestimated how much equipment they needed, he botched early attempts at marketing, and he once confidently described a wine as “full-bodied” when it was, in fact, the lightest on the tasting flight. But slowly, he started to understand. Running a winery wasn’t just about knowing wine—it was about managing people, understanding seasons, making tough financial decisions, and trusting the land.
He wasn’t a natural-born winemaker, but he was learning how to be a caretaker of something bigger than himself. And as the vineyard steadied, as the debts stopped piling up and the first promising harvest under their leadership approached, Alan realized something else: he wasn’t just saving a winery. He was rediscovering a part of himself—one that had been left behind in the summers of his childhood. When the first bottles of the new vintage were ready, he raised a glass with Charlotte, her brothers, and the winery team. They drank not just to their success, but to Sienna, whose passion had brought them all back to the place where it had all started. “She would have laughed at me,” Alan admitted. “Me, of all people, running a winery? But I think she would have been proud too.”
Instead of writing a book about Sienna or a single winemaker, he realized something bigger—something transformative. The only way to truly capture the history, struggles, and triumphs of these wineries wasn’t through a single story. It required an entire movement. He needed more than just his own words. He needed an army—writers, editors, producers, and creators—who could bring these untold stories to life. So, he did something bold—something no one in his family expected. He started a media company. Not just a blog. Not just a magazine. A full-fledged storytelling platform dedicated to the world of wine and the people behind it. “We have glossy magazines that rate wines, scoring bottles out of 100. But where were the stories of the people who made them? Where were the voices of small winemakers, the family-run vineyards, the people betting everything on one great harvest?”
So, he built it. He assembled a team of passionate writers to unearth the forgotten histories of vineyards and tell the deeply personal stories of the families who have dedicated their lives to winemaking. He worked with producers and videographers, learning how to craft documentaries and short films that would go beyond the winemaking process—revealing the human spirit, the sacrifice, and the relentless pursuit of something extraordinary. Their stories are now being told across multiple platforms—a beautifully crafted print magazine distributed at wineries and vineyards worldwide, an immersive website, a podcast, social media, and a YouTube channel. And this is just the beginning. Plans are already in motion to launch a subscription-based streaming network—a first-of-its-kind platform dedicated entirely to the world of wine. A place where winemakers, sommeliers, and storytellers come together to share their journeys, their craft, and the love behind every bottle. This isn’t just content. It’s a global stage for the untold stories of wine.
For the first time, winemakers who have toiled in obscurity—whose stories have never been told, whose names have never been printed in glossy magazines—will finally step into the spotlight.
These artisans, who have dedicated their lives to perfecting their craft, will no longer be hidden behind labels and tasting notes. Instead, their voices will be heard, their journeys shared, and their passion recognized by a global audience. Vineyard and winery owners who have spent years fighting for visibility in an industry dominated by big names and high scores will now have a platform where their stories matter. Through in-depth features, interviews, and immersive storytelling, they will be seen and celebrated in a way they never imagined. No longer will their hard work go unnoticed; their dedication, their struggles, and their triumphs will be front and center, capturing the attention of wine lovers who crave authenticity. As their stories unfold, new customers will discover them—not just as winemakers, but as people with histories, dreams, and unwavering devotion to their craft. Wine enthusiasts will forge deeper connections with the faces behind the bottles, knowing the passion, sacrifice, and artistry that went into each sip. And in this newfound recognition, these winemakers and vineyard owners will gain not only exposure but a loyal community of supporters who appreciate their work in a way that transcends scores, reviews, and trends. This isn’t just about recognition. It’s about changing the way the world experiences wine—one untold story at a time. Alan, who once set out to save just one winery, is now building something that will help thousands. And in the end, this is the best way he could honor Sienna’s legacy. Not just by telling her story—but by telling all of theirs.
This is Wine Savvy. Our Premiere Edition launches this spring, with 100,000 copies distributed in wineries, vineyards, tasting rooms, wine clubs, and bookstores worldwide.