SARAH ABBOTT (Our Founder)
Sarah studied Classical Italian and Greek Literature at University and took a Post Graduate Diploma in Enterprise at Durham Business School before joining the wine trade in 1996. She has worked in the wine trade ever since, in roles including buying, business development, marketing, and commercial strategy. Her specialist areas are Bordeaux, Burgundy, Barolo, and Emerging Wines. Her initial wine experiences and training were in the wine classics, but she has a great appreciation for the new frontiers of wine.
She is Co-Chair (one of 5 head judges) of the International Wine Challenge, the world’s largest wine competition, as well as judging competitions globally, from London to Tbilisi to Melbourne. She is a finalist in the ‘Roederers’, the global competition for wine writing and communication, for her columns for timatkin.com and co-author of the Burgundy section of ‘The Wine Opus’, an award-winning wine guide published by Dorling Kindersley in 2010.
After 10 years working for wine importers, Sarah founded her business, Swirl, in 2006. Swirl delivers corporate events, private client consultancy, and marketing strategy and activation for wine producers and trade bodies from France, Italy, Turkey, Georgia and Portugal. Most recently, she has partnered with trusted associates around the world to offer integrated global solutions for wine marketing and distribution strategy.
When she’s not giving technical masterclasses or judging international wine competitions, Sarah is usually found dancing in the kitchen, playing with the dog, cooking food, and going for small and painful jogs to balance her love of wine!
NIKI SHEFRAS
Niki is an integral part of Swirl Wine Group’s team from both a commercial and operational standpoint. She supports the company’s strategic business development, and as well as project managing our diverse wine industry portfolio of clients uses her marketing & business development drive and expertise to expand their brand visibility.
Quad lingual; (English, Spanish, Portuguese & French), with a solid business background within the events and hospitality industry, Niki has a talent for connecting people, platforms and brands to create tangible value for all. She enjoys corporate relationship management and has a proven capability for forging robust and commercial strategic partnerships and maintaining strong client relationships.
As well as co-founder of Tabl.com, Niki works with various charities and sits on a number of future thinking business committees.
A lover of quick wit, horses and nature; outside of the office if she is not whipping up a healthy treat in the kitchen, paired with a great bottle (it’s all about balance!), you will generally find she’s swapped her heels for a pair of wellies and is lost in the middle of the South Downs somewhere!
ELLIE VOCI
Ellie has spent the last 5 years involved in various marketing and design roles. In 2014, Ellie relocated to London to earn her Masters in Marketing at Regent’s University. Since graduating, she has gained significant experience in PR & Event planning, CRM management, and Digital Marketing. Ellie has worked for some renowned brands from the world of beauty and fashion including; Charlotte Tilbury and The Business of Fashion. Ellie now works as a consultant with various clients throughout London with their photography and web branding needs.
When Ellie’s not designing websites and taking photographs, you can mainly find her on the tennis court fuelling her passion for the sport, or in front of the easel have taken up weekly life drawing classes to keep the creative juices flowing!
Our Partners
Madeleine Waters
Madeleine is a senior PR practitioner with over 25 years’ experience of drinks PR and marketing and extensive experience of running generic campaigns as well as working with brands. Madeleine runs her own PR consultancy, specialising in food and drink and covering media and trade relations campaigns, press and trade trips, event management and social media marketing.
Recent brand work includes campaigns for Champagne Deutz, Lebanese winery Domaine des Tourelles and Pinkster Gin. Her experience of marketing regions and countries includes the creation of the award-winning first ever generic campaign for the wines of Lebanon, running the UK office of the Napa Valley Vintners for ten years, event management for the first generic trade and press tasting for Wines of Turkey, and media relations and delivery of an extensive on trade training programme throughout the UK over two years for the West Indies Rum Spirits Producers’ Association (the Authentic Caribbean Rum campaign).
She has an in-depth understanding of the wine industry and how it works with an excellent contact book of both on and off trade buyers and all the journalists you need to know.
When Mads is not busy promoting our fantastic clients, you will most likely find her in the kitchen – (surprisingly she loves all things food & drink related!) and spends the rest of her free time trying to counter that by running, boot camp and yoga, and walking her chocolate Labrador, Pippa, in the beautiful Somerset countryside!
Miles Willis
Miles is a freelance photographer working in the food and drink industry, with over 15 years working in the photographic industry. Miles’ work focuses on strong visual storytelling and he excels at bringing to life the love and dedication shown by those who work in and around food and drink. Miles has a particular interest for the environment, sustainability, moral and ethical issues surrounding the food we eat. His work is natural and unobtrusive.
Miles shoots for a wide range of commercial brands including Heineken, Southern Comfort, Moet & Chandon, Orangina and Campari and shoots for prestigious industry editorial magazines such as Imbibe, Square Meal and Distilled Magazine working both in his home city of London and around the world.
When Miles isn’t behind the camera he enjoys learning new skills in the kitchen, most recently sourdough, which has led to a weekly baking habit. He loves outdoor cooking and is a huge BBQ and smoker fanatic where he cooks and pairs with homemade cocktails throughout the year. Other than that, just looking after his two kids!