Julian Brind

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Julian Brind MW (5 November 1942 – 19 December 2010) was a British Master of Wine and the director of buying wines, beers, spirits, and soft drinks for the Waitrose supermarket chain. He played a key role in transforming the British wine trade from the 1970s onward.

Brind was born in Scotland and went to Strathallan School in Perthshire. After school he joined Brown & Pank, part of Watney Mann Breweries, as a management trainee. He began buying wine under Don Lovell MW, who put him forward for the Vintners' Scholarship, which Brind won in 1967. He also won the Bourse de Voyage that year. He passed the Master of Wine exam in 1970 and joined Waitrose to lead the wine buying team in 1971.

In the early 1970s, British wine buyers relied on traditional merchants selling Old World wines. Brind saw an opportunity to bring wines from around the world to supermarkets. In 1973 he became the first buyer to introduce New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc to Britain. He also supported wines from southern France and helped start the move toward New World wines and the supermarket model.

Brind built a strong team at Waitrose. By the early 1990s he had five wine buyers, all Masters of Wine, each an expert in their area. He emphasized wines from individual producers and limited the use of big-brand and own-label wines. Under his leadership, Waitrose gained a reputation for interesting wines not found in other supermarkets, and both the retailer and Brind won many awards.

He held leadership roles in the wine trade, including chairing the Masters of Wine Panel of Examiners, and serving as chair of the Institute of Masters of Wine in 1993. He was ombudsman to the Circle of Wine Writers in 2001, president of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association in 2002, and chair of the Trustees of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust in 2003.

After his death, scholarships and awards were created to honour his work: in 2011 the Julian Brind Memorial Scholarship at WSET and the Julian Brind Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement at IWSC, with the first trophy awarded to Julian Brind himself.