After many years of enjoying and learning about wine, Douglas Harrison’s wine career began in 1977 when he opened and operated three Wine Bars in the City of London and one in Leicester. Following numerous requests from his customers at that time, he began to sell his wines by the case, so beginning a career in wine wholesaling and, ultimately, in wine shipping.

For the decade between 1986 and 1996 he sourced wines and created relationships with independent family growers in all the classical wine regions of France and Switzerland, when his overriding principal was to ensure true “goût de terroir”, reliability and consistency of quality.

In recent years Douglas has hosted a great variety of wine events ranging from formal dinners in quality hotels, multi course taster menus in restaurants, corporate client entertaining functions and straightforward tastings for local wine societies. He has also been the guest wine speaker on ocean cruises and river cruises. His talks are factual, informative, delivered with a touch of humour, and are always well received by wine imbibers at all levels.

He is a Commandeur of La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin au Chateau du Clos de Vougeot, a Chevalier of L’Ordre de la Channe, Valais, Switzerland, a Chevalier of L’Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne, a Freeman of the City of London and he speaks both French and German.

Historical aspects feature in all talks.

Destination Talks:
Wines of Barcelona ~ Home of Cava & Penedes Wines
Wines of Croatia
Wine of France
Wines of Germany.
Wines of Greece
Wines of Italy
Wines of the South of France
Wines of Switzerland

General Talks:
A History of Wine.
Bursting the Bubble ~ The discovery and evolution of Sparkling Wine
Food and Wine Matching.
From Vine to Wine.
How to Taste Wine.

Specific Talks:
A History of Bordeaux
Discovering Burgundy
The Story of Armagnac
The Story of Calvados
The Story of Cognac
The Story of Madeira
The Story of Port
The Story of Sherry

Last cruise 28th September to 10th October 2022 Barcelona to Venice on Viking Sea

2013 June 22nd - 29th Travelsphere Rhine & Mosel MS Serenade 1
2012 December 4th - 12th Fred Olsen Black Watch Portugal, Gibraltar, Spain
2010 November 18th - 29th Fred Olsen Balmoral Iberia & Morocco

Tastings and talks on all aspects of wine including the history, the making, tasting and enjoyment of wines . I am based in the UK but my knowledge covers all wine making areas of the world. I have given talks and tastings with several cruise lines over the last few years.

The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.