Our wine buyers

Our brilliant buyers

Meet the superstar buying team behind our extensive range of globally sourced wines.

Every bottle from us that’s brought you joy is thanks to this team. They curate exceptional wines and spirits from the world’s most exciting producers and regions, taste test until they’re red in the teeth, create new exclusive blends and win us illustrious industry awards.

How we curate our wine range

Building a vast collection of quality drops is a continuous process for us, and it’s all inspired by you. We love to see what you’re swirling and sipping at home so that our buyers can use this insight to keep bringing you wines you’ll enjoy.

Not only do we work hard to create our own bespoke wines for you, we also secure famous bottles that wine lovers are raving about, including big Champagne houses such as Bollinger and Laurent-Perrier, plus much-loved labels like Whispering Angel and Cloudy Bay.

Meet the team

Sophie Lord, Buying Director

Sophie is our Head of Buying and is the brains behind some of our best-loved wines, including De Martino, Familia Zuccardi, Henners and Perez Cruz. She’s also the buyer who brings the bubbly and is a member of the highly prestigious Champagne Academy.

What a journey Sophie has been on. We’ve had the pleasure of seeing her blossom from her customer services role fresh from university to becoming one of our top wine advisors and inhouse wine educator, before joining our buying team in 2019.

Most recently, Sophie has completed her WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines & Spirits and was named Wine Buyer of the Year at the Decanter Retailer Awards 2023.

Dave Roberts, Senior Buyer

Dave is the man who knows our range inside out, specialising in spirits as well as wine. He’s brought us some of our hero wines such as 5OS and Billy Bosch, and single handedly built our collection of over 100 craft spirits, many of which he had a hand in making himself.

Having worked in the industry for over 25 years, Dave has travelled the world and truly honed his craft of spotting top quality juice. So much so, in fact, that he’s often asked to judge on the Wine Paris Awards panel.

With his highly attuned palate, attention to detail and love of delicious drinks, Dave has sourced and created some of our tastiest drops over the years.

Alex Davies, Head of Product

Alex has been an integral part of our buying team for a long time now and has a WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines & Spirits. In charge of sourcing wines from popular parts of Europe, Alex brings us prestigious producers from renowned regions such as Finca Manzanos from Rioja, Schola Sarmenti from Puglia and the finest Riesling from the Mosel Valley.

With Portugal and Spain in his remit, Alex is also the buyer who provides the port and sherry, keeping our range of fortified wines nicely topped up.

He’s often getting stuck into a project, too, meeting with winemakers and going off the beaten track to work on new exclusive products for our customers to enjoy. He’s certainly putting his winemaking qualification to good use!

Issy Wardlow, Junior Buyer

As the newest member of our team, Issy is our rising star. Quickly impressing everyone around her with a drive and natural flair for sourcing wine, this budding buyer has already got her own portfolio of regions and categories to call her own, including Greece, Cahors and low alcohol wines.

Issy picked up a real passion for all things wine while working at a vineyard, which inspired her to pursue a career at Virgin Wines. Always studying and learning on the job, Issy continues to work her way through her Wine & Spirit Education Trust qualifications as she builds a name for herself in the industry.

As the future face of buying at Virgin Wines, Issy is certainly one to watch.