Ben Chatfield, our Creative Director, recently carried out a series of interviews with different folk at Jeroboams. Next up is our captain!

Name: Hugh Sturges

Job Title: Chief Executive of Jeroboams

In a sentence, what do you do?

I am responsible for setting the Company’s objectives over the medium to longer term and structuring and investing in the shorter term so as to achieve those growth based objectives.

You’re not allowed to say “no two days are the same”, as that is obvious, but give us a flavour of a good day?

A good day starts with a cheery good morning from the staff in the office, a good cup of coffee and a positive set of numbers showing for the previous day. This will be followed by a quick catch up with the Departmental heads, a progress report on the week’s key activities then emails, lunch, possibly with a customer, colleague, supplier or often just a sandwich at my desk. In the afternoons I like to get out to our shops, chat with our great staff and possibly have a sneaky look at what the competition are up to.

What’s great about it?

Being a smallish company I get my hands dirty and am involved in all aspects of the business. Working with our people and encouraging them to use their creativity and character to try different things, then seeing the results go in the right direction.

What’s the tricky bit?

Other than my commute, which is dreadful, the trickiest bit at the moment is making sure that everyone focuses on the attributes that really make Jeroboams “London’s local wine merchant”. A smile, a great bottle of wine and superb customer service are more powerful than the worries about Brexit, currency and the price of 5th growth claret.

Your best ever glass of wine?

It is a good job that I run the business rather than choose the wine as I have a very average palate. Having said that the wine that stands out for me is 2005 Batailley, still drinking perfectly.

(b) Your most memorable?

I was once lucky enough to drink Petrus in the Moueix family home in Libourne; I can’t remember the vintages but does it really matter?

What’s your favourite place in London? 

It’s hard to pick one place in such a staggeringly varied city but I will go for the river and in particular, the Tate Modern end of the Millennium Bridge looking over ‘Father Thames’ to St Paul’s Cathedral.

If you’d like to know more about Jeroboams , careers at Jeroboams or careers in wine in general then please contact careers@jeroboams.co.uk. At Jeroboams we are always keen to shed some light on the industry, either to help out if you fancy your own new career, or career change, or just to pass the time for any oenophiles out there!