Born into one of the longest continuous wine families in the world (father to son continuously since the mid-16th century), it was hardly surprising that Guy went into the wine trade and was invited by Pol Roger in 1976 as its candidate for the Champagne Academy course. This turned out to be a week of superlatives that helped develop his lifelong loyalty to the people, the Houses and of course the wine!

Guy joined BB&R in 1972 and left them in 1989 to restart his family’s old wine business of A. Boursot & Co which he eventually floated on the stock market in 2000. Guy moved to northern France in 2001 where he established the first “decent” wine shop in the Calais region! There, British customers could receive sensible advice and taste wines before purchasing at low French prices. The business had a shop as well as a retail wine warehouse but with the prospect of Brexit has now retrenched to its original shop in the pretty and historic town of Ardres, 15 minutes south of Calais.

He talks about wine and champagne primarily around Britain and France but also across the world, offering audiences an entertaining but informative insight into wine. He also runs vineyard tours in the classic areas around France and nowadays lives just outside Beaune.

Guy was chairman of the Academy in 1995 and hosted his dinner at The Ritz: it was a truly spectacular evening in the best standards of the Champagne Academy.