Tom Cannavan is a Scottish author and a wine journalist. He is considered a pioneer presence on internet of the British wine writing establishment.[1]

Biography

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In his youth, Tom had a foretaste of fame as lead vocalist and guitarist in the budding band Restricted Code.[2] He co-wrote (in partnership with his schoolmate Frank Quadrelli) all the songs for this relatively successful band, drawing on influences from punk, new wave, funk and soul. A promising early career was marked by recording, touring with The Human League in UK and Europe, leading to some John Peel sessions.[3] Paul Morley in NME picked them as “band most likely to…” in 1980, and they were noted as the “best gig of 1980” in Sounds. Restricted Code reformed in 2018.[4]

Career

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Cannavan has run the website wine-pages.com since November 1995, widely considered one of the best sites on wine,[5][6] which received a recommendation by Robert Parker in his book The Wine Buyer's Guide.[7]

Cannavan has published the book The Good Web Guide to Wine (2000)[5][8] and is a contributor to the annual publications Which? Wine Guide and The Wine Report. He has also contributed to publications such as The Sunday Times, The Independent, The World of Fine Wine, Decanter and GrapesTALK.

In September 2008, Cannavan won International Online Writer of the Year at the Louis Roederer awards for his website. Upon accepting the award Cannavan joked, "I deserve it, I work bloody hard".[9] In 2016 Cannavan launched The Festival of Wine[10] with consumer wine tasting festivals in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. In 2018 Cannavan was appointed IWSC Wine Communicator of the Year.

Cannavan has previously appeared on STV's The Hour programme as their resident wine expert, between 2009 and 2011, when the show came to an end. He is also the 'resident wine expert' on the BBC Radio Scotland show Macaulay & Co, hosted by Fred MacAulay.

Awards

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  • 2008: Louis Roederer International Online Wine Writer of the Year
  • 2010: Wine Journalist of the Year, Portuguese Wine Awards
  • 2018: International Wine Communicator of the Year

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Robinson, Jancis, jancisrobinson.com (31 December 2002). "The world of (wine) work".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Restricted Code music, videos, stats, and photos". 31 January 2023.
  3. ^ "BBC - Radio 1 - Keeping It Peel - 10/03/1981 Restricted Code".
  4. ^ "ONE NATION / RUN TO ME -". restrictedcode.com. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  5. ^ a b Atkin, Tim, The Observer (22 October 2000). "Sites for sore heads". The Guardian. London.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Muir, Jenni (26 June 2005). "Web shopper: Taste of the summer vine". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011.
  7. ^ Ehrlich, Richard, The Independent (3 November 2002). "My Round: What's a knowledge-thirsty wine obsessive to do between bottles? Slowly savour these corking websites". London.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Ehrlich, Richard, The Independent (17 September 2000). "The Drinker: Wine web guide". London.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Lechmere, Adam & Woodward, Guy, Decanter.com (9 September 2008). "Decanter writers win Champagne Roederer Awards".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Festival of Wine". Wine Tasting. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
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