Clare Tooley

The Climb

Wine buying and wine education sit at the center of Clare Tooley’s work. After studying French and Spanish at the University of Cambridge, Tooley entered the trade at John Armit Wines in London in 1995, bringing language skills into a business that depends on them. That early move placed her in the practical work of selection and exchange, then opened into education, where interpretation became part of the job alongside buying. The range of roles in Tooley’s background has shaped a profile that is broader than a single track. A period as pa to a professional solo violinist in London sits alongside her study and trade work, adding another discipline built on timing, precision, and coordination. For Clare Tooley, those different settings formed a working rhythm that connected commerce, performance, and communication. That combination now defines Tooley’s position in the trade. Clare Tooley is a Master of Wine supervising education for the Boisset organization and its various wineries, while also serving as wine buyer of US national wine clubs. Buying and teaching are the two poles of the work: one focused on selection, the other on explanation, with both requiring judgement about what reaches the drinker and how it is framed.

Today

Geography is part of the brief in Clare Tooley’s work: English, born in Spain, lived in France, now based in California. That background sits behind her current roles, where she supervises education for the Boisset organization and its various wineries and also works as a wine buyer for US national wine clubs. Both jobs depend on reading style, origin, and audience with enough precision to make the bottle legible to the market. Blind tasting is one area where Tooley’s practice is especially visible, including at JCB lounge in St. Helena. The point is not surface cues but comparison, structure, and context. As Clare Tooley puts it, “I’d like to think I see all the way around the bottle by trying to understand the consumer facing the label as well as the winemaker and grape grower filling it.” That is the clearest description of her method: the bottle is not treated as a fixed object, but as the result of several viewpoints meeting. Clare Tooley’s own account keeps the work grounded—wine as a daily part of trade, language, and decision-making.

In Their Words “I answered a job ad in the Guardian that gave little away other than the fact that a small business in Nottinghill, London, was looking for a French speaker with secretarial skills.” “I’m a wine buyer, English but born in Spain, lived in France and now based in California.”

Recognition

Clare's honors include Master of Wine.