Five minutes with Corkscrew author, Peter Stafford-Bow

Meet Peter Stafford-Bow, the man behind new book Corkscrew and some of the very best wines you may often pick up in your local supermarket. Peter, who is a wine consultant turned author, has worked with some of the biggest supermarkets around the world and has recently penned his debut novel. About what? Wine, of course.

Peter, who teamed up with Birmingham’s award-winning wine merchant Loki Wine at Waterstones in the city centre last night for an exclusive reading and wine tasting session, writes under a nom de plume and his debut satire novel is set to be a success amongst wine enthusiasts and those interested in the wine business.

Corkscrew, which Peter describes as ‘Sideways meeting The Wolf of Wall Street’, follows the story of Felix in 1990’s London. Felix drops out of school, gets cast onto the British high street and is forced to make his way in the world of wine retail. However, he becomes a success at it and his career takes him around the world. However, like any good novel, he is constantly battling with obstacles, work politics and the worst of them all; testing managers.

Although Peter assures that the book is not based on his life, there are some similarities, he said: “If it was an autobiography I would be in prison! However, the book is based in a world that I know a lot about and I have used influences of who I have met in my career.

“The world of wine is full of eccentrics and interesting people. Only a few vague similarities to my early career days, however, the character is a ladies man and cool, and I am not at all!

“There was very little regulation in the 90s to how supermarkets could behave, it is completely different nowadays. Back in the 90s, it was a bit wild west, and loads of stuff has been reigned in since.”

Peter was inspired to write his debut novel after finding himself bored in airports, but writing the book meant he stayed away from the wine for a few months, he said: “I was inspired to write the book after finding myself having loads of spare time on flights and in foreign countries whilst working, so I decided to use that time to write a book and I wrote it over the course of last year.

“As a result of writing, I actually drank less wine. You can’t write when you’re drunk, and I promise my editor was stone cold sober when editing, so the book is not the ramblings of a drunk idiot.”

Peter started in the wine industry as an accident, but it has worked out in his favour, he said: “I was a drop out and didn’t do my A-Levels and I started working in a local off-licence and I got really into wine there and I started going to courses on wine and my career just went from there. Although I was taking a gap year, it turned more into a gap life.”

“When I was younger, you didn’t drink wine unless you were very posh. Years ago, wine was French and that was about it. In the late 80s and 90s, wine started coming in from Spain and Australia and Chile and there became more of a variety and much more accessible. Now, there are so many options and people and genuinely interested in wine now.

“I think it is really important to try the local wine in the area where you are, then you get a real flavour of the area and you can immerse yourself in it.

“However, my favourite wine is Italian. The first wine I ever had was my grandma’s favourite; Croft Original Sherry and the flavour has stayed with me my whole life.”

Peter is currently working on his second novel that will be out by the end of the year.