About us
The Cambridge Wine Academy was founded by wine lover and rock musician Steve Hovington, whose interest in wine began whilst touring Spain with his band B-Movie in the 1980s.
‘Our song ‘Nowhere Girl’ was a big hit in Spain in the 80s,’ says Steve. ‘We were proper pop stars, playing sell-out shows and making national TV appearances with bands like INXS. I wasn’t really into wine back then but became fascinated by all things Spanish, and in particular the old-school Rioja wine bottles encased in wire mesh. The wine tasted great too and my interest in wine grew from there.’
Steve continued to make records and tour with the band in Europe and the USA throughout the 80s. ‘I started to develop a taste for wine. We would have dinner after the shows and the wine would get passed around. Wine seemed to slow down the pace and the conversation would flow. It also seemed to help in the songwriting process, though not too much. I’ve gone to bed many times thinking I was the world’s greatest songwriter only to listen back the following morning and realise perhaps I wasn’t so great after all.’
Steve’s interest in wine turned into a passion and then into a career in wine. In the 90s the rock and roll dream began to fade. ‘I got my first record deal when I was 19 and that was pretty much my life for ten years. All good things come to an end though and when I hit my mid-thirties it was time to re-evaluate. I got a part-time job working for a down-at-heel wine shop in Hammersmith. The manager there encouraged me to take the WSET wine qualifications and I won a national scholarship to visit Italian vineyards. I loved every minute of the trip. The wine and hospitality were amazing and I was hooked for life.'
Over the last two decades Steve has worked for leading UK wine merchants such as Oddbins and Cambridge Wine Merchants and holds the WSET Diploma in Wine & Spirits. ‘I passed my Diploma in the year that my son, Ben, was born. I remember sitting on the sofa with him in one arm and an open copy of the Oxford Companion to Wine in the other. It was a full-on period in my life to say the least.'
Steve’s experience of wine is not just limited to sales and education. He is also the author of ‘The Grape Escape: One Man’s journey from Vinyl to Vine’ (available here) which tells the story of how he made his own wine in the south of France in 2007. It was book of the month on the wine-pages.com website and was described by the reviewer as ‘a really enjoyable, feel good read that I can thoroughly recommend’. ‘The book features flashbacks to my life as an 80s pop singer as well as my DIY winemaking adventure. I suppose that in making my own wine, I was trying to recreate some of the excitement I felt making records for the first time. The book opens in the recording studio where I’m listening to the play back of our first major record label release, ‘Remembrance Day’. It was the proudest moment of my life up to that point, and tasting my own wine years later was a great feeling too.’
Steve formed The Cambridge Wine Academy in 2014. It was a natural progression. 'I’d be teaching about wine for a number of years as well as selling wine. I decided that teaching was where my passion was and I wanted to do it full time. I can devote all my energies to doing something I love.’
The Cambridge Wine Academy has gone from strength to strength with more than 1,000 students now trained through the WSET courses with excellent pass rates and many popular and fun wine tasting events showcasing Steve’s engaging style. ‘I suppose it’s my background as a musician and performer coming through. I love standing in front of people and entertaining. I still make music, and over the last few years have toured extensively throughout Europe and further afield. Wherever I go I make a point of checking out the local wine. Wine and music: that’s the perfect combination.’
Through The Cambridge Wine Academy, as principal wine educator, Steve has hosted many popular and informal wine tasting events in Cambridge as well as more serious professional, government-accredited wine courses on behalf of the Wine and Spirits Education Trust. Steve is also a member of the Association of Wine Educators, described by Jancis Robinson MW as ‘some of the most dedicated wine educators in the world.’ 'Wine is a bit like music: loads of it around, so many styles and so much choice. Sometimes it’s hard to know what’s good and what’s not. My role is not to judge your tastes – we’re all individuals with our own preferences after all – but to guide and help you make sense out of this vast choice and hopefully tune your palate into something different or better. It’s like going to see a band. The more you cheer and applaud at the end, the better the gig. Same with wine – the longer your taste buds cheer and applaud the better the wine. My aim is to help everyone gain the maximum amount of pleasure from what’s in their glass. The knowledge and skills to do this are available to everyone. The biggest kick for me is inspiring people to try new and more exciting things.'