Farthinghoe History

Farthinghoe Fine Wine and Food was the brainchild of Simon and Nicola Cox. After Nicola won the Sunday Times Cook of Britain award and Simon decided he wanted to pursue a career in the wine trade, having had a successful career in the British Army for 16 years prior, they established the business with their respective skills in 1975 in the small Northamptonshire village of Farthinghoe.

In 1983, Simon made his first trip to Hong Kong which took the business in a new direction by starting to look after private clients working overseas who wanted to build a cellar with fine European wine.

Simon achieved the highly prestigious title of Master of Wine in 1996 whilst taking the business to new strengths.
In 1988 Simon broadened Asia’s market by establishing a reputation for himself in Singapore. And then in 1991, Nicola retired from the business and Farthinghoe Fine Wine was born.

Alex joined the family business in 1997 to follow in his father’s footsteps. Alex trained in estates in South Africa and Bordeaux, prior to achieving his Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) diploma in wine in 2000.

Simon and Alex had a fruitful working relationship for 15 years, until Simon sadly passed away in 2013.

Alex was joined in the business by Julian Chamberlen in 2015, bringing 30 years of experience in the UK wine trade, and together they relocated their offices to larger premises in the Oxfordshire village of King’s Sutton. 

Nicola remains a director of the family business.