John Avery interviewed by Mark Bilbe, An Oral History of the Wine Trade, 2003-04, catalogue reference C1088/06. © British Library Board.

Transcript

Every year the new Masters of Wine get their certificates in Vintners’ Hall, given to them by the Master of the Vintners’ Company of the day.  But his signature is not on their certificates.  The signature on the certificates is the chairman, vice chairman and deputy vice chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine.  But as I say, the Vintners have still kept a sensible relationship between the two, and indeed a very friendly relationship, certainly nowadays, between the two.  And well, we were adding up the other day, there are now twenty Masters of Wine who are also members of the Vintners’ Company.  And they’ve always been very proud of the fact, quite rightly, that certainly of the great twelve livery companies, they win by a street in terms of the number of people who are actually in their trade. 

[ends at 0:00:50]

John Avery (Vintners have kept a sensible relationship with the Masters of Wine)

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