Good Wine Tours is owned by Sandy Leckie, Malcolm Franks and Vivienne Franks. Collectively they have several decades of experience in the wine trade and have organised and managed wine trips to many of the world’s finest wine regions.

Sandy’s early career was as a training and development manager in a multi-national corporation. In 1994, feeling the need for a change of direction, he harnessed a life-long passion for wine to launch a second career in wine education.

The wine school, which Sandy now manages with Malcolm Franks is one of the largest of its kind in the country. Trading as the Wine Education Service Limited, it runs a wide range of courses and events for wine and spirit lovers.

Courses are designed to suit all levels of knowledge and are delivered in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. There are several venues in London and regional centers in Aberdeen, and Belfast, amongst others. Sandy also tutors wine and whisky tasting for private clients and wine clubs with Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy and Scottish Malt Whisky are some of his specialties.

He is an experienced wine tour guide. He is also a judge at the International Wine Challenge. Sandy is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers and Association of Wine Educators. He is also accredited as an international wine educator by the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux and the Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne.

Malcolm’s original background was in Chemistry and following an early switch into Technical then General Management he climbed to the role of a UK Board Member for a large Swiss Multinational Corporation. Here his role encompassed business development, Mergers and Acquisitions and eventually he became Company Secretary for the UK Group.

With strong analytical and accounting skills the Company enjoyed a period of strong growth but as time progressed it became clear that a further challenge was required that did not involve working for others in such a global environment. Malcolm’s wife, Vivienne Franks, had by then been working with Sandy Leckie who owned the Wine Education Service, one of the largest providers of wine courses, tastings and events.

Malcolm had a long standing enthusiasm for wine and it was a natural progression to join forces with Sandy Leckie to strengthen the management of the Wine Education Service where his previous wide commercial experience has been put to great use to expand the offering.

Vivienne has an MA in French and German. Her background in food buying for a major retailer, led her to develop an interest in wine. This interest grew into what has now become her passion.

She has an enthusiastic approach to organising informative tastings for wine clubs, restaurants and hotels as well as running informal events for private and corporate clients.

Vivienne has travelled extensively throughout the world’s wine regions, recent trips include North and South America, Italy and France.

Vivienne is a CIVB International Bordeaux Wine Educator, and last year became a member of the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin at the Clos de Vougeot in Burgundy. Vivienne regularly judges for The International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) and The International Wine Challenge (IWC Vivienne is a WSET Certified Educator and an Approved Programme Provider for the Wine and Spirit Education Trust. She works with restaurant staff and private clients to help them achieve trade qualifications.

She develops and teaches courses for consumers and runs tastings for The Wine Education Service and for Leiths School of Food and Wine.