WHO WE ARE

Wine Time Events was set up by Diana Lyalle, a wine and spirits lover and lawyer based in Wraxall, North Somerset.

As of December 2019, Diana is Wine Specialist at Harvey Nichols Bristol Foodmarket & Wineshop.

Diana is also a WSET (Wine & Spirits Education Trust) Level 1 and 2 tutor via The Wine Shop in Winscombe, and she hosts tastings for a national tastings events company.

Diana holds the WSET Level 4 Award (Diploma) in wines and spirits.  She received the John Avery Award from the West of England Wine & Spirits Association as “Top Student for the WSET Level 4 exam 2017”, and was also awarded The Worshipful Company of Distillers’ Diploma Prize, awarded to a student “who achieved outstanding results in the Unit 4 spirits of the world exam”.  This enabled her to study a spirit producing region in greater depth, resulting in a fabulous and insightful week in Armagnac in November 2019, hosted by Amanda Garnham and the team from BNIA.

Diana recently became Secretary of the Bristol Tasting Circle, and sits on the committee of the West of England Wine & Spirits Association.

Diana is also a Distinguished Member of the Wine Century Club.  She has therefore proved that she has tasted wines made from at least 100 different grape varieties (current tally around 170….).

Where possible, Diana raises funds for charitable causes through her events.  Examples include a wine and cheese tasting for Rotary Club International raised £344 for Shelterbox, a wine and cocktail tasting and quiz for Go Orange Day raised over £400 for Luke’s Army/MDUK, an Ince Metcalfes/Old Square Chambers wine and cheese tasting at The Clifton Club raising funds for Cerebral Palsy Plus, and an ARAG/PIC/Affiniti Finance/Old Square Chambers in London raising funds for Headway.

Diana spends any spare time out and about with Arthur the family black labrador (seen below salivating over some cheese), being bemused by her daughter’s maths homework, waging war on garden pests, and going the extra mile on “product development” (ably assisted by Arthur, of course).

Testimonial from Mr M: “Wow, what a day, what a performance by the lovely Diana – what expertise – what a professional lady – what knowledge she possesses.  She will go far with her enthusiasm and positive attitude.”