David Motion

David Motion is famed for the incredible range of German wines available through his shop The Winery in Maida Vale. His support for emerging wine producers is unparalleled and David never misses an opportunity to get people tasting German Rieslings through weekly wine tastings in store or sharing his expertise in various formats across the UK media.

Born in 1959, David grew up in Lincolnshire his English father and German mother.

David played piano from an early age and dropped out of the Royal Academy of Music after 2 years with plans to become a pop star. He became a recording engineer and quickly moved into the role of record producer working with many artists of the day and had some hits in the mid-1980s with Strawberry Switchblade, Red Box and, in Europe, with Carmel.

Following this, David moved into music writing and composition. He wrote the soundtrack for the movie "Orlando" in 1992, music for TV and many commercials, accumulating enough to pursue his parallel, and increasingly overwhelming, interest in wine.

David was introduced to wine at an early age through family holidays passing through the Rhineland, the Mosel and, as a teenager, Baden.

David’s interest in Australian and Californian wine developed after college. Shortly after, whilst working in studios, he became more interested in French wine and in particular Burgundy.

 

David bought The Winery in Maida Vale in 1996 and was quick to realise that by travelling and sourcing wines directly from small growers himself, the company could avoid buying from agents within the UK.

At this time, German wine was undervalued and at best, consigned to a few dusty bottles tucked in a corner but nevertheless David set off for Germany and arrived back with vanloads of dry German Riesling. Fortunately his customers did buy them - particularly the dry ones. So he bought more. And more.

German wine now represents a third of The Winery’s range and a third of their sales. 70% of the German range is Riesling, almost entirely trocken. The remaining 30% is Spätburgunder. The Winery currently works with 40 growers and is proud of its ever-evolving range and how it has managed to convert customers.

David was at the centre of a small storm in The Guardian and on BBC and Sky News a couple of years ago suggesting that wine tastes different according to the lunar calendar. He recently wrote a piece for Noble Rot magazine about the "Dark Art of Food and Wine Matching".
David enjoys travelling extensively and usually takes different colleagues with him on each buying trip.
Although most of his time is spent on The Winery, he continues to write, record and release music, albeit sporadically.