FOUNDER

It was a double magnum of Krug 1979 served at an event that first piqued Emma Rice’s interest in wine during her college years. From there, she took a job at Oddbins before moving onto Burgundy importer and wine merchant, Domaine Direct. This led to her becoming editor of the highly regarded Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book for three years.

At the age of 29, already with substantial wine knowledge and experience under her belt, and having completed the WSET Diploma in 2003, Emma decided to study viticulture and oenology at Plumpton College. Throughout her studies she continued to work as a freelance wine editor as well as in the vineyard at Nyetimber and various independent wine shops in Brighton.

After graduating in 2006, Emma travelled to Napa Valley in California for the harvest, where she stayed for nearly two years as oenologist and laboratory manager at Cuvaison Estate Wines. Following this, she completed a cool climate vintage at Tamar Ridge in Tasmania, before moving back to the UK and setting up Custom Crush UK, through which she met Owner and Chairman of Hattingley Valley Wines, Simon Robinson.

For the next 14 years, Emma held the Head Winemaker position and Director of Hattingley Valley Wines, while overseeing all of Custom Crush’s operations. During this time, she won the UK Winemaker of the Year Award twice.

Currently, she runs her own Consultancy business, is a Board Member of Wines of Great Britain and, as a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Vintners, she also sits on their Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Committee .

LAB MANAGER

Born and raised in Portugal, Cláudia first became interested in wine after attending a Winemaking lecture at University, while studying Biotechnology. But it wasn’t until she finished her first harvest at Herdade to Sobroso, that she knew wine was going to be her career.

She decided to advance her studies with a Master’s degree in Viticulture and Oenology from the University of Évora, while spending her summers at CARMIM gaining hands-on experience in both laboratory and winery.

After graduating in 2014, Claudia went to the Sonoma Valley (California) for harvest where she ended up staying for a whole year working as Cellarhand for Schug Carneros State Winery.

She moved to the UK in 2015 to join Emma Rice at Custom Crush as Lab Technician, and later the Hattingley Valley Wines team as Winery Assistant.

After more than eight years experiencing and being part of Hattingley’s growth and development throughout different sectors, Cláudia is currently the Laboratory & Quality Control Manager, assessing all Hattingley’s own wines as well as its clients, while overseeing and maintaining the company’s quality standards. In addition, she keeps running Custom Crush Lab services and provides support to all its external clients. 

LAB ASSISTANT

Having always had an interest in food, Charlotte stumbled across the bachelor’s degree in Oenology and Viticulture at Plumpton College. Whilst studying there, she helped out at Wiston Estate Winery in order to gain an understanding of how everything operates in the real world. Working as part of the production team she helped out in the lab over harvest, and made the decision to follow that path.

Growing up in Sussex she has seen the increase in vineyards being planted in the south of England and how rapidly the industry is growing, she knows the producers want to grow and make the best wines possible with the help of scientific analysis to back it up.

Charlotte joined the Custom Crush team in June 2022.