Graham Hines, former director of the Sherry Institute and Wines of Spain's UK offices, was honoured by Fedejerez and the Consejo Regulador for his services to Sherry wines in the UK, last month.
Graham Hines resigned from his position as the UK director of Wines from Spain last year due to ill health.
His wine trade career began 43 years ago as a salesman at Lay and Wheeler. He also worked at various other companies such as Colman's of Norwich, Matthew Clark and Gonzalez Byass.