That’s the question that bugged Dan Ives, who turned a severe case of FOMO into Sommly, the ‘new Eventbrite’ for UK wine lovers
Dan Ives didn’t used to be a wine drinker. His go-to in his bachelor days was a can of Strongbow cider.
But then he met Jodee and, not wanting to disappoint his potential future in-laws, who DID enjoy wine and knew a bit about it, Dan did his best to change his tastes.
By the time it came to planning their honeymoon, a wine tour in Australia was actually beginning to sound like a fun idea. And when the new Mr and Mrs Ives returned to the UK, Dan began scouring the internet for tasting experiences where he could continue his wine travels without straying too far from home.
“I love tastings because there’s always another story, more fun facts to learn, behind every wine"
He wanted to linger lazily with a Pouilly-Fumé from the Loire, imagine himself in a Chilean vineyard with a crisp Sauvignon Blanc irrigated by Andean snow, improve his knowledge of German grapes over a floral Gewürztraminer… and all within easy reach of Essex.
The trouble was, such experiences were difficult to find.
“I love tastings because there’s always another story, more fun facts to learn, behind every wine. And, because you get to taste lots of of them, there’s less risk of buying something you won’t like!” says Dan.
But as he scrolled, he increasingly felt like he was on the outside of a secret club.
“I was Googling ‘tastings’ but it was hard to know if a place actually hosted them, while some didn’t come up in the search at all. I was having to rely on word of mouth. Plenty of shops and suppliers have websites – but the discoverability is poor and that means it’s hard for them to be found and indexed by Google.”
Dan knows what he’s talking about – he’s a software developer who’s built customised tools for retail sites in the past. And so, like all good entrepreneurs, he turned a problem into a solution: Sommly.
Launched this year (2026), Sommly is, at its core, a listings website that hosts can use to promote any wine-related event, currently for free.
"Everything is so fragmented across the whole wine space... I used agentic AI to go find all those listings for me"
Searchable by postcode, tasting type and date, it’s fast becoming the Eventbrite of the UK wine world.
“I love solving problems – it comes with being a developer,” says Dan. “Everything is so fragmented across the whole wine space – people using Eventbrite, posting events on their site, advertising on TikTok. I used agentic AI to go find all those listings for me.”
That’s how Dan discovered us at Terra Sarda Wines, a little startup that was getting lost in the vast internet of space.
But he hasn’t stopped at tastings. A keen wine scholar, who’s working his way up the WSET pyramid of knowledge, he’s now developed his own study aids, which are available to download from the site. They prompt you to review what you’ve learned at regular intervals.
“It’s a bit like Duolingo, but for wine,” says Dan.
The site now encompasses not just tastings and masterclasses, but also supper clubs, courses and wine fairs. It lists independent wine bars, bottle shops and importers. He also recently added a new directory of wine subscription clubs.
Sommly feels like something big.
“I’m still learning about wines, regions and vineyards, what my tastes are,” says Dan. “But the best way to do it will always be experiential.”
Sommly founder Dan Ives
Quick-fire-question round:
Red, white or rosé?
White
Favourite style?
Sancerre
Who would you choose to drink it with?
My wife, Jodee
What food would you pair it with?
Margherita pizza
Ideal place to drink it?
In the vineyard
Check out Terra Sarda Wines’ events in York and Leeds at www.sommly.co.uk
