Trond Rornes is the co-founder of Bacchus Wines PLDC Limited. He has enjoyed an illustrious career, having been university educated in Norway & USA, culminating with an MBA in Finance & Marketing. He has had the pleasure of leading teams for Novo Nordisk in Denmark for ten years, and after moving to England in 2000, he ran an Irish Chemical company. Trond later co-founded CardsSafe Ltd. in 2003 to help hospitality and leisure businesses securely hold their customers’ tabs and hires and increase their overall spending.

Trond enjoys the finer things in life as often as he possibly can. From travel to golf to gastronomy, wine has always been at the epicentre of fun for him. His favourite wines, he argues, come from France. But of course, which one he prefers will depend on what he’s doing, where he is and who with. If he were forced to choose a wine region, it would have to be the Rhone Valley and its extension into Burgundy. But that would be grossly unfair to beautiful wines from the Bordeaux region and select areas in southern France.

Trond has always appreciated wines. Not necessarily the “finest wines known to humanity”, although they are rather good, but wines of character, provenance and note. When his old CFO colleague from Denmark visited him in England in 2002, he invited Trond and his wife Lisa to join his wine club. The members would spend long weekends each year visiting wine producers from all over France.
Eager about wines, travel, and adventure, Trond did not hesitate to accept the membership of ‘Friends of Bacchus Society’, which in 2022, will celebrate its 20th year.

One of Trond most notable experiences with wine goes back to an early afternoon some years ago. Sitting in his office, a friend called to ask if he was busy. Of course, he was, but curiosity got the better of him. His friend told him that he had just opened two bottles of vintage Chateau Latour and wondered if Trond might help him sample these. In less than ten minutes, Trond was in his kitchen, and the rest is joyful history.

For more than forty years, Trond has conducted and participated in many business meetings for lunch and dinner, with good wines paired with good food. This initial exposure quickly led to more wine being enjoyed for family dinners and, since he entertains a lot, his friends and guests also seem happiest when served various wines with their meals.

After years of discussions and tastings, Trond and Pierre-Loup decided to launch Bacchus Wines PLDC Ltd. during the COVID pandemic. One reason was their mutual respect and passion for viniculture, and the second appeared a no-brainer. Considering that ninety-five per cent of all CardsSafe customers operate in the hospitality industry, the combination with Pierre-Loup’s expertise and associations with Chateau Paranchere made this an obvious and enjoyable opportunity.

Pierre-Loup DeCam’s roots began in Morocco, where he grew up on his parent’s 475 ha farm that yielded crops and wine grapes. However, as French nationals, they were obligated to move back to France in the mid/late 1960. But thanks to his ‘CIDERA’ Jesuites’ diploma, his family were given access to investment funds enabling them to acquire an 87-ha farm in Les Peyroux, around Ste. Foy la Grande, Gironde. After leaving school, Pierre-Loup worked closely with his father and other farmers in the region, and his lifelong friendship with the son of Raphael Gazaniol, the founder of Chateau Parenchère, was established.

In 1975 he landed a job with a local arm of ICI Plant Protection Division, SOPRA France. Here, Pierre-Loup was ultimately successful in creating, with the Bordeaux wine authorities, the Concours des vins de la Foire de Sigoules/Monbazillac. The five-day wine fair competition included thirty-six top ‘Viticulteurs’ of the Bergeracois, which contributed enormously to his Dordogne area of responsibility in the vines’ market share by ten-fold during his tenure.

This successful adventure ultimately saw Pierre-Loup’s efforts rewarded with a promotion to settle in Fernhurst/Haslemere. Then, in the early 1980s, at ICI PPD HQ, he took the responsibility as Country Manager for East and West Africa. Later on, three more North African countries were added and expanded the entire business.

The 1990s were a fine decade, and towards the latter part, Pierre-Loup launched the original Bacchus Wines, which led him to take on a lease of a rather wonderful 500-year-old pub in Haslemere. His passion for great food and drink saw the turnover of the pub quadruple in just three years, and he was very successful in introducing the wines of Parenchère to his guests, particularly the house wine which he called Les Selections du Patron.

As a popular and successful publican, Pierre-Loup was the driving force behind many hospitality events. One of his most treasured was The Restaurant Grand Charity Dinner at The South Downs College Restaurant in 2008 and 2009. In aid of Hospitality Actions and The Ark Foundation with Peter Kay, the charity event saw a host of the most famous chefs in the UK make seven delicious dishes, including Angela Hartnett, Marcus Wareing, Heston Blumenthal, John Williams MBE of the Ritz hotel in London, John Campbell and Jake S. Watkins. The event raised over £15,000 for local charities. Pierre-Loup has also been involved with Jake S. Watkins of JSW Michelin star Restaurant for more than twenty years.

An unfortunate cancer diagnosis ended Pierre-Loup’s publican life, but his love of life saw him bounce back. In 2018 he agreed to be a champion for Parenchère wines, which ultimately led, two years later, to the creation of Bacchus Wines PLDC Limited in partnership with CardsSafe Limited.