E'cco sommelier, Alan Hunter, began appreciating fine wine from a young age, his career heavily influenced by his upbringing in restaurants and his parent’s keen investment in a South Australian-centred wine cellar.

Having moved to Brisbane from the Queensland country town of Toowoomba, Alan completed high school at Anglican Church Grammar in 2001 before seeking employment in the hospitality industry while attending university at QUT. In 2003 Alan moved from his role as cellar hand and bar attendant at MacArthur’s Headquarters in Brisbane’s CBD to seek more experience behind the bar at e'cco bistro.

While working at e'cco, Alan found a passion for the diversity of wine available on the market and its complementary nature when paired with Philip Johnson's award winning cuisine, which eventually led to a full time role in dictating the wine list’s content.

Responsibility further extended to being actively involved in food and wine pairing with Philip's recipes in the weekly Good Life section of The Courier Mail, a role that has continued with current publications. In 2009 Alan participated in the Court of Master Sommeliers certification process in Sydney, achieving a top 10 ranking and top student from Queensland, which followed with an invitation to progress to the Advanced Certificate in the US or UK.

As a certified sommelier, Alan's expertise and consistent hard work with the wine list construction has since been validated with a three glass rating in the 2011 and 2012 Gourmet Traveller Wine's Wine List of the Year awards. A recent review by Margie Fraser for The Courier Mail’s Taste supplement also further highlighted the importance of the wine list at e'cco and Alan's craft at communicating wine pairings with Philip's cuisine successfully.

Alan has continued to impress with a successful placing in the top 15 for Australia's inaugural Best Sommelier of Australia competition, being the only Queensland participant to be accepted. The competition is an endeavour to highlight the exceptional service and acknowledge standards achieved by the professional sommelier community working within Australia.

Alan enjoys travelling both locally and internationally in the pursuit for new restaurant and wine experiences, taking inspiration from these adventures to refine his work as sommelier at e'cco bistro.