After six years at
Gresham's School,
Holt (1931–1937), and military service during the
Second World War, Simon entered the wine trade in 1948, importing wines chiefly from
France,
Germany,
Italy, and
Portugal, but later also from
Spain,
South Africa,
Australia and the
United States. Going into business on his account as an importer and wholesaler of wines (trading as Pat Simon Wines Ltd), by 1969 he rose to the rank of
Master of Wine of the
Institute of Masters of Wine and became a frequent contributor to specialist periodicals. Simon's book ''Wine-tasters' Logic'' (2000) distils the experiences of fifty years of
wine-tasting and is also full of anecdotes of the wine trade of long ago. The first part of the book discusses the concepts behind wine-tasting, exploring areas like
aroma, balance, finish, and
tannin. The second part contains details on, the choice of
glasses and instructions for
decanting wine correctly. ==Publications==