Peter M. Duncan was born in Perth, Scotland. He was educated at Perth Academy and Edinburgh University, graduating in 1959 with a first class honours B.Sc. in chemistry. Married with two sons, he has lived in Quebec, Canada since 1962. On the winemaking front, he founded the Huron Wine Guild, has been a member of both the Canadian and British National Guilds of Judges and used to write a popular weekly column called The Winemaker's Forum for local and national newspapers.