We are very thrilled that we could add the following sommelier to our series of interview, please meet Belgian top sommelier Michel De Muynck . We are very happy that Michel wanted to participate as he is an example for many Belgian sommeliers. The reason why he is such a well respected person is besides him being very professional and having an enormous knowledge about wine, he is also a very very humble person that has almost never been seen without a big smile on his face :-) FYI that is the way we prefer our sommeliers ... it separates the boys from the men!! Michel was classically trained at the l’école hôtelière de La Louvière where after he started his career Relais du Roy Louis near

Not an in Englishman in New York, but a Frenchman in England :-) please meet our next sommelier to put in the spotlight, top sommelier and 2018 Best Sommelier of UK Alexandre Freguin. Provence Hospitality School Alexandre was born and raised in a place where many people would have wanted to be during the covid-19 lockdown, Aix-en-Provence… La douce France. It keeps surprising us how many top sommeliers at some point of their live just rolled into the position or found a passion that didn’t know they had while studying something completely different or even already having a completely different job. Alexandre is one of those people, as he was actually studying Law at University to exchange hi

There are still so many great sommeliers we want to present to you, from abroad, but also from closer to home. The sommelier we are about to present to you today has made it his life mission to educate young sommeliers and tries to get the best out of them by supporting them where he can and prepare them for the tough job that is awaiting them. Please meet Gido van Imschoot board member of the Flemish Sommelier Association Gido's intrest for good food and wine has been there since very young age. He even wanted to start hotel school, but his parents preferred were of a different opinion making it that he finished his studies in Social Science and only found the way to a job in the gastronomi

The 2019 Best Sommelier of the World contest held in Antwerp was an enormous success because of so many reasons. One of the reasons was for sure thanks to the many helping hands from accross the globe!! As without them it wouldn't have been possible. The sommelier you'll meet now was one of those helping hands who traveled to Antwerp and worked real hard every day to help us make the 50th anniversary an enormous success, please meet Giannis Papachristoforou Giannis' story is actually quit unique, as 5 years ago he was still working in construction :-) He also didn't do any hotel school studies, but he did studies to become a mechanical and automotive engineer ... So talking about changing ca

We continue our journey to put sommeliers in the spotlight, as to our opinion a sommelier is as important in the gastronomical experience as a chef. On top of that we also want to put the job as sommelier in the spotlight, as still too many people have a misconception of the job and think it is only about wine, although we all know it is much more. Therefore we try to put top sommeliers from all over the globe in the spotlight. For our next sommelier we travel to sunny Croatia to meet top sommelier Ivan Jug After finishing his studies at the Zagreb hospitality and tourism school, Ivan started working in the kitchen, as when you are looking for your first job you're not sure yet what you wan

Time to put yet another top sommelier in the spotlight. The reason we’ve already so many sommeliers in the spotlight, is because we are of the opinion that sommelier are an as important part of the gastronomical experience as chefs. The next sommelier we like to present to you is the 2018 Best Sommelier of Poland Kamil Wojtasiak. Although Kamil has won the Best Sommelier of Poland contest in 2018, it was in 2013 that he was the youngest vice-champion of the Best Sommelier of Poland contest which gave him the opportunity to participate to a contest in Lithuania that he also managed to win :-) . His next victory would be in 2017 winning the Best Young Sommelier of Poland contest. Kamil will al

For some reason people think a sommelier or the job of sommelier is mostly held by men, which is true, but luckily the tables are turning and more women are finding their way to this wonderful profession. It has also been proven that women have more refined taste buds, so technically they might even be better tasters :-). Today there are many great female sommelier role models across the globe like Veronique Rivest, Julie Dupouy, Paz Levinson to name only a few. Therefore we are very happy to present yet another wonderful female top sommelier, please meet the 2019 Best Sommelier of Argentina Valeria Gamper!! After obtaining her degree at the hotel management school Valeria started her workin

Please meet the next sommelier to put in the spotlight, 2 time Best Sommelier of Norway winner (2015 & 2017) and 2013 Best Nordic Sommelier Simon Zimmerman. At the age of 16 Simon started to get lots of interest for spirits and mixing drinks (not sure if the movie cocktail is init for something ;-)), but quickly after starting his studies at the restaurant/hotelschool his point of interest started to move towards the subject that would change his life, wine… the interest for it never went away after that, it only kept growing (although we of course all know that a sommelier’s job is not only wine related :-) , but of course a very big part of it is). So after graduating from the hotel scho

To meet our next sommelier we cross the Atlantic, please meet Canadian top sommelier Québécois Pier-Alexis Soulière MS (Master Sommelier) During his studies Pier-Alexis already knew he had a special connection with wine, it was like it had passed some kind of spell on him during his time at the 'école hôtelière de la Capitale and Institut de Tourisme et d’Hôtellerie du Québec'. It even made him cross the Atlantic to study at the famous Université du vin in Suze-la-Rousse, a place that will always remain special to him. The spell must have been a serious one as on top of that he obtained the level 3 and 4 WSET diploma that just like with his Master Sommelier diploma he managed to obtain it