Bill Zacharkiw

Bill began his wine journey at the age of 23, when he opened his own restaurant, Fonduementale, in downtown Montreal. At 33, he became head sommelier at one of Quebec’s top restaurants, the Relais & Chateau L’eau a la Bouche, where he honed his skills as one of the province’s authorities on pairing food and wine.

He writing career began in 2004 with the The Caveman’s Wine Blog, one of the internet’s first. Bill quickly garnered a reputation for his irreverent take on the wine world, his staunch defence of “authentic” wines, his distaste for snobbism, and his willingness to take on the industry’s most sacred cows. Caveman was cited by the Wall Street Journal as one of the five most interesting wine reads on the internet.

In 2007, Bill went gone from on-line to ink when he became the weekly wine writer for the Montreal Gazette. In 2012, he started his weekly radio spot on CHOM FM where he pairs wine with rock music. He is also a principal critic for chacunsonvin.com, the French language version of Wine Align.

His most recent adventure in wine began in September 2017 when he was named wine and beverage director for one of Montreal’s most successful restaurants, 40 Westt Steakhouse.