John Szabo, MS

562 people have been to outer space, but there are only 269 master sommeliers currently sipping wine worldwide and John is one of them; he was the first Canadian to add the “MS” credentials to his name in 2004. He has also been named “Canada’s best-known sommelier” in Meininger’s Wine Business International Magazine. Today, John is a partner and principal critic for WineAlign.com, and buyer for the WineAlign Exchange wine club, as well as columnist at Modalina, Monarch and MarQuee magazines. He recently joined the team at CellArt, a company fusing art and design with function in one-of-a-kind luxury wine cellars, as content contributor, in-house cellar consultant and occasional event host to share his passion and expertise with collectors and wine lovers worldwide.

John is co-host of the new podcast Wine Thieves with WineAlign colleague Sara D’Amato, host of the IGTV series 5 to 7 Winedown, and a three-time champion on So You Think You Know Wine, WineAlign’s online blind wine tasting video show, recently dusted off as Think You Know Wine Live!, on Zoom.

He freelances for wine publications around the world, while his last book, Volcanic Wines: Salt, Grit and Power, earned critical acclaim including the André Simon award for best drinks book of 2016. On the consulting side, John builds wine programs across Canada, and is currently sourcing wines for Accor/Fairmont/Sofitel Hotels in Québec.

He (used to) speak regularly at trade conferences around the world, and (used to) spend many weeks each year travelling wine country worldwide to keep on top of this fascinating industry. Now, he does a lot of Zoom interviews and tastes more wine at home and in the office than ever before.

Twitter: @johnszabo; Instagram: johnszaboms; www.johnszabo.com