Congratulations Andrew Paulsen for passing the Champagne Master-Level Exam with Highest Honors!
About Andrew:
''From an early age I was a student of history with a memory like an elephant for dates and events and as I grew older, international travel to see the places I had learned so much about. Wine became a natural add on to my interest to the point now in my life it is my full time career occupation.
My introduction to wine came via a 3year marketing college course in Sydney, Australia in the late 1980s. Our major thesis study as a group was to create a marketing plan for boutique wineries in Australia, we formed the Bin 89 Marketing Group to complete the thesis, I was the secretary for the group.
I learnt a lot about the Australian wine industry from my marketing studies, my travels brought me to Canada and work in the food and beverage industry. However it was not till 2006 that I developed an interest in Old World wines while working in fine dining, I became sommelier for the Newport Grill Restaurant in Calgary in 2009. I pursued studies through the International Sommelier Guild, completing the diploma in 2010 and became an accredited instructor the following year. I have also completed the WSET 3 course.
In 2013, took on the position of Sommelier Coordinator at Coop Wine Spirits Beer at the Crowfoot Tasting Centre location in Calgary.
The ML program has provided me with a lot of fact and detail that I will be able to pass on in tasting and training seminars that I conduct. I find fact can be blurred into the subjective nature of wine tasting, fact needs to be separated and the Champagne ML course has done this.''
