IMW

Biography

Born in Russia, Igor has a degree in Journalism from the Moscow Institute for Foreign Relations. Having settled in Canada in early 90s Igor spend first few years in his new country as a duty officer in the Operations department of an aviation company, securing the overflight and landing rights for the international relief flights. His journey in wine got started with a visit to a Niagara Peninsula area winery in 1995. That was followed by a serious reading, tasting, traveling and studying binge, which took him through the WSET Certificates and Diploma and straight into the MW program in 1999. His wine study journey culminated with achieving the MW qualification in 2003, having been awarded North American scholarship twice and Henkell-Sohnlein Award for best dissertation in the process. He "turned pro" in 1999, having done a short part-time stint as an on-license salesman for a wine agency, then going full time as a retail product specialist with the Ontario liquor board (LCBO). After 7 years on the front line in the two largest retail locations in Ontario, he is now in a buying position as the European Wines Product Manager for Vintages Department (Premium Division) of the LCBO that is responsible for over 300 mln CAD in annual sales.