In memoriam: Igor Ryjenkov MW

Born in Russia, Igor had a degree in Journalism from the Moscow Institute for Foreign Relations. Having settled in Canada in early 90s, Igor spent the 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 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 then straight into the MW programme 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.

Igor “turned pro” in 1999, having done a short part-time stint as an on-license salesman for a wine agency before going full-time as a retail product specialist with the Ontario liquor board (LCBO). Having spent seven years at the LCBO as a product manager and later as a buyer for Vintages, its fine wine division, Igor went on to serve for a further five years as category manager for the European Wine Portfolio. In this strategic role, he oversaw a business worth approximately $440 million (now exceeding $500 million). From the summer of 2019 until early 2022, he worked on the Wine Styles project alongside several other strategic initiatives within the buying team, before concluding his time with the LCBO.

In the spring of 2022 he joined Opimian Club, Canada’s largest members-based wine club, initially as a contributor to its “Cellar” catalogues, then as a core MW tasting panel member. He also offered private consultation to local importing agents and international wine producers addressing brand development and the last segment of the route to Ontario market.