John Szabo
John Szabo is Canada΄s first Master Sommelier, earning the title from the Court of Master Sommeliers in 2004. He has been working in the hospitality business at home and abroad for over 15 years, filling many positions including cook, sommelier, wine importer, restaurant & winery consultant, educator and wine writer. Today, John tastes, writes, judges and consults nationally and internationally, teaches, speaks, voices his views regularly on radio and travels the wine regions of the world in search of the best.
John Szabo is a principal critic for WineAlign.com, a national tasting panel member for Wine Access Magazine and wine editor and columnist for CityBites Magazine. He writes freelance for other publications and dailies, and was recently the recipient of the 2009 Savour Ontario Wine Journalism Award. He has written the textbook entitled Sommelier Management, used across Canada by the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers for the diploma course.
John Szabo is owner/partner in a company specializing in restaurant wine program design and management and server staff training for clients across North America. John also develops and delivers professional trade seminars for dozens of trade organizations, and is also committed to sharing his knowledge through teaching for organizations such as the Court of Master Sommeliers, the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers, The Wine Council of Ontario, George Brown School of Hospitality and Niagara College. John has judged at dozens of wine competitions both nationally and internationally. To round out his experience and get closer to the land, he also owns a small vineyard in Eger, Hungary. As a holder of a 2nd degree black belt in Karate, his grapes are well protected, too.
