Student stories: experiences that inspire

Matilde Andrade 

Meet Matilde from Portugal.

Her passion for Heritage led her to wanting to feel integrated in different cultures. While traveling to over 30 countries, she realized wine and food have a significant representation of the identity of a place.
Her adventurous spirit is keeping her motivated to explore wine tourism around the world as she believes it will be the future of Tourism.
Her aim is to project destinations with their potential and to provide people with the most unforgettable experiences in Wine Tourism.

From: Portugal
Speaks: Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian, German, French
Education: Bachelor degree in Tourism, Territory and Heritage
Professional Background: Her experience in tourism, marketing, sales and events are the best combinations for future success in wine tourism.
Other interests: Cooking, sports and nature.
Goals: To project destinations with their potential and provide people with the most unforgettable experiences in Wine Tourism.

Sangita Kattel 

Say Namaste to Sangita Kattel, our first winesionery from Nepal (the land of Himalayas)!

She was born in the lap of Mount Everest and grew up in the flatlands of Nepal. Sangita discovered her interest in wine when she visited her birthplace (Solu Khumbu) after 23 years, where she tried local wines made from Himalayan wild berries. Then she realised that these wines should be promoted to the international community not only to increase the diversity in the wine cellar but also to preserve the tradition of wine makings in the rural community and that's how she narrowed down her search to the WINTOUR Master Program.

She plans to work on the development of successful wine brands and wine tourism destinations in Nepal, which are currently underserved.

^{Iván Ramos} 

Meet Iván from Guadalajara, Mexico.

He has been working in the spirits & wine industry for several years, he holds a Bachelor's in International Business, he also works as a consultant. He speaks Spanish, English, French and German. As he recalls, he has been always interested in the wine and spirits industry, it is his passion, he lives in the land where tequila is being made and since he had started working in wine and spirits industry so much things happened...

Some of his goals are to work in the wine & spirits industry in the fields of marketing, project development, commercial fields.
His hobbies are: Traveling , Wine & Spirits , Food, Sports & Outdoors .

Kseniia Alekseeva  

Give a warm greeting to Kseniia from Russia.

After she obtained her Bachelor's degree in Hospitality Business, she has been working mostly in the international hotel chains and tourist destinations in Moscow. After her exchange semester in Valladolid, Spain in 2017, she realized that Spanish culture, where wine had always been a key role, was not planning to let her go. Four years later, in spite of changing her career path due to the Covid19, Kseniia came back to her dream and became a member of the WINTOUR family. Unlike many of her classmates, she is not very experienced in wine but she is extremely excited to get new knowledge and develop her skills in the wine tourism field.

From: Russia
Speaks: Russian, English, Spanish
Education: Bachelor degree in Hospitality Business
Professional Background: Work in the tourist destinations in Moscow and international hotel chains such as Hyatt Hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group and The Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts.
Other interests: Traveling, hiking and camping, playing musical instruments
Goals: To continue the career path in the wine tourism area, giving people a new perspective and great knowledge on their favorite drink and the places where it is produced. Kseniia has a
dream of creating her own wine tours enterprise.

​

Marie Rouquette 

​​

Say 'Bonjour' to Marie from France!

Before joining WINTOUR, she studied in the United States for one year, then she pursued her undergraduate studies in the United Kingdom, where she obtained her Bachelor's degree in Business Management & Sociology. During her third year, Marie did an exchange in Hong Kong for one semester. Her time in the United Kingdom has particularly shaped her interest in the beverage industry, as she visited distilleries and breweries. After getting her bachelor degree, she decided to go back to France for a while to focus on wine.

In the past years, she has had the opportunity to see diverse perspectives of the wine industry by working in sales in a wine shop in Paris, as a junior sommelier in a 5-star hotel in Scotland, and also in a Burgundian winery as a wine tourism and cellar manager, while she was their as a representative during private events in Paris. She has also worked in the journalism, entertainment, and event sectors.

Marie is fluent in French and English, has an intermediate level in Spanish and is learning Mandarin. For her, it has truly been an asset for communicating effectively with people from various backgrounds, and she hopes it will help her to be successful in the wine and tourism industry.
 

Sofía Di Marco  

Say Hola! to Sofía from Rosario, Argentina.

Her love for wine started a few years ago after she took a Sommelier course and from that moment on she was determined to blend her 2 passions: wine and tourism. She is a Tourism and Business Administration Bachelor and has a wide experience as a travel agent, focussed on tailor made itineraries and customer service. She speaks 4 languages, something that has helped her throughout her career.
For Sofìa, tourism means freedom and the chance to show her true self while being surrounded by people. She believes this beautiful profession allows her to always work on new and different projects while continuing to learn everyday. She found in wine tourism the chance to express the culture and heritage of a region, something that she is eager to explore.
Her main goal after WINTOUR, since she has mainly worked in outbound tourism, is to move into incoming tourism and product development.

Yue Chang 

Say 你好(Ni hao) to Yue from China!

After analyzing some wine databases and winespeak corpora in her last master's, digital humanities, she realized there is a big world in this interdisciplinary. She joined WINTOUR to explore what data-driven approaches can do for wine and wine tourism. Before this, she finished her Bachelor's in management in Shanghai, and worked for two years in the PR&Events department of Asia's leading performing arts promoter. This experience has provided her with solid marketing and project management skills.

From: China
Speaks: Mandarin, English, Japanese
Education: Master's in Digital Humanities, Bachelor's in Arts Management
Other interests: Go game, classical music

Victoria Bravo 

Say Salud ! to Vicki. She is from Mendoza, Argentina and she grew up next to the magnificent Andes mountains, learning how to sing beautiful songs about wine, love and traditions.

She discovered her passion for wine by chance, and now, 10 years later she knows that whatever the future looks like, if she is next to a vineyard, she will be happy! Her path has been varied and dynamic, unique, we might say. She has a Bachelor in Social Communication and throughout her career, she has focused on learning and travelling, discovering more of the wonderful world of wine. She has been lucky enough to work for great projects in Argentina and France, as well as showing her vineyard and winemaking skills participating in vintages in both countries. Before taking off for this Masters she was a Brand Ambassador for @vina.cobos winery in Argentina.

She loves meeting people and hearing their stories and experiences, that is why she learnt five languages. She wishes the next years to come are full of new challenges and adventures where she can keep exploring and of course, sharing a bottle of wine around a table.

Alper Boyraz 

Say "Şerefe" (Cheers in Turkish) to Alper!

A spirited globetrotter, Alper has been in tourism with his family since his childhood. He dreamt of working in tourism and achieved his goal through studying for a bachelor's degree in Tourism Guidance. Meanwhile and after studying, he worked in countries like Portugal, Hungary, and Turkey to gain experience in his field. Being a passionate historical heritage and mythology nerd, he discovered his devotion to wine during gastronomic tours in Portugal. After working as a tour guide and Erasmus+ facilitator for some years, he decided to get closer to the world of wine and found himself as a member of the WINTOUR family. Through learning about wine, expanding his vision and network, he plans to design destinations around the globe that combine heritage, wine, and memorable experiences.

From: Turkey
Speaks: Turkish, English
Education: Bachelor's degree in Tourism Guidance
Professional Background: Alper worked as a tour guide specializing in heritage, archaeology, and mythology in Turkey and in Portugal. Apart from that, he also worked as an Erasmus+ facilitator and trainer for the young generations of Europe. He worked and learned the areas of marketing and finance within international NGOs.
Other interests: Traveling to discover music styles from all over the world and learn to combine them.

Samiksha Goel 

Meet Samiksha from India with an elastic heart who embraces each taste from spicy, salty, tangy, sour and sweet with an extra-ordinary will power, diligence and grit to see herself through this course.

Coming from the land of Bollywood when she came across the movies with clinking various wine glasses, gushing with fruit flavours with just a nuance of spice and of the films with the suave Bond and his famous "Bollinger Drink". She was captivated by the immensity of it, which she had earlier considered just an iota. From her Hospitality background, she had a chance to help her figure out her love for wines. All this hustle, exploration and expansion of her knowledge of wines, she further cleared WSET 3 in her final year of Bachelors.

Samiksha's eagerness to share experiences with fellow global wine enthusiasts at WINTOUR, who would in turn, offer her an insight into the trends in their respective countries and provides a wide platform to expand her horizons with greater experiences of divergent cultures and knowledge exchanges. And use this acquired knowledge in her everyday tasks while working on these wine capitals of the world.

Salim Ouchiker 

Give a warm welcome to Salim from Morocco! Our new intern support for the WINTOUR marketing team! He is the first Moroccan student to join WINTOUR master program. After his degree in English, Linguistic and Cultural Studies, Salim worked in different jobs in Tourism, Art and Culture, and Customer Service industries. Salim developed his interest in wine a long time ago when he worked in the tourism industry, and since then he bears in his mind the idea to combine Wine and Tourism. He joined WINTOUR for the purpose to develop his wine tourism ideas. Salim is seeking to foster a professional project of wine and art as an approach to wine tourism and sustainable development through a partnership of communities, destinations, and cultural events.

He speaks Darija (Moroccan Arabic), Modern Standard Arabic, French, English, German, and is learning Spanish.
Educational Background: Bachelor's degree in English Studies, Linguistic and Cultural Studies stream.
Professional Background: Salim worked as a Receptionist, Cultural facilitator, and Customer Service Specialist. He has done a one year internship as an English teacher and he also successfully completed the online courses of: Wine Tasting: Sensory Techniques For Wine Analysis - UC Davis; Brand Management: Aligning Business, Brand and Behaviour - University of London; and The Strategy of Content Marketing - UC Davis.
Other interests: Traveling, Identities, Wine and Spirits, Cultures, Gastronomy, and Wine tourism.
Goals: Salim is also working on deepening his digital marketing knowledge and skills in order to help promote and develop wine tourism in rural destinations and in Morocco.

Caroline Morrow 

Patricio Planells  

Meet Patricio from Tegucigalpa the capital of Honduras.

Before enrolling in the Wintour programme, Patricio, a bachelor in culinary arts, worked in several kitchens in Honduras, Panama, and The Canary Islands (Spain). He also worked for several businesses as a professional photographer and curator of social media and magazine content.
He's currently pursuing his WSET Level 3 certification in Wines and has an interest in whisky, beer, sake, and coffee, as his family has coffee plantations back in Honduras. He speaks Spanish English and German and is currently learning French and Russian.
Some of his objectives are to work in the wine industry in the fields of marketing, to help wineries achieve a better reach in their respective markets, and to gain more knowledge about wine in the hopes of one day becoming a professional wine educator.
His hobbies include: photography/videography, films, video games, travelling, among many others.

Irina Kvitko  

Say добрый день (Good day) to Irina from Saint Petersburg, the cultural capital of Russia. Prior to WINTOUR, she managed to obtain two degrees in regional geography and tourism and hospitality management respectively and had two exchanges in Rome and Luxembourg. Having worked in tourism, hospitality, and international communications and marketing, Irina made a decision to follow her wine passion and qualified as a sommelier, soon after which she joined the WINTOUR family.

From: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Speaks: Russian, English, French, Italian
Education: Bachelor in Regional Geography and International Tourism, Master in Management for Tourism and Hospitality, Sommelier School, WSET3 student. Besides, she was lucky to have two exchange semesters studying Business Administration in Rome and European Studies in Luxembourg.

Professional Background:
Irina tried herself in a bunch of industries: starting from tourism and hospitality she switched to international education, international communications, marketing, and partnership management.

Other interests: cinema and theatre, psychology, travelling

Ricardo Viana  

Meet Ricardo (Rio) from Brazil, passionate about travel experiences and wine, this young professional had worked in many different aspects of the tourism industry from hospitality to events. Having consulted more than 40 small companies, mostly bistros and boutique hotels in the international destination of Pipa beach, the hedonistic approach in his research has always led him along with the passion for wine. After the WINTOUR master program, he is planning to help companies in Europe and back in South America to develop unique tourism experiences related to the wine world.

From: Brazil
Speaks: Portuguese, English.
Education: Bachelor degree in Tourism, former member of the Local Innovation Agent program by a partnership between SEBRAE and the Brazilian Scientific and Technology Development Council (CNPq).
Professional Background:
Consulting work in more than 40 small companies mostly bistros and boutique hotels in the international destination of Pipa beach.
Other interests: Cultural/entertainment producing.
Goals: Establish himself as an enotourism consulting professional in order to create unique wine tourism experiences especially in underdeveloped countries.

Jessica Blanarik 

Meet Jessi from the USA. While originally from Pennsylvania, Jessi has spent the last few years living in various countries in South America, Southeast Asia and Europe. She started her career as an ESL teacher before segueing into writing and editing professionally. She currently works as a travel writer and editor within the RV sector of the travel industry. Throughout her travels she has developed a love for wine and how it reveals a lot about the culture and history of a country. To pursue this passion more she spent her year of lockdown studying for her WSETs and hopes to use this master's degree as a way to segue her career into writing specifically within the wine tourism industry.

From: USA
Speaks: English and French
Education: Bachelor degree in Business Management
Professional Background:
Jessi started her career off as an ESL teacher in Prague before commencing online teaching to children in China. With a love for the English language and a passion for communication of unique stories, she segued her career into freelance writing within the travel industry before accepting a permanent writing and editing position within the RV travel industry.
Other interests: Jessi is a trained classical opera singer who additionally enjoys various creative endeavors like drawing and painting.
Goals: Jessi's goal within WINTOUR is to develop a deeper understanding of the wine tourism industry to aid in segueing into specifically writing for this industry within the tourism industry as a whole.

Linnéa Jansson 

Say "Tjena" to Linnéa, our first Winesionery from Sweden.

In 2018, she decided to make her career international by moving to Lisbon to work with digital marketing, but she ended falling in love with wine. It is safe to say that her heart beats a little extra for Portuguese wine (and Portugal in general). Linnéa has a background in marketing and as a sommelier. She has gained experience from Scandinavia's largest wine cellar for ageing as well as the most wonderful little Portuguese wine bar in the old town of Stockholm (that we see in the picture). She joined WINTOUR master program to combine her experiences and to develop her specialization towards tourism. And to meet her future colleagues! She wants to work with the Portuguese market as well as develop the small but growing wine and wine tourism industry in Sweden.

From: Sweden
Speaks: Swedish, English, and or rare occasions some German and Portuguese
Education: Bachelor degree in Business Administration with specialization in Marketing
Professional Background: Linnéa has been working in consulting of digital marketing for companies of various sizes and in various markets. In wine she has been working in wine ageing cellars, restaurants and wine bars.
Other interests: Daydreaming, travelling and breakfast.
Goals: To have one foot in Portugal and the other in Sweden, connecting the two countries and developing the sustainable wine tourism industry of tomorrow. Also, she wants to spend a lot of time in wine bars. Behind (and in front of) the bar.

Kristine Vachadze 

Say gaumarjos (Cheers in Georgian) to Kristine!

After she went for an exchange program in Germany - Geisenheim University and got her diploma in Viticulture and Oenology, she decided to apply for our Master program. She had worked in different Wineries, a Wine bar and a Georgian-Chinese wine company. The wine tourism sector is totally new for Kristine and she thinks that it was the best decision to study about it, because she loves to communicate her passion for wine to people and the world.

From: Georgia
Speaks: Georgian, English, Russian
Education: Bachelor degree in Viticulture and Oenology.
Professional Background: Kristine used to work in different wineries such as "Telavi Wine Cellar" (Georgia), "Weingut Carl Erhard" and "Weingut Friedrich Bastian" (Germany), "8000 Vintages" (Georgian wine bar) and a Georgian-Chinese wine company. She knows that her background has a strong connection to Wine Tourism.
Other interests: Traveling to discover wines from all over the world.
Goals: She wants to help small and medium size family wineries to become more successful and well-known. She wants to help in the development of the wine sector in Georgia.

Marina Yamshchikova 

Give a warm welcome to Marina from Russia.

She has been working as a product manager for many years in the textile industry but she left her career to follow her passion for wine and travel. That is why she decided to apply and became a part of the WINTOUR family. Her diverse background of marketing and international business definitely will take her far in the industry.

From: Russia
Speaks: Russian, English, Spanish
Education: International Marketing, International Business, WSET2.
Professional Background: Marketing manager in one of the top brewery in Russia, SMM-manager in a start-up educational project, product-management.
Other interests: She likes photography and to travel around the world.
Goals: To learn more about wine from different aspects and to convert her passion and hobby into a beloved profession.

Sara Barbosa 

Say Olá to Sara!

A young woman from Portugal, who met her passion for wine in her hometown. She had the privilege of growing up in the city of Porto where wine culture is in the DNA of the people who live there.
Her career in hotel management only intensified her roots and awakened her passion for the world of wines. Since then, she has only one certainty, whatever path she takes will only be in one direction, the direction of wine.

From: Portugal.
Speaks: Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.
Education: Bachelor degree in Hotel Management.
Professional Background:
Sara discovered her great passion during her degree in Hotel Management, during a Wine Gastronomy course. So since then she has gained experience in the field in companies such as The Fladgate Partnership and Sogrape. She believes that the best way to get to know the world of wines is to start at the base, the land and the people.
Other interests: Cooking, travelling, discovering regions, people and wines. On weekends, playing tennis.
Goals: Sara wants to train human resources, sharing her knowledge and experience, fulfilling the needs of the market. She also wants to help the companies in the sector and assist in the creation and development of innovative wine tourism experiences.
Sara has a dream of creating an innovative wine-oriented hotel that she thinks is the perfect union between hospitality and wine, the two great passions of her life.

Guido Dos Santos 

Meet Guido from Brazil! A passionate traveler, and a food enthusiast.

During his academic and professional path on Culinary, Hospitality and Food & Beverage, the interest for the gastronomic products as identity symbols of a place, especially during tourist activities, was always a remarkable trait. To continue building his skills on that field, he realized that the activities involving the most important drink in the world - wine - can provide knowledge and tools to help improve the tourist initiatives that involve different drinks and food production all over the world.

From: Brazil
Speaks: Portuguese, English, Spanish, learning Catalan and French.
Education: Bachelor in Gastronomy, Postgraduate in Hotel Management.
Professional Background: Guido started his career in the kitchen, working in different regions of Brazil and in the United States. Once starting his postgraduate studies, he moved to the hotel business, working with customer services in Brazil and food & beverage services in the United States.
Other interests: Most of his free time and money are directed to traveling and concerts!
Goals: Improve his knowledge and skills on Wine Production and Wine Tourism to become an agent of transformation and enhancement of regional gastronomic production as a source of benefits for both tourism and local development.

Shota Natroshvili 

Say Gamarjoba (Hello in Georgian) to Shota while he is working inside the Georgian wine vessel

Shota came to our program with a particular mission. He has a long relationship with wine as his family owns Ibero Winery in the biggest wine region of Georgia - Kakheti. Shota has done a year of exchange in International Wine Business - Hochschule Geisenheim, Germany. As he finished his Bachelor of Oenology and Viticulture, he was going deeper as the first generation in his family business. He started noticing the big groups of tourists visiting his family's winery constantly and their numbers were rising annually. Then he realized that he should make his winery even more attractive for tourists as it can become a major sustainable source of development. He realized that he needed an academic approach in order to gain valuable skills which will help him not only to develop his winery, but also to raise awareness of wine tourism and marketing in his wine region.

From: Georgia
Speaks: Georgian, English, German, Russian.
Education: Bachelor of Agrarian Sciences, Viticulture and Oenology Program - Agricultural University of Georgia.
Professional Background: Shota has done many internships in different wineries like Château Mukhrani and JSC Telavi wine cellar in Georgia, and Weingut Carl Ehrhard in Germany. He also successfully completed the online course of Wine Tasting: Sensory Techniques For Wine Analysis- UC Davis.
Other interests: Painting - Member of IWS (International Watercolor Society) as representative of Georgian watercolor, and Traveling.
Goals: Further development of his winery - making it more attractive for visitors and visible in the international market. Meeting new people, understanding new cultures and discovering new experiences every day.