Wine Communicator Of The Year 2017 Shortlist Announced!

IWSC are pleased to announce this years shortlist for Wine Communicator Of The Year!
Ian D'Agata, Ben Stephenson, Joe Fattorini, Olly Smith & Mariano Braga are all in the running to win the prestigious Wine Communicator OTY Award for their contributions and knowledge in the wine industry.

We will be announcing the winner on Monday 3rd April, and they will then run a special masterclass about The Story Of Wine at VINITALY on the 9th April.

Heres a run down of the shortlisted candidates:

Ben Stephenson
Ben is the managing director & founder of the award winning Hangingditch wine merchants in Manchester. Opening almost 10 years ago, the shop focuses on wine education & the customer experience.
Hangingditch has won many awards since opening including winner of the IWSC Independent Merchant award, & Drinks Business Young Achiever of the Year.
Ben also organises & hosts a number of wine events designed to change the drinking habits of Manchester & get the public to drink better & more adventurously.

Ian D’Agata
Ian is currently, among his other titles, Senior Editor and Head of Development for Europe & Asia at Vinous, one of the world's most prestigious wine newsletters with subscribers in 85 countries
in 2016 Ian D'Agata initiated the first ever series of annual wine reports specifically devoted to single Italian regions, giving Italian wines a visibility never achieved before.
He has recently co-written a new book, "Barolo and Barbaresco: through red looking glasses" which will be presented for the first time at Vinitaly 2017

Mariano Braga
Having been in the industry for 11 years- since he was merely 20yrs old, Mariano started working as a wine educator in one of the most respected Sommellerie Schools in Buenos Aires. Since then, he has worked in many different roles within the industry. He’s written for magazines in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, Mexico and the United States of America. Mariano is also a respected wine critic, and has been a judge in some of the most respected wine competitions in the world, including the IWSC.

Joe Fattorini
During almost thirty years in wine Joe has written for numerous publications including a monthly opinion column for Harpers Wine & Spirit, Wine International, The Independent, & Imbibe to name but a few. Joe spent 15 years as the weekly wine critic for The Herald newspaper, his column being one of the paper’s longest running.
He wrote the world’s first textbook to explore comprehensively the management of wine and wine sales within hospitality services.
“Managing Wine and Wine Sales.”
Joe spent five years as a broadcaster with the BBC covering wine, and appeared as a wine expert on programmes for ITV, Channel Five and The Audi Channel, and is currently the presenter and wine expert on The Wine Show whose audience reached over 6 million viewers in Spring.
In May In 2016 Joe was named 29th in the annual 100 Most Influential People in Wine. by Off Licence News

Olly Smith
Olly is a multi award-winning wine expert, TV personality, author and columnist.
He is listed in Debrett’s 500 2015 – amongst the 500
most influential people in the UK.
While appearing regularly as wine expert on BBC1's Saturday Kitchen.
He presents the wine and travel show Jeni & Olly’s West Coast Wine
Adventure for the Food Network and Travel Channel