About

My name is John Switzer and I live in Toronto, ON.

I am wine writer, educator and tour guide. Since 2005 I have written a bi-weekly newsletter, the Winesights Vintages Newsletter (WVN).

I hold the WSET Diploma, I am a WSET Certified Instructor, I teach in the Independent Wine Education Guild in Toronto and I speak at food and wine events in the Toronto area.  I was a judge in the 2010 Decanter World Wine Awards (Rhône panel) and I am a member of the Society of Wine Educators.

Periodically I post WVN articles on this blog for the interest of a wider reader audience.  I also post notes and articles directly to The Winesights Reader.

My articles are aimed at a diverse audience of wine lovers.  I seek to inform, I want to make the complex simple and I look for trends in the trade that forecast the future.

I have some biases that will be revealed from time to time:

• the Old World is more interesting than the New World (but the New World is rapidly changing  for the better…)
• cool climate wines are more interesting than wines from warm regions
• the best wines are not manipulated
• wine is humbling so let yourself go and enjoy it whatever your level of wine fluency
• Kermit Lynch is the best educator in the world of wine

I welcome feedback and comments of all colours and stripes. To subscribe to my Newsletter please send me an email.

Enjoy!

All written and visual contents on The Winesights Reader are Copyright© W. John Switzer 2003 -2010.