Personal wine advice

Independent wine advice, made for you

Burçak Desombre at the end of a long bottle wall, her hand resting on a rack of bottles lying on their sides.

Someone to ask about wine, whenever it matters

I help private clients make good wine decisions: what to buy, how to build a collection, what to open for a dinner or a gift, and how to get more from the bottles you already own.

Some clients come with a single question. Others prefer one wine professional they can turn to over time. I work in French, English and Turkish, with private clients on the French Riviera, in Monaco and further afield.

Choosing and buying wine

The most direct way I help is with buying decisions, based on your taste, your budget and the occasion.

The value is in the judgement, and in knowing your taste well enough to choose with confidence on your behalf.

- Wines chosen around what you enjoy and how you like to drink
- Selections for a dinner, a celebration or a gift
- A considered view on a merchant’s offer, a wine list or a set of options
- Fine and mature wines, and special bottles for a particular moment
- Sourcing coordinated through the right merchant when that helps

Building and developing a collection

Over time, I can help your cellar grow into something coherent that reflects your taste and the way you live with wine.

- A clear read on what you already own and how it balances
- The gaps and the priorities worth addressing next
- What is ready to drink and what rewards patience
- Buying priorities as the collection develops
- A practical way to keep track of it all
- Sourcing wines that fit the direction you have set

Experiences around your own wines

A collection is also there to be opened and shared. I can build an evening around the bottles you already have, chosen and sequenced so your guests enjoy them.

For a hosted private dinner, this connects with Vinipedia’s Sommelier’s Table.

- A private tasting drawn from your own cellar
- Themed, comparative or vertical flights where your wines support it
- Wines chosen from the cellar for a dinner, with pairings and a running order
- An occasion built around bottles that already mean something to you

Ongoing wine advice

Often, one conversation leads to the next. If you would rather have one wine professional to turn to over time, this can grow into an ongoing relationship shaped around how you use wine: purchases and merchant offers, restaurant lists before a dinner out, wines for occasions and gifts, collection questions, and what to open tonight.

When a wine or a region really takes hold, I also design trips around it through wine tourism.

I have worked in wine since 2007, I am DipWSET and a Certified Sommelier, and I have spent years advising private clients and professionals on what to buy, keep and open, with fine-wine selection for clients in Monaco and wine choices for private and diplomatic occasions.

Tell me what you are looking for

A short message is enough to start: what you have in mind, whether it concerns a purchase, your collection, a dinner or ongoing advice, and roughly when. If it involves choosing or sourcing wine, a rough budget helps.

Start a conversation →