The headline of the interview is a sentence that still surprises: in Turkey, women outnumber men in oenology. In an industry dominated worldwide by men, that is an exception worth stating out loud.
The interview traces the vocation back to its origin, and it is a domestic one. My father refused to forbid wine at home, precisely so that it would not become something drunk in secret. Wine was on the table, with the adults. I remember a dinner on the Bosphorus where my father told the sommelier that his daughter would be the one to taste.
The professional path does not start in wine. Literature studies in Nice, then a product manager job in a bakery chain. It is by leaving my CV at the Chamber of Commerce that I join Turkey’s largest wine importer as brand manager. I learn the trade on the ground, and drift steadily away from marketing.
Then comes training at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, and certification by the Court of Master Sommeliers. I am the first Turkish person to obtain it. In 2010 I am also the first woman to enter the Turkish Sommelier Competition, where I finish second.
At the time of the interview I am 29 and have just founded my own company. It is the best decision I have made.