Véronique Rivest is one of the most respected sommeliers in Canada and abroad. Since her very first restaurant job at the age of sixteen, she developed a true passion for wine, food and service. She now counts over thirty years’ experience in the hospitality and retail industries, as well as in education and consulting. 

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Véronique won Canada’s Best Sommelier competition in 2006 and in 2012 and Best Sommelier of the Americas in 2012. After placing twice in the Top Twelve in 2007 and 2010, she became the first woman to make the podium by taking 2nd place at the World’s Best Sommelier competition, in 2013. 

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Named Wine Woman in Paris in 2007, Véronique is also a talented speaker and writer, a set of skills that has led her to teach, broadcast and write in many wine and food magazines, radio and TV programs, to give lectures and train fellow sommeliers around the world. In 2014, Véronique opened SOIF Wine Bar in Gatineau, Quebec. Since 2015, she is the wine columnist for La Presse newspaper, and since 2016 the official sommelier for Air Canada. 

 

Regardless of her accomplishments, Véronique remains genuine and approachable with an infectious enthusiasm about sharing the great pleasures of wine.