Michaela Morris, DipWSET

 

Michaela Morris is an international wine writer, educator, judge and speaker based in Vancouver, Canada, with frequent engagements in Italy. Besides writing for several Canadian publications including Taste and Quench, Michaela contributes to Meininger’s Wine Business International and Decanter online and print magazines.

 In Canada, Michaela judges wine competitions and speaks at festivals such as Cornucopia, the Vancouver International Wine Festival and Northernlands. She has also presented seminars for the British Columbia Wine Institute and staff training for BC Liquor Stores employees.

Abroad, Michaela has judged the Wines of Portugal Challenge and was inducted into the Confraria do Vinho do Porto as an Honorary Cavaleiro (Knight). She is a Panel Chairman for Vinitaly’s 5StarWines awards, speaks at conferences such as Wine2Wine in Verona and Barolo’s Collisioni Festival and sits on Collisioni’s Wine Educational Board (W.E.B.). She was one of the first Certified Italian Wine Experts through Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) in 2015. She also co-created the curriculum for VIA’s Italian Wine Maestro course piloting the program in Vancouver in 2017 prior to its international launch.

Michaela successfully completed the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s (WSET) Diploma in 2006 and is an instructor for the program in Vancouver.

Michaela has worked in a various capacities within the wine industry. After starting out in fine dining restaurants, she went on to run the Bordeaux En Primeur campaign and source French wine for a private wine store. She subsequently become the Marketing/Logistics Manager for Liquid Art Fine Wines, a premium-only wine importing company helping grow their French portfolio and take it from a Western Canadian company to a national enterprise. She founded and co-owned housewine (2003-2015), a consulting company which offered private and public wine tastings and cellar management for collectors.

Michaela spent most of her youth singing, acting and dancing until a modeling stint in Japan fueled her desire to travel. She spent several years cycle touring and working her way around Europe. Upon returning to Vancouver, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and French from the University of British Columbia. A one year exchange program led her back to France where a trip to Burgundy inspired her to pursue a career in the wine industry.
Michaela devotes much of her time traveling to wine regions around the globe and speaks English, French and Italian.