Marc Almert

The Golden Vines® Ambassador, Switzerland

The 2021 & 2022 Golden Vines® Awards Chief Sommelier

After completing his International Baccalaureate at the British School of Cologne, Marc Almert began his vocational training at the prestigious Excelsior Hotel Ernst in Cologne. In the early days of his training, he was introduced to winetasting. While he completed his three-year general training he found himself permanently smitten by wine, and changed course to follow the path of the sommelier. He became a Certified Sommelier (passing with distinction in 2015) and an Advanced Sommelier a year later.

In the meantime he maintained a busy professional life, working at a succession of world- class venues including Hamburg’s Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten. In 2017 he became a sommelier at the world-famous Baur au Lac, Zurich, and just two years later was named as the hotel’s Chef Sommelier.

Marc Almert has won numerous professional awards, beginning with a second place in the National Jeunes Sommeliers Competition, in 2015. His honours culminated in his winning the prestigious ASI Best Sommelier of the World in 2019: victory at the age of 27 made him one of the youngest champions in the organisation’s history.

He has been a member of the ASI Education Committee since 2019, and firmly believes in the importance of education about both the craft itself and also the importance of sommellerie. Marc Almert plays the welcoming host with heart and soul. He relishes personal contact with a wide range of people and especially the feeling of satisfaction when his guests — after enjoying a fine meal — “head home smiling and satisfied”.