Deborah Zbinden DipWSET

Likes telling stories... about wine

Deborah started her career in the UK wine trade in 2000 and after over 15 years marketing some of the best-loved names in the UK's wine aisles she qualified as a WSET Certified Educator in early 2015.  Having tested the waters running in-house training whilst working as Marketing Manager at Accolade Wines, Wine Confidence was officially born the following year with the proud highlight of being confirmed as a WSET Approved Programme Provider.  Four exciting years followed, filled with tastings and training for clients based in London, Surrey and New Zealand before a too-good-to-miss opportunity came up at one of the UK's most exciting wine agencies, to tell some of their stories too. 

The tasting glasses are still polished and ready for action however so after a website revamp in 2021 there is potential for lots more to come so watch this space for the next chapter!

Official Sherry Educator

"Starting a wine career at Ehrmanns in 2000, who had long been the UK home of the Williams & Humbert Sherry, my first visit to Jerez, Spain's home of Sherry, was in 2003 on a study tour having been awarded the Sherry Institute of Spain's scholarship award as part of the WSET Diploma.  While I was interested in the theory about Sherry's history and production methods from my wine studies, it wasn't until I spent time in Jerez that my mind was truly blown by the variety available and the Sherry bug really had me hooked.

Over a decade later in 2017, the unmissable opportunity came up to spend some time in Jerez to add "Sherry Educator" to my creds. Sherry takes years, decades, sometimes even generations to develop and mature but in the ten years since my last visit, the landscape of drinking Sherry had evolved almost unrecognisably.  

Truly a renaissance with many tipping Sherry as set to becoming the "next Gin", a new generation of foodies are now discovering Sherry's diversity in style from searingly bone dry to lusciously sweet and everything in between."