In and out of Africa ...in search of Gerard Depardieu - Francis Gimblett
Francis Gimblett was born in the UK in 1968 and lives with his wife and family in Haslemere, Surrey.
Francis has a wealth of wine knowledge and over 25 years experience within the wine business. He started his career at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, Sussex, and following a brief spell in hotel management became the hotel’s Head Sommelier at the tender age of 19. This was followed by a three-year stint in London working for a fine wine importer, where he managed the accounts of many renowned West End restaurants.
In the early nineties he took a course in wine chemistry at Plumpton College, which led him to work in wineries all over the world including Australia, California and Romania. On his return to the UK, after two years away, Francis began writing wine courses for the hotel and restaurant industry and eventually developed these into entertainment formats for use in the corporate arena. Founded in 1997, Taste of the Vine was the world’s first wine tasting company designed specifically for the corporate entertainment market. Taste of The Vine has now been running for 12 years and has entertained more than 100,000 people in 42 countries. (www.tasteofthevine.co.uk)
In 2006 Francis launched The Complete Wine Course, the first interactive online wine course. A free version of the course is available on www.freewinecourse.com.
Combining his strong passion for wine, travel, and a love of writing, Francis decided to begin a programme of adventures exploring the world’s unknown wine regions. Thus The Wine Adventurer was born, an intriguing and humorous quest to discover where the future greats could come from. The first trip is documented in In and out of Africa ...in search of Gérard Depardieu, the next trip is already in the planning stages and a further three are scheduled.
Click here for The Wine Adventurer website.