Participants
Frank SmuldersMaster of Wine (The Netherlands)
Frank is a Dutch Master of Wine, who has been engaged in wine business since 1985.
For 20 years Frank has been involved in international wine trade performing different commercial roles, such as of a seller, a marketing expert or a purchaser. From 2010 to 2013 he was wine director overseeing two of the most important wine cellars of the world, in Palais Coburg (Vienna) and Parkhotel Vitznau (Lake of Lucerne).
In 1992 he became the second European Master of Wine, following that he started teaching WSET Diploma Course in 1993.
He now works as a consultant for wine producers as well as importers and distributors. The companies Frank worked and still works for are: Steffanus-Kral and Goedwinemakers (Austria); Pernod Ricard (Campy Viejo, Ysios), Celler de Capcanes and Xavier Clua (Spain); (Südtirol) Matthias Lanz (Italy).
Frank is also recognized as Europe’s leading wine educator. Currently he is lecturing WSET courses in Finland, Russia, Rumania, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark (15 countries). He is connected as a lecturer to Maastricht Hotel management School and as an Honorary Professor to Maastricht School of Management, which provides a wine MBA.
Frank is known as an expert taster, and though he considers himself a generalist, he is known to be an expert in wines of Champagne and particularly Spain.
Amongst distributors Frank works for there is “Da!”, a supermarket chain in Moscow.