Nikolay Chashchinov is a professional wine educator and representative of the wine trade industry, who has been working in the wine business for 16 years.

He began his career in 2003 as a waiter and then became a certified sommelier in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2006. Nikolay won the Saint Petersburg Sommelier Contest on two occasions – October 2006 and June 2007 – and has been a member of the jury since 2008. Following on from his work as a sommelier, he began working for a wine import company in 2007, where he was responsible for the product portfolio and marketing.

In 2010, he founded the Millesime wine school, which has since become highly respected both in Russian wine professional circles and the media. The school has gained official government certification and is now able provide its students with a formal academic qualification. Millesime has just been approved as a WSET APP and will start to deliver WSET courses soon.

As well as running and teaching at Millesime, Nikolay has also continued his own wine education, successfully passing the Sherry Educator course at the Consejor Regulador de Jeres (Spain) in 2012 and the Italian Wine Ambassador exam at Vinitaly International Academy (Verona, Italy) in 2015. Finally, in 2018, he graduated from the Weinakademie Österreich (Rust, Austria) with the WSET Diploma in Wines and Spirits and the title of Weinakademiker.

In 2018 and 2019, Nikolay was a member of the judging team at 5StarWines in Verona, Italy.

Nikolay lives in Saint Petersburg but travels regularly all over Russia, organising workshops, seminars and wine tasting dinners to promote wine knowledge.