Robert Gorjak
WEINAKADEMIKER (SLOVENIA)
Robert Gorjak grew up in a winegrowing family near Jeruzalem in Slovenia. His passion for wine blossomed in the early eighties when he had the opportunity to observe distinguished oenologists at work and join them during tastings. Mathematics was always a strength, so in 1995, he graduated in computer science and then worked in this field for 12 years before completely dedicating his life to wine in 2008.
His first article on wine appeared in 1994. He is Slovenia’s contributor for the Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Wine Companion and The World Atlas of Wine (Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson). He has also contributed to several editions of Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book.
In 2002, he set up the first Slovenian wine school together with his wife Sandra – the Belvin Wine School, where he teaches and develops new programmes and runs WSET courses. In 2005, he became the first Slovenian to hold the WSET Diploma and is the author of ‘Wine Guide – Slovenia’, now in its fifth edition, in which he rates Slovenian wines.
He judges at a variety of renowned international wine competitions, including Decanter World Wine Awards, where he was the Panel Chair for Slovenia. In 2012, he also ventured into trade, working for Mercator, Slovenia’s biggest retailer as category manager for Wines and Spirits; he now acts as an agent for the renowned Dveri-Pax winery. In 2017, he wrote a comprehensive book on Slovenia – ‘Slovenia, a Winemaking country’. He became a Wineakademiker in 2018.
His other activities relating to wine include education, trade consultancy, event management, occasional writing and high-end tour guiding specialising in France.
He enjoys skiing, scuba diving, Formula 1 and playing keyboards in a rock band, while jazz piano is his latest passion.