Until 10 years ago, Michele was working as a Computer Engineer in Emilia Romagna, Italy. Although his daily job was in a different industry, he already had a deep and rooted passion for good wine and food. In fact, he was spending most of his spare time and holidays travelling around the regions of Italy to learn more about the local cuisine and traditional wines.

Since he was becoming more and more passionate about wine, he decided to start the Professional Sommelier Diploma course with the Italian Sommelier Association, with the main idea of learning something more about wine and, at that time, he was not even planning to take the final exams. Then, the more he was involved with wine and the less he wanted to be involved with computers and coding (who can blame him?!).

He eventually ended up taking the AIS Sommelier Diploma in 2013 then, the very same year, he moved to the UK and started an MSc programme in Wine Business Management at the Royal Agricultural University. While he was finishing his Master Dissertation, he accepted a job offer from HAY WINES, a small independent wine merchants & importers, and after 8 years he is still working for the same company. His official role is Purchasing Director, and his main responsibilities are purchasing strategy and imports management.