Our Story

James Cluer MW began his career in the wine trade in 1988, working for an importer in Hong Kong. After attending a number of tastings he got the wine bug, and took his first WSET course at age 18.

After University, he headed for Bordeaux and landed an apprenticeship at Milhade et fils. He worked the vintage, picking grapes, managing the fermentations, and doing the barrel work. He started to learn about wine from the ground up.

A few years later James was still at Milhade but now in charge of global exports to 18 countries. He traveled the world meeting buyers, visiting other wineries and making contacts with key players in the wine industry. He also began studying wine and in 1997 completed the WSET Diploma.

In 1998 James enrolled in the Master of Wine (MW) program. The MW is considered the pinnacle of professional qualifications in wine. Since the first MW exams in 1953 there have only been 300 successful candidates. To prepare, James began working vintages at wineries in Australia and California, and touring more wine regions.  Eleven years later, he became a Master of Wine.

Fine Vintage was started in 1995. The company operates in a variety of sectors of the wine industry. As an Approved Program Provider we operate a number of WSET schools IN Canada and the United States. In January 2012 we were awarded The Riedel trophy for WSET Educator of the Year, which is the highest honor amongst wine schools. The WSET wine courses offer professional certification to students from the most internationally recognized institute in the world.

Additionally we started running luxury wine tours to classic wine regions which have become very popular because the doors to the great estates are opened for our groups. We also run a home delivery wine club in B.C. and Alberta, working with licensed retailers, who deliver our wine picks to your door. Visit www.finevintagewineclub.com for more information. As a useful resource for the trade, we started a successful Canadian job recruitment site www.winejobscanada.com that has become the #1 job site for the wine industry in Canada. We also have wine employment websites in the United States www.winejobsusa.com, California, www.winejobscalifornia.com and our latest in the UK winejobsuk.co.uk. Our Consultancy division includes prestige clients such as Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Qatar Airways, Crystal Cruises, government, and a number of new wineries.

Our mission, as they say, is to provide the best customer service we possibly can. Just like in wine, quality never goes out of style.