About

Gurvinder Bhatia is an international wine personality and community advocate. He is the editor-in-chief and publisher of Quench Magazine – North America’s longest-running wine and food publication – and president of Quench Media & Experience Corporation. Gurvinder is also an international wine judge, commentator, educator and consultant and president of Vinomania Consulting. Gurvinder was the owner/founder of Vinomania wine boutique (opened in 1995, closed in 2016), which was named on numerous occasions among the best wine stores in Canada. In addition, Gurvinder was the wine columnist for CBC Radio for 11 years and wine columnist for Global Television for 14 years and is certified by Vinitaly International Academy as one of only 22 VIA certified Italian Wine Experts in the world. He is also certified by the Spanish government as a Spanish Wine Specialist. Gurvinder’s belief that wine and food get their context from people, place, culture and history has resulted in his helping to transform the culinary landscape and the manner in which people relate to wine. He leads numerous tastings, seminars, classes and events for industry and consumers around the world and has created numerous unique opportunities for people to learn about and appreciate quality wine as, for example, the wine and music pairing curator for Interstellar Rodeo, wine and culinary consultant and mentor to numerous members of the wine and restaurant industries, in 2015 & 2017 creating the immensely successful Northern Lands – the largest all-Canadian wine and culinary festival that had ever been held, to bringing Vinitaly’s touring show to Edmonton (the smallest market in which it has ever been held – but one of the most successful), and in 2024 creating the Mad Cool Vino Español – Spain Uncorked festival which served to raise the profile of the diversity of Spanish wine, food and culture. Gurvinder is a recovering lawyer and in addition to his law degree (JD), he also earned his master’s degree in business administration (MBA) with honours. In 2015, Gurvinder was named by Alberta Venture Magazine as one of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People.