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Charles Curtis
Master of Wine
- Discipline
- Other
i. Biography
Authorial wine work is strongest when it can read both the table and the cellar. Charles Curtis brings that combination through culinary training at Cordon Bleu Paris, kitchen work in Restaurants around the world, the Master of Wine credential earned in 2004, and fine-wine advisory through WineAlpha. His published and advisory work sits around great bottles and the cultures that handle them, with attention that includes Champagne, the Rhône Valley, and other regions.
The Path
Classical kitchen training gives wine language a different base: technique, sequencing, palate discipline, and respect for service. Charles Curtis trained at Cordon Bleu Paris before working as a chef at restaurants around the world, where repetition and precision form practical judgment. That kitchen formation became useful in later wine work because it tied evaluation to the table, not only to the cellar or the market. Wine education requires more than correct information; it requires a usable vocabulary for trade, service, and collectors. Charles Curtis was director of wine and Spirit Education at Moet Hennessy USA until 2008, placing instruction and communication at the center of the role. In 2004, he earned the Master of Wine credential, a formal marker of advanced professional wine knowledge. Auction and fine-wine work demand a different discipline: condition, provenance, historical context, regional literacy, and market judgment have to be read together. From 2008, Charles Curtis was head of wine at Christie’s in Asia and the Americas, working within that international fine-wine environment. He later served as Senior Editor at Le Pan Media, where evaluation moved into editorial form through analysis, narrative, and cultural framing. Fine-wine practice now often crosses advisory, editorial, auction, and consulting work rather than staying in one lane. Charles Curtis is founder and fine wine advisor of WineAlpha, Burgundy Consultant of Zachys Auction and Retail, author, journalist, consultant, and columnist of Chinese version of La Revue du Vin de France. The common thread is the handling of wine as an object of craft, value, storage, description, and exchange.
The Work Today
Advisory work in fine wine is practical before it is ornamental. WineAlpha, founded by Charles Curtis, covers buying, selling, storing and shipping fine wine, USPAP-compliant appraisals, and trade advice. Those tasks require judgment around timing, condition, custody, and intended use, because fine wine is perishable, mobile, valuable, and dependent on context. Regional specialization works only when it respects difference in origin, style, and market behavior. Charles Curtis’s broader specialties include Champagne, the Rhône Valley, and other regions. The work treats wine through source, structure, storage, trade position, and the needs of the collector, reader, institution, or professional handling it. Wine writing turns expertise into sequence: what to include, what to leave out, and how to make specialized knowledge legible without flattening it. Charles Curtis’s author role sits alongside work as a journalist and fine wine advisor. Journalism adds timing and perspective; advisory work adds discretion, accuracy, and consequence. Institutional, commercial, and editorial wine work each test a different part of the same skill set. Charles Curtis has worked in education, auctions, media, consulting, authorship, journalism, and advisory. Across those settings, the craft remains the reading of wine: how it is made, valued, stored, described, traded, collected, and understood.
Acclaim
Formal recognition in wine and food culture often marks a specific professional threshold rather than a complete measure of skill. Charles Curtis's honors include Bourse André Crispin (2002).
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Charles
What is Charles Curtis's current role?
As of 2026, Charles Curtis is Founder of WineAlpha.
Where did Charles Curtis train or study?
Charles Curtis trained at Cordon Bleu Paris.
What recognition has Charles Curtis received?
Bourse André Crispin (2002).
