Jacob van Hemessen

Jacob van Hemessen is the Head Sommelier at AALIA Wine Room in Sydney CBD, where he shapes the wine program with a collector’s mindset and technical precision. The restaurant’s team page says he is Canadian-born, began in hospitality at 19, worked across Europe, and later focused on wine after a formative stint at Blind Pig inside London’s Michelin-starred Social Eating House. He returned to Canada to complete WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines in 2021, then worked at a premier Vancouver wine boutique and as Assistant Head Sommelier at Nightingale Restaurant before moving to Sydney.