Bill Zacharkiw

Bill began his wine journey at the age of 23, when he opened his own restaurant in downtown Montreal, Quebec. At 33, he became head sommelier at one of Quebec’s top restaurants, the Relais & Chateau L’eau a la Bouche, where he honed his skills as one of the province’s authorities on pairing food and wine.

He writing career began in 2004 with the The Caveman’s Wine Blog, one of the internet’s first. Bill quickly garnered a reputation for his irreverent take on the wine world, his staunch defence of “authentic” wines, his distaste for snobbism, and his willingness to take on the industry’s most sacred cows. Caveman was cited by the Wall Street Journal as one of the five most interesting wine reads on the internet.

Now in his forties, Bill has gone from on-line to ink and for the last 5 years has been the weekly wine writer for the Montreal Gazette. His articles are carried across Canada via National Post.com and other newspapers, making him one of Canada’s most widely read wine writers. He has judged international wine competitions in Canada, Chile and New Zealand where he is known as the critic who prefers to taste barefoot.

Over his 25 years in the wine industry, Bill has garnered a reputation for his irreverent take on the wine world. Whether in writing, on his weekly radio spot on CHOM FM, working the restaurant floor, or in his many speaking engagements, Bill has not strayed from his ideological roots- that wine can be talked about in “real speak,” that wine was meant to be drunk and not idealized, and that no matter how big they may be, every sacred cow should be questioned as to whether or not it should be turned into hamburger.

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