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Winesights was founded by me, John Switzer.
I have been a wine lover all my adult life and will become a full-time wine professional when I retire from my career. In the meantime, we have created this website to tell our story and to encourage interest in our business and in a series of tours we will conduct starting in July 2005.
I live in Toronto with my family. I am a senior executive of a Canadian-based global information technology and business consulting firm. I am a chartered accountant by profession and was an executive in the Canadian financial services industry for most of my career before becoming a consultant in the early 90's. Early in my career I taught for several years in the MBA program at what is now the Schulich School of Business at York University.
I consider myself to be a wine guide. Whether I am leading a tour group, conducting a custom tasting event or helping you select wines from the vineyards I represent, I am guiding you and helping build your understanding of the fascinating world of wine.
It is my love of teaching that I wish to apply as a wine guide: to help all my fellow travelers develop an understanding of the agriculture, the people, the history and the culture of the home of the wines from the south of France.
Wine is a much more than a colored liquid in your glass: full appreciation of wine is aided by personal knowledge of the context that the wine came from. Winesights will give you that understanding in a way that will be easy to absorb and retain and will help every traveler enjoy wine more fully when you return home.
You might ask why I have selected the south of France as my area of interest. There are several reasons...
Foremost is my love for the wines from this region: these wines offer incredible consistency and value and now enjoy a growing reputation for outstanding quality.
Secondly, there is the appeal for this region of France that anyone who has read any of the Provence series written by Peter Mayle will understand. Even if we choose not to live in the south of France year round, the memories from a vacation here will last all year and beyond!
Finally, this wine region is still relatively undiscovered when compared with the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions of France. I want to share the discovery of this part of the wine world with as many wine lovers as possible.
I am assisted by my wife, Barbara Switzer, who is business manager for the tours business conducted by Winesights.
Barbara is a lawyer who enjoys a successful career in corporate and commercial law, specializing in corporate trust. In addition to her professional career and her job as mother to our daughter, Barbara is an active volunteer and is past chair of the board of a major arts organization in Toronto.
I hope this site encourages you to join us on our journey. Even if you choose not to join us I hope Winesights helps you understand more about the south of France and its wines.
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