About me

About me
In the vineyards in Chianti Classico, Tuscany

I'm Paul Caputo, wine writer and critic

I write about travel, culture, history, geography, people, and business through the lens of wine.

Please feel free to get in touch.

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Highlights

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Tastes and scores over 2000 wine per year
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Writes for publications such as Decanter, The Buyer & Vinorandum
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Award winning wine writer
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Italian Wine Ambassador with the VinItaly International Academy
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Travels frequently to visit wine regions all over the world
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Public speaker at events such as Wine2Wine in Verona
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Judge at international competitions such as Mundus Vini, 5 Star Wines and Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.
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Orvieto Wine Ambassador
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Technology enthusiast: Co-founded the Vinorandum platform

Bio

Paul Caputo is an award winning UK wine writer, critic and media entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the wine business. Starting his career as a specialist importer of boutique Italian wines for a high net worth private client list, he continued to develop his business online and ultimately into a city centre wine bar and retail unit. During this time Paul wrote for specialised wine and lifestyle publications, producing regular columns for print and digital. In 2008 he collaborated with an oenologist to produce his own Aglianico del Vulture red wine which was distributed in the UK.

In 2014 he co-authored a published guide to the Wines of North Macedonia. He judged in numerous OIV wine competitions in Europe, including IWSC, Mundus Vini, Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, Bucharest Wine Competition, Citadelles du Vin, Concorso de Vermentino, a number of winemaker technical panels in Bulgaria and Serbia. Paul was also a panel chairman for successive years at 5 Star Wines in Verona.

He has also been a guest speaker twice at Wine2Wine, a well known wine business marketing conference, as well as in the Balkans on subjects such as the development of wine tourism. Over time Paul developed a specialism for Italian and Balkan wines. He completed the notoriously difficult Italian wine Ambassador exam with the VinItaly International Academy. He collaborated with The Buyer to produce The Italian Job podcast with Richard Siddle. He has won a Millesima award and a Hungarian Wine Writing award for his writing. He has participated in around 150 press trips and been invited on many more.

In recent years, he has chosen to focus on Vinorandum, a large wine scale technology project that provides in depth guides and reports on wine regions, grapes and producers. This project is now venturing into wine tourism with a new (in beta) project called Wine Cities, essentially providing information and recommendations for focussed wine travel experiences. As a critic, Paul tastes and scores wines using the 100 point system and is particularly recognised and respected in Italy with producers frequently using his scores as an important part of their sales engine. In 2023 he completed an invite only ambassadorial course with Orvieto DOC. Paul is considered one of the wine trade’s next-generation writers and communicators.


Vinorandum - Founder

Vinorandum is a wine search engine designed to be a reference tool for consumers looking to learn more about the world's wines regions, grapes and producers. Along with other international wine critics, I store my own tasting notes here.

Judging

I've had the opportunity to judge in some international competitions around Europe.

2023

  • Mundus Vini, Deidesheim, Germany
  • Concours Mundial (Sparkling), Naples, Italy

2022

  • Mundus Vini, Deidesheim, Germany
  • 5 Star Wines, Verona, Italy (Panel Chairman)

2021

  • 5 Star Wines, Verona, Italy
  • Mundus Vini, Deidesheim, Germany

2020

  • Mundus Vini, Deidesheim, Germany
  • Concorso di Vermentino, Sardinia, Italy
  • 5 Star Wines, Verona, Italy (Remote judging)

2019

  • Bucharest International Wine Competition, Bucharest, Romania (May)
  • Citadelles du Vin, Bordeaux, France
  • Mundus Vini, Deidesheim, Germany

2018

  • IWSC 'Georgia / Russia' (associate), Guildford, UK
  • Concours international des vins à Lyon, Lyon, France
  • Vinaria, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

2017

  • Citadelles du Vin, Bordeaux, France
  • IWSC 'Spain' (associate), Guildford, UK
  • Bucharest International Wine Competition, Bucharest, Romania
  • Concours international des vins à Lyon, Lyon, France
  • Vinaria, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Awards

Publications

The Macedonian Wine Guide 2014/ co-authored with Ivana Simjanovska

Past projects

Caputo Wines - 2008-2018 - online wine merchants - owner

Mistral Wine Bar and Shop - 2018-2019 - wine bar in Chester specialising in fine wines from small growers - investor

Personal

Qualifications:

  • WSET
  • VinItaly International Academy - Italian Wine Ambassador

Education:

  • BA Degree - Politics and International Relations - Lancaster University
  • A Levels - Economics, History, English Literature

Languages

  • English (Mother)
  • Italian (Fluent)
  • French (Basic)