PRINCE WINE STORE TUTORS

Adeline Zimmermann has been deeply involved in the wine industry since an early age, mastering essential aspects of the business at her family's Domaine in Alsace. Following her tenure at a family estate in Burgundy and her position with Wine Australia in London, where she developed a profound appreciation for Australian wine, Adeline pursued a Master’s in International Business in China, concentrating on the Chinese market's perception of French wines. Adeline is a holder of the WSET Diploma, a CMS Certified Sommelier, and a WSET educator.

While serving as the Export Manager for Barton & Guestier, Listel, and Patriarche in the Pacific region, Adeline has been actively studying for the Master of Wine, now in stage 2.

Adeline teaches at our South Melbourne and Sydney stores. 

Aidan manages Bream Creek Vineyard Cellar Door in Tasmania. 
He has recently graduated from the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wine program and WSET Educator Training Program (ETP) in both wine and sake. Aidan loves Sake just as much as he loves wine, and  hopes to teach WSET Sake in the future. 

Aidan teaches at our Hobart and Launceston venues. 

Aine teaches in the Yarra Valley.

The founder of Vininspo! Ed is a highly skilled wine writer and educator. 

Ed has always been fascinated by connections between people and places. He studied modern languages and travelled extensively on the way to a career as a journalist, at first in print and then in digital media and television. From there he took the plunge into wine to further explore the relationship between people and place, and to share with others the wonders of nature and culture. 

This skillset has been given unparalleled potency by specialism in the field. Ed spent almost a decade spearheading the education and marketing drive at top Australian importer and distributor, CellarHand. He followed this up with his role as editor with another cutting-edge wholesaler, Bibendum Wine Co. Over this time, he has judged at wine shows, taken part in the Len Evans Tutorial and been named Australian Dux of the Wine & Spirits Education Trust’s Diploma program, which he continues to teach, as well as Level 2 and Level 3 Awards in Wine. 

Ed teaches at all our Victorian venues.  

Florence Diffey is a Newcastle-based wine educator and co-founder of Vera Wine. 

She began her career in the hospitality industry at the age of 14, working for venues in Melbourne, London, San Sebastian and Copenhagen.

Upon return to Melbourne, Florence completed her WSET Diploma and moved into wine events and education at the Prince Wine Store.

Florence became a certified educator of Level 2 Award in Wines in 2018 and the Level 3 Award in Wines in 2024.

Gabrielle Poy is a key part of the sales team at leading independent Melbourne wine retailer, the Prince Wine Store. Prior to that, she spent 13 years as wine buyer at another Melbourne hospitality icon, the City Wine Shop. She’s also a reviewer for The Real Review and wine judge at both national and local wine shows.

With over 20 years in the wine industry she's worked vintages overseas in both Italy and Spain and is a certified sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, as well as a diploma holder from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET).

Gabrielle is an educator at our South Melbourne store.

Iain has worked in hospitality since the age of 16, building two decades of experience across brasseries, fine dining restaurants and multi-venue hospitality groups. Originally from the UK and now based in Australia since 2019, his career has been shaped by both traditional European wine culture and the energy of the modern Australian dining scene.

He is currently the Group Beverage Manager for Sydney Restaurant Group, where he leads beverage strategy across a diverse portfolio of venues. Alongside his operational role, education has always been central to his approach; developing teams, building confidence on the floor and helping professionals deepen both their technical understanding and commercial awareness.

Iain completed the WSET Diploma in 2024 and is a WSET Certified Educator. He is passionate about making wine education structured, practical and engaging, bridging the gap between theory and real-world application.

Iain teaches at our Sydney store. 

Kayleen currently works at Prince Wine Store, where she's involved in wine sales/customer service, marketing/online content and education. Her working history involves City Wine Shop and wine harvest seasons around Australia and New Zealand. Kayleen has been teaching WSET Level 2 since 2017 and is currently a WSET Diploma student.

Kayleen has been involved with wine shows since 2017, including judging at Yarra Valley, Gippsland, Canberra, Margaret River, Riverland and many more. In 2016, she was awarded joint dux at the Sommeliers Australia Education scholarship that funded flight tickets to Europe, where she visited Burgundy, Loire Valley, Rhone Valley, Piedmont, Veneto, Friuli wine regions and surrounds.

More recently, in 2023 she was a Len Evans Scholar, AKA the best wine week of your life, where she spent 5 days tasting and assessing the top wines of the world.

On weekends, she is spending time with her loved ones (2yo and 5yo boys and partner), going to the market and visiting friends and family.

Kayleen teaches at our South Melbourne store.

Mel Gilcrist brings energy, clarity and a down-to-earth approach to her WSET classes. With a background in wine marketing and communications, wine judging and writing, she makes even the trickiest concepts feel approachable. Mel is passionate about helping students connect theory to the real world of wine – whether that’s decoding a label, navigating a wine list or understanding how concepts come to life in the industry.

Outside the classroom, Mel is Marketing and Communications Manager at Chandon Australia, co-host of Australia’s #1 wine podcast Wine with Meg & Mel, and an experienced wine communicator who loves making wine education feel relevant, inclusive and fun.

Mel teaches at our South Melbourne and Yarra Valley venues. 

After graduating with a degree from University of Bristol in Politics and Spanish BA, Nicola worked as a Sommelier in the UK, while gaining her Yachtmaster qualifications, after which she worked on luxury sailing yachts around the world, taking her across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to French Polynesia, the Galapagos, Norwegian Fjords, Hebrides, and beyond.

With her feet firmly back on the ground, Nicola worked four vintages as a Cellar Hand between England and Australia, before moving to Australia permanently. Given her deep love of and connection to Spain, Nicola spent six years working for The Spanish Acquisition, leading Australian importer and distributor of Iberian wines.

Nicola is a graduate of the WSET Diploma, for which she was awarded the John Avery Vintners' Bursary by the Vintners' Company. Nicola now teaches WSET Levels 2, 3, and 4 in Wine in Melbourne and Geelong and is the Executive Officer at Sommeliers Australia.

Nicola has experience judging wines domestically and enjoys writing about wine. Nicola lives on the coast and loves surfing and spending time with her family at the beach.

Nicola currently teaches at our South Melbourne store. 

Nicole is a freelance writer and wine educator based in Naarm/Melbourne. She is a regular contributor to Winepilot and the Australian and China Wine List of the Year Awards, and has been published in Gourmet Traveller Wine,  James Halliday Wine Companion magazine and Meininger’s Wine Business International magazine.

After completing the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Diploma, she became a WSET certified educator, and now teaches regularly for Prince Wine Store. She is a certified sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers and judges in Australian wine shows.

Nicole teaches at our South Melbourne store. 

Scott McWilliam is a sixth generation winemaker, so it is fair to say that he was born into the Australian wine industry. 

Needless to say, it didn’t take long before he started working in the family business, McWilliam's Wines.

Scott was only 14 when he began helping out at Hanwood Estate in the Riverina.
After leaving school, Scott headed to the famous Bordeaux region in France, for his first full harvest at the age of 19.

Scott then completed a Bachelor of Science at the Australian National University and a Postgraduate degree in Oenology (Winemaking) at the University of Adelaide. 

Scott also gained enormous experience during his time working for the prestigious Australian Wine Research Institute in Adelaide. 

Scott moved to the Hunter Valley, to Mount Pleasant Estate, as Winery Manager & Senior Winemaker in charge of making some of the most highly prized wines in Australia, including James Halliday Shiraz of the year for the 2011 Maurice O’Shea Shiraz, and the multiple trophy-winning and globally praised Lovedale Semillon.

Since then Scott turned his love of wine education into a reality, completing the prestigious Wine & Spirits Education Trust Diploma, which he now teaches at the highest level, across multiple venues to all levels. 

Scott also recently joined the team at Qantas, facilitating wine education for inflight crew. 

Scott has visited over 50 wine regions globally, and currently represents Australia as a professional wine judge in Europe's second largest wine show, held annually in Germany.

He and his wife have recently started a wine travel side hustle in conjunction with Travelrite, hosting wine tours throughout Europe's most famous wine regions.

In his spare time, Scott brews beer and distills spirits, and he just loves to travel.

Scott teaches at our Sydney store. 

Sharon Wild is a highly experienced wine educator with over three decades of wine industry experience. Her journey began in Perth, where a wine appreciation course — along with early work with local wineries and running a university wine club — quickly sidelined any realistic chance of using the degree in Design & Advertising she’s just attained. A stint in the UK led to work in wine retail and exposure to international wines, before returning to Australia and relocating to Sydney, where she lectured in wine appraisal to hospitality students, then worked in brand management for a portfolio of Italian wines across the Asia Pacific, further deepening her desire to study wine seriously.

With limited formal study pathways readily available at the time, Sharon embarked on Master of Wine studies (and passed the tasting component at that time), reintroduced the WSET courses to Sydney in 2001 and taught extensively for several years, while also hosting wine events, writing, judging and serving on tasting panels amongst other freelance projects. Other roles have included a contract with a Superyacht provisioning company in Nice and a Brand Ambassador role with a WA winery.

She’s also had a couple of detours — a Master of Commerce degree & corporate work while in Sydney, and a move to Melbourne & motherhood. She returned to formal wine study during the extended Melbourne COVID lockdowns; completing WSET Level 3 (2021) and the Diploma (2024), and re-engaging in wine education and wine industry work. A Len Evans Tutorial Scholar (2006), Sharon is driven by a lifelong love of learning about wine and an equal enthusiasm for teaching it, with the Master of Wine still quietly sitting on her bucket list.