Konstantinos Lazarakis

Konstantinos Lazarakis M.W. (born May 24th, 1970) is a wine educator, wine journalist, author and wine consultant based in Piraeus, Greece. He is the first and, so far, the only Greek to achieve the prestigious Master of Wine professional qualification, a highly regarded title that less than 300 people hold around the world. Lazarakis is also the holder of three distinctions related to the Master of Wine exam or membership to the Institute of Masters of Wine: the Villa Maria Award for an outstanding paper on viticulture, the Madame Bollinger Medal for excellence in the wine tasting exam and the Quinta do Noval Award for being the MW communicator for the year 2006.

Lazarakis studied Mechanical Engineering in the National and Technical University of Athens and Jazz Guitar in the Aeolian School of Music. He entered the wine industry in 1994, working as a sommelier for Bajazzo in Athens, the first restaurant in Greece to be awarded a star from the Michelin Guide. He relocated in London, UK in 1995, where he worked for the Oddbins retail chain and for Sir Terrence Conran Restaurants.

After seven years of studying, Lazarakis finally passed all parts of the Master of Wine exam in 2002. Since then, he has been an active mentor of MW students and, for years 2007 to 2009, the Second Year European Course Coordinator for the Educational Programme of the Institute of Masters of Wine. He currently sits at the IMW council.

Currently, he owns Wine and Spirit Professional Consultants Ltd, an educational organisation in Athens that runs the trade qualifications of the London based Wine & Spirit Education Trust. He writes for Status, a life style magazine from Liberis Publications SA, and for Ampelotopi, Greece’s only wine trade newspaper, published by Vinetum Ltd. Lazarakis’ articles appear regularly in the international wine press and in publications like UK’s Decanter Magazine and Wine and Spirit Magazine. He judged in international wine competitions / shows in Australia, USA, UK, South Africa, Belgium, Portugal and Greece.