Dr. Michael Apstein is a judge at the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA).
Dr. Michael Apstein is a columnist, WineReviewOnLine.com, TerroirSense.com and Quench Magazine.
Michael Apstein has written about wine for over three decades. He is currently a columnist and wine reviewer for WineReviewOnLine.com, TerroirSense.com, a Shanghai-based website, and Quench Magazine, Canada’s longest running food and wine magazine. As a free-lance writer, he wrote over 300 wine columns for The Boston Globe newspaper. His writing has also appeared in a variety of U.S. and U.K. publications, including Decanter, Decanter Premium, The San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Magazine, Wine and Spirits, The Wine News, and The Tasting Panel Magazine.
He received a James Beard Foundation Journalism Award in 2000 and was nominated again in 2004 and 2006. In 2008, he won the Les Grands Jours de Bourgogne Press Trophy for an article about Pouilly-Fuissé. In 2010, he was nominated for the prestigious Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards in the best drinks journalist category.
Michael judges frequently at international and national wine competitions, including the McMinnville Wine Competition (2023, Oregon), Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (Sparkling Wines, 2022, held in Anadia, Portugal), Concours Mondial de Sauvignon (2020, held in Blois, France), Concours des Vins du Grand Auxerrois (2019, held in Burgundy), Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (2018, held in Beijing), British Columbia Pinot Noir Festival (2017, held in the Okanagan Valley), Concurso Vinhos de Portugal (Wines of Portugal Challenge, 2016, held in Lisbon), Decanter World Wine Awards, Burgundy Panel (2014, held in London), The Left Bank Bordeaux Competition (2013, held at Château Lafite Rothschild) and the Coupe des Cru Bourgeois du Médoc (2013, held in Bordeaux). In 2012, he was the Chief Judge at the Challenge Millésime Bio (The Organic Wine Competition) held in Montpellier, France.
He is a regular judge at the Critics Challenge Wine Competition, held annually in San Diego, and at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. He has judged at the Dallas Morning News Wine Competition, the LA County Fair, The Riverside (California) International Wine Competition, The Old Ebbitt Grill International Wine for Oysters Competition, and the Concours St. Marc in Châteauneuf du Pape.
Michael is a well-respected wine educator who taught at the Boston Center for Adult Education for 20 years. Bon Appetit magazine chose him as one of five instructors nationwide whose “focused classes closely examine a specific wine producing region or wine style.” He has conducted numerous tastings and seminars for organizations, including the Radisson Cruise Line, the Boston Wine Festival, the Nantucket Wine Festival, The Boston Wine Expo, The Elizabeth Bishop Wine Resource Center at Boston University, The Providence Wine Festival, and the Society of Wine Educators.
Outside the world of wine, Michael is a medical doctor (MD) and works as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is a member of the Division of Gastroenterology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and frequently lectures and writes about health and wine.
Follow Michel on ApsteinOnWine.com where he publishes his columns and reviews, or on Twitter and Instagram @MichaelApstein.
