Sebastien Gavillet

Sébastien Gavillet (born June 21, 1973) is best known as a Swiss winemaker, wine and whisky consultant, author and speaker. He is sometimes called "The nose" and he leads the judging panel of the International Whisky Competition.

He was born in Geneva, Switzerland of Swiss and Swedish parents. He was raised in Tanzania, Japan, Switzerland and USA. He attended the Canadian Academy in Kobe, Japan and Lycée Franco-Japanais in Tokyo. In Switzerland he attended Ecole Nouvelle (ENSR) and subsequently Lémania College in Lausanne, Switzerland. He studied at Southern Utah University in Cedar City where he graduated in Managerial Economics. He became interested wine in 1987 when he worked in the vineyards as a student. His father, a professional coffee taster, tutored him in the art of tasting.

In 1999 he changed career and became a wine consultant and nose for hire. In 2001 he was hired as the Chief Operating Officer for Wine Aromas – Le Nez du Vin where he oversaw the North American expansion and the educational branch for the company. He continues to work as their COO. In 2005, he started winery consulting.

In 2006, as a wine writer, he created the first multilingual wine blog, winevibe.com which was translated into nine languages and read in over 180 countries. He appeared on the Splendid Table and other radio programs. He also hosted wine events. He is the recurring judge at the Mondial du Pinot and Mondial du Merlot.

In 2010, he went into business with Kelly McAullife and Luc Baudet, forming SLK Production. In 2012, they featured their wines at the Hospice du Rhône in Paso Robles. He writes on wine, whisky and food in newspapers and magazines.

As a professional taster he has already sampled over 100,000 wine and spirits in his career.

In 2008, Gavillet started working on a book titled Discovering and Mastering Single Malt Scotch Whisky, where he spent five years researching whisky. This was published in February 2013. Later that year, he released the WhiskyVibe app, a professional whisky tasting note generator which he designed initially for his personal use. In 2015 he was hired as the Head of Tasting Panel for the International Whisky Competition, where he designed and implemented a new whisky tasting and scoring methodology for the competition.

Gavillet is married and has two children. He shares his time living between Fort Collins, Colorado and Las Vegas, Nevada. He also travels regularly to Europe and Asia.