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CONTRIBUTORS | LEVON BAĞIŞ

levon bağış

Levon Bağış was born in Istanbul in 1980. While studying Public Administration, he became interested in wine, and this interest has become his professional life by time. He participated in the certificate programmes of Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), London Wine Academy and L’École du Vin. He founded Turkey’s first wine boutique, Kav Boutiques under Kavaklıdere Wines, where he worked as the Wine Marketing Coordinator for four years. Through the years, he published many articles in various journals and magazines, gave lectures and conferences. In 2013, he worked as the consultant of the Gastronomika project hosted by SALT Beyoğlu; in 2016, he was the founding team member of the Yeniyerel Sohbetler (Neolocal Conversations) project, which aimed the identification of the Anatolian cuisine, and was hosted by SALT Galata; and in 2015–2019, taught at the Istanbul-based The Culinary Arts Academy on wine. He was the writer of Şarabın ABC’si (The ABC of Wine, Kavaklıdere, 2016). Bağış has been performing what he likes most, i.e. oenology, as his profession in the last 19 years; continuing to be the jury member of the London-based and one of the most prestigious wine competition International Wine Challenge since 2016; writing regular columns at the Agos newspaper and digital magazines like GastreaMag and Ruhun Doysun (Food for Soul), and continuing to be the founding-partner of FOXY Local & Real, the only natural wine-bar and bistro in Turkey where the wines from locally produced grapes are served, and a consultant under his firm OBUR.