Born in Aotearoa New Zealand, Wayne is a hospitality professional with over twenty years in the game, who has lived Australia, Brazil, Japan and England. He’s a Certified Sommelier from the Court of Master Sommeliers, and achieved a distinction from the French Wine Scholar programme. In 2017 Wayne came second in the New Zealand Sommelier of the year competition and in the same year was also selected by Wine Australia to attend the 50 Sommeliers of the World programme. In 2018 he was one of only nine applicants in Australasia to be accepted to the Inaugural Family of XII Wine Tutorial.

Martial arts have played a large role in his life, and his studies eventually brought him to Japan, where he currently resides. Here he was introduced to the world of sake, becoming the first New Zealander, and third in the Southern Hemisphere, to achieve the Advanced Level of Certified Sake Professionals. Author of the e-book Demystifying Sakè, he has worked in breweries in Ishikawa, Saga, and Gifu Prefectures, while visiting many more.

Should you be in Japan you’ll often find him at Rangitoto Tokyo, a small New Zealand wine and craft sake bar he owns and operates with his wife, or perhaps on the Clubhouse app running regular rooms helping to spread the good word of sake and kiwi wine.