It’s her passion for wine that has seen Cecilia Oldne move from Sweden to Mumbai, where she’s now been based for ten years, as VP of Marketing and Global Brand Ambassador of Sula Vineyards. In an interview with Hi! Blitz, she talks about how the energy of the city drives her and the many wonders like yoga that India’s exposed her to.
You were a sommelier in your hometown of Sweden. What led you to studying wine and taking it up as a profession?
My father is a wine connoisseur. So, as compared to other families who would go to the beach for a holiday, my father took us to vineyards in Europe. I was very young at the time and naturally couldn’t drink any wine, but I was exposed to the life of wine producers. In fact the first time I tasted wine I didn’t like it because it was a red wine that was too dry for me. But then I started getting more interested and tasting other types—and found the sweeter white wines were more to my palate.
Was being a sommelier something you always wanted to be or did it happen by accident?
I was studying international business and marketing, but it was my godfather who was in the wine business (one of the first people to bring South African wines into Sweden), who offered me a job in his family company. I thought, whatever happens, the two things people will always want is to consume good food and good alcohol. So in terms of a business plan it was great (laughs). I slowly started learning about wines, building brands around wines and realised that I had to know more than the consumer—that’s when I decided to become a sommelier.
How did you end up joining Sula Vineyards? Was India even in your headspace?
This story is from the March/April 2017 edition of Hi!BLITZ.
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This story is from the March/April 2017 edition of Hi!BLITZ.
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