Noriko Nakamura wins Champagne Personality of the Year award

This week at ProWine Tokyo, the drinks business announced Noriko Nakamura as Champagne Personality of the Year 2024 for her work as Japan’s first certified CIVC educator.

Nakamura holds a raft of high-level qualifications to prove her expertise, including those from the Japan Sommelier Association and the USA Society of Wine Educators, as well as the WSET, from which she obtained her diploma in 2013, having gained the highest marks in her year for tasting – and, as a result, picking up the McNie trophy.

Nakamura was welcomed on stage to collect her award by Patrick Schmitt MW, who hosted an exclusive drinks ceremony on 10 April during ProWine Tokyo.

During his speech to welcome Nakamura on stage, Schmitt said: “This accolade is for someone who commands enormous respect for their impressive wine knowledge, someone with an infectious passion for Champagne, and someone with a devotion to educating others.”

Nakamura is the first educator of the Comité Champagne officially certified in Japan. “What excites me,” Schmitt said, “is that her understanding and love of wine has benefitted others, who have learnt so much from this gifted educator.”

The recipient of the Champagne Personality of the Year award is also a keen kick-boxer, and a linguist, with a BA from the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the Sophia University in Tokyo, having majored in German literature.

Schmitt added, addressing a crowd of exhibitors and visitors at ProWine Tokyo: “In other words, our winner is someone who is at ease discussing the works of Geote or Schiller, as well as a winemaker’s approaches to battonage or dosages.”