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Steve Thurlow is a passionate wine aficionado who has had a long history with wine. He is Senior Editor at Wine Access, Canada's national wine and food magazine and principal critic and partner in WineAlign.com, the Facebook of wine in Canada.

Around 20,000 people each month receive his report on the best value wines in Ontario. Typically over 5,000 read it and make a smart buying decision as a consequence.

Steve is an internationally recognized wine judge. He has been a regular member of the judging team at Decanter World Wine Awards each year and has judged in the past at Sindaco in Italy, Veritas in South Africa, Vinitaly in Verona, and many other competitions.

Steve is the Education Director for IWEG, which delivers the International WSET Education program in Ontario, accepted as the benchmark of wine education throughout the global trade. IWEG has been educating trade and wine lovers since 1977.

Graduates of IWEG are amongst the “Who’s Who” of the Ontario and Canadian Alcohol Beverage Industries, counting amongst its graduates key buyers and category managers in the LCBO, Master Sommeliers and Masters of Wine in Canada.

He established Wine Cellars as a wine agency in 1993 to import wine into Ontario. It grew steadily until it was incorporated into Corby Distilleries in 1999 on his appointment as Director of Wine for Canada, a position he held until April 2001.

Upon leaving Corby, Steve established his wine education and communication business, Wine for Life. The company is involved in the training and education of hotel and restaurant wine staff and wine agency personnel. Additionally, Steve frequently conducts wine education sessions on behalf of international trade agencies and leads wine exploration travel trips to Sicily, Central Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Greece and South Africa.

In the past he has spent much time organizing Toronto's annual international wine festivals. Steve was on the executive team of the Santé wine festival from 2003 -2008.

He is married with two daughters aged 15 and 17 and lives in Caledon, about an hour's drive north of Toronto, in rural Ontario. He holds a degree in Software Engineering from Imperial College, University of London, England.