Steven Spurrier’s landmark Paris wine school L’Academie du Vin is set to re-launch in an online form.

L’Academie, founded by Spurrier and the late Jon Winroth in 1972 to teach British and American expats about wine, flourished until 1988 when it was bought by the chain Repaire de Bacchus.

The Paris school closed in 1991, but a Tokyo branch, which Spurrier founded in 1986, ‘has become the premier wine force in Japan’, he told decanter.com. He remains its honorary chairman.

The Paris Academie du Vin will be run online by French-controlled wine website Chateauonline, a sister company of Repaire de Bacchus. Chateauonline’s sommelier Jean-Michel Deluc, formerly of the Paris Ritz, will run the school.

Spurrier said he is delighted to see the Academie revived. ‘Jean Michel Deluc is the perfect person to carry on the work begun in 1972,’ he said.

www.academieduvin.fr goes live on 15 May 2007.

Written by Sophie Montagne

Sophie Montagne
Sophie Montagne
Decanter, Journalist, Editor & Adventurer

Sophie Montagne is an adventurer and inspirational speaker based in the UK. She works for Polar Performance alongside fellow adventurer Sandy Hennis, together they completed the record-breaking Ice Maiden expedition in 2018. Formerly, she worked as a freelance journalist and editor, during which time she contributed to The Times, Country Life, Tatler, Good Housekeeping, Horse &Hound, Polo Times and Decanter.