Our Team

Tuscan Tasting is a Tuscan company run by professional sommeliers, extra virgin olive oil experts and cheese tasters.

• Our target: to disseminate knowledge about food and wine and to promote quality products in the field of wine, cheese and olive oil.
• Our competence: we are a group of certified sommeliers, olive oil experts and cheese tasters.
• Our approach: since the acquisition of sensory skills are achievable for everyone, our seminars and courses are down to earth. 

Dr. Ulrich Kohlmann
(Wine & Food Travel, Seminars & Product Presentation)

After completing his doctorate in philosophy, he worked for years as a lecturer in Italy, Brazil and Germany before founding a company for tourism services and specialising in wine and food tourism. Ulrich is a sommelier and lecturer of the Italian Sommelier Association A.I.S., cheese taster (O.N.A.F.) and olive oil taster (C.O.I.). From 2011 to 2015 he worked for the "Guida agli Extravergini", the olive oil guide of the Slow Food Association. He writes about wine for the online media Dissapore, Intravino, Doctor Wine and Spiritoitaliano as well as the print media Sommelier Toscana and Civiltà del bere. 

 

Anna Maria Santangelo
(Wine & Food Travel)

After years of work as a tour guide for study trips to southern Italy, Anna Maria, a trained foreign language translator, has settled in Tuscany. Born in Sicily with a talent for communication, she spent more than 15 years working in Germany, England and Switzerland. Anna Maria is a sommelier (A.I.S.) and cheese taster (O.N.A.F.). Travels - no matter in which direction - she likes to interrupt with a stay in Franciacorta.

 

 

Elena Rossi
(Consulting & Employee Training)

After her diploma in wine marketing and training as a sommelier (AIS), Elena worked in the Tuscan restaurants before embarking on her enogastronomic pilgrimage, which brought hert to internationally recognized restaurants in Switzerland (Le Floris), Italy (Piazza Duomo in Alba) and France (Racine in Reims) . Elena is currently working at the Passeur de Vin in Geneva. Although she is magically attracted by the wines of Burgundy, she does not miss any opportunity to discover new things on visits to wine cellars between Italy, Switzerland and France.

 

 

Francesca Raspanti
(Wine & Food Travel)

Francesca comes from a family that has lived in Montepulciano for generations. After completing her master's thesis on the connection between music and painting at the University of Siena, she systematically devoted herself to her passion for wine and cheese: after receiving her sommelier diploma (F.I.S.A.R.), she trained as a professional cheese taster (O.N.A.F.). Approved as a official city guide of the Province of Siena in 2008, Francesca works in the fields of tourism and food and wine marketing. Her perfect wine world is made of Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

 

Christiane Menzen
(Wine & Food Travel)

Her love for art led the Düsseldorf born Christiane to Florence, where she trained as a wood restorer. After a four-year stay in Palermo, she settled in Lucca in 1988. Following her great passion for food and wine, she became a sommelier (A.I.S.). Her favorite restaurants and wine spots are in Sicily and Tuscany, where she leads small groups to discover the connection between wine and the countryside.
 

Stefano Allegrini
(Corsi, Wine & Food tours)

After graduating in German at the Faculty of Philology and Philosophy in Pisa, he spent several study and work stays in Germany.

The passion for wine is constant: a key to interpreting landscapes and culture that is as impressive as it is pleasant, which leads him to carry out tastings and wine tours for a mainly international audience, in addition to his work as a teacher of Italian as a foreign language. He is a sommelier and official taster of the Italian sommelier association A.I.S.