About

You see three wines.
I tasted forty to find them.

Cruz Liljegren, Sourcing Director. Two decades in wine — independent, peninsula-based, and paid by producers to act as their export office.

I started in wine in 2008, on the shop floor of Systembolaget, the Swedish alcohol monopoly. Since then: head sommelier for luxury hotels in the Maldives, journalist for The Buyer and Harpers, speaker at wine fairs from Verona to China, and independent export work across Spain and Portugal.

In 2013 I completed a Master’s in Wine Business in Dijon, Burgundy, where a meeting with Becky Wasserman set the course for everything since. As a sommelier with long experience, I know what other sommeliers are looking for on their lists, and how wine buyers think. Every wine I pitch is chosen with that in mind.

I am fully independent: no affiliations, no house wines I need to sell. Spain alone has some 4,000 wineries, and I am free to pick and choose from all of them for any given client.

Two decades in wine

2008
Selling the 2005 Bordeaux vintage at Systembolaget, the Swedish monopoly.
2008
The WineLibraryTV wristband Gary Vaynerchuk mailed from New Jersey to Stockholm.
2012
Bachelor’s in Culinary Arts at Grythyttan; lectures with Gérard Basset.
2012
Winner of the 2012 Robert Mondavi Diploma; with Geneviève Janssens.
2013
Master’s in Wine Business in Dijon; a year among the vineyards of Burgundy — here in Richebourg. A meeting with Becky Wasserman set the course.
2013
Head Sommelier at one of the Maldives’ best wine destinations.
2014
Visiting growers, one vineyard road at a time.
2015
Head Sommelier at Niyama, Maldives; Wine Spectator Best Award of Excellence.
2015
Profiling Javier Ausás, head winemaker of Vega Sicilia, for Vinbanken.
2016
Taking notes on terroir with Benjamín Romeo in San Vicente de la Sonsierra.
2017
Judging at the International Bulk Wine Competition.
2017
Invited by Stevie Kim to speak at wine2wine, Verona, on private label strategy.
2018
Tasting panel with Robert Joseph, Vinitaly.
2018
On stage at the World Bulk Wine Exhibition, Amsterdam — including the vegan wine category.
2019
WBWE Asia, Yantai, China.
2019
Guest lectures at hospitality universities, including César Ritz, Switzerland.
2020
More than 300 wine producers visited across Spain over two decades. Here in Toro.
2020
Tasting with Anselme Selosse in his cellar.
2026
International expansion to the USA; the Iberian Aesthetics stand.