Manuel Negrete
Mexico Ambassador
mexican.somm
Originally from Mexico City, Manuel began his training at the Mexican Sommelier Academy of the Association of Mexican Sommeliers (ASM; winning the award for the Best Wine List, presented as a final project), obtaining the title of Professional Sommelier Level 1 at the young age of 21.
After obtaining his degree as sommelier, he joined Freixenet de Mexico for a three-year spell, before joining Grupo Gemaric in March 2016, as Operations Manager and consultant. During this period, his partner, Marcos Flores, becomes President of the ASM, so Manuel took over the coordination of events and social networks of the association, as well as the coordination of the Mexican Academy of Sommeliers (AMS) diploma courses. In December 2019 he joined the team of the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI) as part of the marketing and social media team, as well as translating ASI’s newsletter into Spanish. In April 2020, he joined the Wine Bar by Concours Mondial de Bruxelles team as Wine Director.
Besides his certification by the Mexican Sommeliers Association, he is one of only eight Mexican ASI Diploma holders, in addition to being a Certified Sommelier by the Court of Master Sommeliers: Americas. In May 2018 he won the second edition of the ASM Master of Champagne Competition and in December 2021 he obtained second place in the ASM National Sommelier Competition 2021, which enabled him to represent Mexico at the ASI Best Sommelier of the Americas Competition 2022, in Chile.
In addition to his position as Wine Director, he is the only official wine instructor in Mexico endorsed by the Administration of Development of Grape Industry of Ningxia, China; he teaches at the AMS and is a contributor to Buena Mesa, the gastronomic supplement of the Reforma newspaper.