As a sommelier, I went to work in Belgium where I started to import wines from France as well as South Africa. This was my first encounter with SA wines and it made me decide to move to South Africa as a consultant winemaker and wine trader.
Once in SA, I founded Signal Hill, one of the first emerging owner-winemaker operations in the country which focussed on exploring South Africa’s new frontier - being the first to offer Petit Verdot, Grenache or Ice wine to the public.
Through all this, my sommelier passion was strong and I couldn’t hide from the fact that wine is my culture. It made me want to contribute further to the rebirth of the SA wine industry.
In 2013, I created the South African Wine Tasting Championships, and I became the coach of Team South Africa, which participated for the first time in the World Championship in France in 2013.
Jean Vincent Ridon passed his ASI Diploma (April 2017) (Association de la Sommellerie International) in Salzburg in Austria, and is one of only 16 in the world to qualify with a Gold distinction! He is the first in Africa to achieve the ASI qualification.