Alpana Singh, the world’s youngest wine sommelier, has stirred up a storm in champagne flutes across the world.

Raised in sunny California, this wine maven was brought up by strict Sikh parents who didn’t know a thing about alcohol. After high school, Alpana Singh waited tables at a fine dining restaurant while she figured out what she wanted to do with her life.

Following an intensive wine-training programme, she took the exam for the Court of Master Sommeliers and, at 21, became the youngest person ever to pass. Alpana then travelled through Europe, exploring vineyards and tasting hundreds of wines a day at stores. She passed the advanced master sommelier diploma at 26 (again the youngest to do so), the highest distinction in her field, which places her amongst 47 graduates in the US, only eight of who are women.

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