Early days of a life with wine were spent in the family restaurant and specialist wine merchant business. Since the 1980s Michael has worked in wine education, running his own wine school for over a decade until 2008. He has been involved with a number of wine publications and is presently the German consultant for Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia, Jancis Robinson’s Purple Pages and Hugh Johnson’s/ Jancis Robinson’s World Atlas of Wine. Since his return to Germany he has also become a lecturer at the International Wine Institute at Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler.