Lyn Farmer is Engaging the Senses

Lyn Farmer, DipWSET, is a James Beard Award-winning wine and food writer, WSET certified wine educator, broadcaster and arts educator. As the post-nominal indicates, Lyn holds the prestigious WSET Diploma. He is the author of the Engaging the Senses blog on this site, as well as director of VeritageMiami, one of Florida’s most successful charity wine events benefitting United Way Miami, having netted nearly $20 million over the festival’s 26 years.

As a WSET Certified Educator, Lyn teaches a variety of courses for Fine Vintage, Ltd, North America's leading presenter of courses for the London-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust. In addition to teaching WSET Courses in six cities (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York and Washington, DC), Lyn also leads other courses for Fine Vintage, including the Sensory Master Class and French Wine Professional. Additionally, Lyn leads seminars for many Italian, French and Portuguese trade groups and he has been a judge at international wine competitions.

Lyn also conducts a series of seminars on the hidden synergies of wine and the arts and how to engage all your senses to better experience art in every form, including daily life. Lyn is a popular public speaker on how to use an appreciation of wine, food and art to better understand and enjoy the endeavors and experiences of daily life.

Lyn is an extensively published writer on food and wine who was Senior Editor of The Wine News from 1991 to 2009, and has written for other national publications including Tasting Panel, Somm Journal and The Clever Root.

Lyn’s background in the arts and hospitality is extensive. Formerly director of entertainment of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, and wine and spirits ambassador for Silversea Cruises, Lyn has consulted for the hospitality industry, museums, and performing arts organizations. In the process, he has led dozens of tours to the world's major wine regions and given hundreds of presentations, not only on food and wine but also on the visual and performing arts, international communication and cultural exchange.

For more than a decade Lyn was restaurant critic of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper and Miami Herald, and is the author of the Louis Vuitton City Guide Miami.

In addition to his WSET Diploma (the top certification of the Wine and Spirits Education Trust), Lyn is also certified by the Society of Wine Educators (CSW) and the Sake Education Council in Tokyo (CSP), as well as the governing bodies of the Champagne Region (CIVC) and the Portuguese wine industry (IVDP). A widely recognized authority on the wines of Champagne, Lyn was elected Chevalier and then Officer of the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne, an association of the great houses of Champagne. In 2018 he was elected a Caballero of the Association of Port Wine Producers.

An avid traveler and photographer, Lyn began his professional career in the United States Foreign Service with the U.S. Information Agency specializing in cultural affairs, finally serving as director of cultural programming for Voice of America. He has worked with National Public Radio (where he was host of the Peabody Award-winning program Music from Washington), and created many audio guides and tours for prominent American museums including the National Gallery of Art, The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution. He has taught courses in music and art history at the University of Miami and Florida International University and was the program annotator of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra and Symphony of the Americas. For a dozen years Lyn was program director and morning host of South Florida classical music and jazz radio station WTMI-FM.

Connect with Lyn on the Contact Page