Degustări de Leadership
Leadership is refined over time. Just like wine.
I have led teams for nearly three decades. Across different cultures, at different levels — from operational to strategic, from small teams to large organisations. I have seen what leadership looks like from the inside, with everything it brings: agony and triumph, success and failure, dreams fulfilled and lessons that leave you speechless.
My passion for wine came from curiosity. I loved what happened at tastings and wanted to know what the presenters knew. That is how I found my way to WSET. And there, learning to evaluate wine, I discovered something familiar: the process a wine goes through to become truly remarkable is strikingly similar to the one that shapes an authentic leader.
Both need time. Context and will. Maturation cannot be rushed.
From this discovery, my workshop was born — Degustări de Leadership. Shaped by the blend of experience and passion, it is built on one simple question: what does leadership actually feel like?
What do we do? Through tasting and reflection, the BLIC wine evaluation model — Balance, Length, Intensity, Complexity — becomes a mirror. Not a theoretical one, but a real, immersive one. By comparing wines at different levels of quality and evolution, participants do not just understand concepts — they feel them. And in that space, a unique, deep and honest conversation with one's own way of leading begins.
What stays after? > Greater clarity on leadership styles. Concrete criteria for evaluating the quality of decisions and influence. A finer understanding of balance and depth in leadership. And a new self-awareness that shows up in every decision, every day.
When does the workshop make sense? Whenever you want your leaders to step out of routine and reconnect with what matters. At the start of a new year, when the team needs fresh direction and energy. On the eve of an important change — a new strategy, a restructuring, a merger. As a moment of reflection after an intense quarter, or as a reward for a team that has delivered remarkable results. In management development programmes or as part of onboarding new leaders. At meetings with strategic partners or clients, when you want a memorable experience that leaves something behind. Whatever the context, Degustări de Leadership work wherever there are people who lead and a sincere desire to do it better.
See you at the tasting!
TESTIMONIALS
What sets Iulia apart is her ability to bring together solid leadership experience and a deep understanding of the wine world — not merely as a hobby, but as a way of thinking and working.
In her work with leaders, for example, Iulia brings a rare perspective: that performance is not only about intensity and immediate results, but about consistency, timing and the capacity to read context. Just as a great wine is built over time, leadership becomes relevant and creates lasting impact through sustained choices, not isolated spectacular moments. At the same time, she brings to every interaction a balanced combination of rigour, observation and genuine consideration for the person in front of her. She is attentive to detail without losing sight of the bigger picture, and moves with remarkable ease between structure and intuition — a quality as essential in leadership as it is in the world of wine.
For organisations looking for more than standard interventions, working with her means access to a different perspective: one that places at the heart of development not just results, but the way those results are built, sustained and refined over time.
Viorel Panaite - Human Invest
What struck me most about Iulia's program is something simple but rare: she presents wine the way a friend would: naturally, without hierarchy, from a place of genuine curiosity rather than expertise on display. A sommelier creates distance; Iulia does the opposite. She stands alongside you, sharing a journey she herself is still on, and that makes everything land differently. I found myself reflecting on my own leadership, not because I was instructed to, but because the conversation made it feel natural. It's the kind of experience that means more the second time you think about it.
Serban Toader - Co-founder Fraxen