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Jacopo Mazzeo Wine Education & Careers
Let's face it: Bordeaux is struggling. A recurring theme during my latest visit was producers lamenting declining sales, despite their wines tasting rather delicious. In January, the Gironde Chamber of Agriculture reported that more than 1,320 winegrowers were facing financial challenges – a...
Jacopo Mazzeo Wine Culture
“The couple at number 12 wants to see you,” my assistant told me, returning from what I immediately knew was going to reveal itself as a tricky table to please. At the time, I was managing the wine list of a charming modern-British restaurant with rooms in the New Forest, a fairytale-like national...
Jacopo Mazzeo Regional Spotlight
Zaza Kbilashvili's workshop lies in the village of Vardisubani, a short distance west of Telavi, the cultural centre of Kakheti wine country in Eastern Georgia. From the outside, Zaza’s home might seem unassuming, but once through the gate, its rustic yet elegant and bucolic appeal unfolds. A...
Jacopo Mazzeo Wine Education & Careers
Wine is fermented grape juice…in theory. However, in practice, modern wine may be made by using a wide array of compounds aimed at facilitating the winemaking process, enhancing the product’s organoleptic qualities, or simply fixing problems before or after they arise.
Jacopo Mazzeo Regional Spotlight
Ferran Adrià’s legendary restaurant El Bulli defined modernist cuisine. The restaurant had an undeniable influence on haute cuisine trends both in Spain and across the globe. For 13 years, its wine programme was led by sommelier Ferran Centelles. Ferran continues to work with Adrià at the...
Jacopo Mazzeo Wine Education & Careers
Sherry producers like to say they deal with two types of terroir. “First,” says Fermin Hidalgo, owner of leading Sanlúcar de Barrameda-based Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana, “the ‘classic’ terroir we all know: climate, soil, etc. The second terroir is the one related to the wineries… Biological ageing...
Jacopo Mazzeo Wine Culture
Pascaline Lepeltier is one of the world’s most respected and modern sommeliers and restaurateurs. Her list of accolades and professional achievements is endless. In 2018, she was the first woman ever to obtain the Meilleure Ouvrière de France in sommellerie (this is a very prestigious award that...
Jacopo Mazzeo Viticulture Insights
“We have a very particular history,” says Miguel Aguirre, vineyard manager at Premier Cru Sauternes estate, Château La Tour Blanche. “After his death, our last owner gave the estate to the French State asking to open a free school in return for his gift. That is why you see so many young people...
Julien Camus Viticulture Insights
Water: the source of life Since our return to Alsace ten years ago, my wife Céline, my daughter Zoé and I never tire of walking the countless hiking trails that crisscross the Vosges, often offering breathtaking panoramas of the mountains and the Alsace plain. On the days when the sky is at its...
Jacopo Mazzeo Viticulture Insights
Without Joker, could Batman ever be a real superhero? Or Sherlock Holmes the world’s greatest detective, if criminal mastermind Professor James Moriarty wasn’t a threat to his very own life? All heroes have nemeses, and vitis vinifera – certainly a real hero to many a wine lover – has one too:...
Joshua Dunning Wine Education & Careers
The Etruscans were the first to produce wine in northern Italy; beginning with wild varieties, they cultivated vines in Piedmont centuries before the Romans arrived. Nevertheless, it was the Romans who advanced commercial winemaking, significantly increasing the area under vine and using props,...
Jacopo Mazzeo Wine Culture
Earlier last month, I ran my first webinar for Wine Scholar Guild (WSG) — an overview of what it means to be a wine journalist and what it takes to turn this into a viable and successful career choice. Ahead of a series of stories I’m going to be regularly writing for the blog and a brand-new...
Emily Lester Regional Spotlight
Uncovering the Secrets of Burgundy's Winemaking Tradition through Immersive Exhibitions, Workshops and Tastings...
Elizabeth Hecker Regional Spotlight
Prioratans have a saying: Si ets calatà, de les pedres treuràs pa. Pero si ets a Priorati, treuràs vi. It means “The Catalan people make bread from stones, but the Prioratans make wine.” Their llicorella rock soils provide the kind of struggle that produces some of the most sought-after wines in...
Andrew Jefford Tasting & Trends
The vintage chart and harvest report provided by the Wine Scholar Guild give you the ranking for every French wine region and vintage from 2000 to today. The most recent vintage report is published two years following the vintage, i.e. the 2021 vintage report was published in 2023. Andrew Jefford...
Rick Fisher Wine Education & Careers
From April 16-21, 2023, Wine Scholar Guild will land on the shores of southern Spain to host a special session of our internationally-recognized Spanish Wine Scholar® study and certification program in the beautiful coastal town of Málaga. If the spectacular weather and roughly 112 miles/180...
Valentine Touzeau 2020 Awards
In 2020, in lieu of program WSG Program Provider Awards, we wanted to provide a tribute to the resiliency and creativity of Wine Scholar Guild Program Providers by allowing them to showcase their story here. Below are just some of the ways that providers adapted to the challenges of COVID-19. READ...
Valentine Touzeau 2021 Awards
The Wine Scholar Guild is pleased to reward the 2021 Instructor and Program Provider of the year awards for each of the following category: French Wine Scholar® and Italian Wine Scholar®. AWSECHong Kong LIM HWEE PENG Singapore WSA WINE ACADEMY Seoul, South Korea MOONSONG BANG Seoul, South Korea...
Andrew Triska Wine Education & Careers
On a blistering June day, my suitcase rattling over the hot cobblestones, I made my way by through the village of Amboise in the Loire Valley, where my tour with the Wine Scholar Guild was about to begin. That night, in an 18th century hotel decorated in a style my spouse describes as “manic...
Albert Sheen Wine Culture
Curious about Wine Scholar Guild trips, dear reader? I’m no expert on wine tourism, but I have been fortunate enough to go on five (!) WSG trips: Alsace, Champagne, Languedoc-Roussillon, Loire, and Rhône. Below I share my thoughts on why these trips were so great and why I keep coming back for more.