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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

Taurasi, Southern Italy’s greatest red wine, has enjoyed a spectacular and highly distinctive history. The wine is capable of extremely lengthy cellaring, as examples from the 1940s and 1950s prove even today; in fact versions from the 1928 and 1934 vintages are still

For wine lovers, there are two Languedocs...

In Zen, there’s something called "Beginner’s Mind". It’s a state of mind where you aren’t hemmed in by your judgements. You are able to see the world fresh--without pre-conceptions. That’s an apt description of how I was feeling as I began a weeklong deep-dive into Bordeaux with twenty Wine...

Earlier this year, I embarked on the French Wine Scholar (FWS) program; version 7 being the latest update to this ever-popular certification offered by Wine Scholar Guild to wine enthusiasts and professionals alike. Here are my top study tips for passing the French Wine Scholar program!

Of all the styles of sherry, palo cortado is the most ambiguous, and indeed, deliberately so. The Consejo Regulador, sherry’s governing body, defines every other style of sherry in relatively specific detail, yet when it comes to palo cortado, the rules describe it simply as a wine combining the...

When the Consorzio Brunello di Montalcino was established in 1967, one year after the wine received DOC status (it became one of the initial DOCG wines in 1980), there were only twenty-five members. Today, there are more than two hundred Brunello producers; given the reputation of this wine for...

North vs. south For over a century, the unanimity of the Champagne region has been called into question. Separated by departmental lines (départements being administrative regions in France), the Côte des Bar in the southern Aube department was often considered as that distant cousin who always...

Some of the most exciting opportunities within the job market lie within the wine industry. They represent careers which span a remarkably diverse range of talent which among them include winemaking, marketing, consulting, journalism, chemistry, and software development. It is no secret that the...

Have you ever been required to give a group presentation and you were extremely nervous? You may have lost your train of thought, stuttered, repeated yourself, or misspoke? This more than likely resulted in an experience you would rather forget. Presenting in front of a group of any size can be

A lot of hard work goes into investing in your wine career and equally important is making sure that you have developed the right interpersonal skills or what is more commonly referred to as “people skills".

Following the WSG webinar series “Navigating a Career in Wine & Spirits”, it seems like an appropriate time to dive in a little deeper on some of the topics covered. Most would agree that there is no greater investment than the investment you make in yourself!

The term natural wine conjures a plethora of reactions. To some it symbolizes a cultural movement towards honest winemaking, to others it is merely a fad for funky wines. The term is as vague as it is vast. There are some who believe natural should refer only to zero-zero wines (wines that have no...

Post–World War II, global wine production underwent a rapid and profound transformation. New developments in wine science from Montpellier, Geisenheim, and Bordeaux helped clean up wine,

This short article is a follow up to my webinar for WSG of 7th June, 2022. It is primarily a reference piece which aims to give more detailed information than the power point format allows. It includes full listings of the Rive sub-zones, terroir areas identified in studies of the Conegliano...

Wine professionals and consumers share a similar aspiration when they visit a wine region; they want to enjoy the area’s best dining experiences so they can pair their favorite local wines with the territory’s typical food offerings. While commonplace throughout Italy, this situation is nowhere...