At long last, we have begun development of our Spanish Wine Scholar program! The program is spearheaded by Rick Fisher, a San Diego resident of Catalan descent. Rick’s passion for his Spanish heritage and a desire to educate others about Spanish culture, food, and wine led him to create Bodega:...

Pascaline Lepeltier, MS, discusses the itinerary for the upcoming WSG Study Trip to her native Loire. In this podcast interview with Decanter's Andrew Jefford, Pascaline discusses the Loire’s best and brightest…all of which happen to be estate visits on the upcoming five-day journey she'll be...

Much has been written about the beautiful Loire Valley, well known as “the garden of France.” The wine region follows the meandering Loire River more than 600 miles through the gently rolling hills of a picturesque countryside. There is an abundance of vines and food crops in this fertile stretch...

I am pleased to share my Burgundy wine tour experience with the Wine Scholar Guild, as it was the trip of a lifetime. My wife and I arrived a couple of days early and enjoyed fine wine and dining in Paris before our quick train trip over to Beaune (via Dijon). We spent Sunday on our own, touring...

Recently, Barbara Philip MW hosted a virtual food and wine tour webinar for the Wine Scholar Guild. The cuisine of central Italy is as fascinating as it is delicious. This is where tomatoes and olive oil begin to replace the butter and cream of the north. Heavy, stuffed pastas give way to long...

The Wine Scholar Guild’s French Wine Scholar (FWS) Program received official endorsement as an approved wine certification program from Skillsfuture Singapore! The Skillsfuture is a national movement that encourages individuals to take ownership of their skills development and lifelong learning....

The Wine Scholar Guild is excited to announce the list of 2016 top exam scorers from around the world! Bravo! French Wine Scholar Program 1. Lillian Lim (California, USA) - Score: 100% ''My certifications include: Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, Certified Specialist of...

As everywhere, it is the nature of the geography that most influences the food and drink traditions of the Jura and Franche-Comté. The diverse landscape of mountains, dense forests, high meadows, vineyards, lakes and the river plain have all shaped what the local population ate and drank....

The 6th Edition of the French Wine Scholar program has just been released! The FWS manual has been fully updated and reformatted into a perfect binding (no more spiral!) with: New, custom-designed maps New charts, graphics and rich imagery Need-to-know icons now mark all AOCs that count as test...

Sadly, time has marched on, since the fantastic Bourgogne Immersion Trip I took with the Wine Scholar Guild lead by Andrew Jefford, October 23 – 28, 2016. Everyone on the trip was definitely a “wine nerd” but the group was composed of a mix of wine industry professionals, wine students of all...

Meeting Andrew Jefford today could easily lead one to believe that he was born knowing enormous volumes of information about the wines of the world, and has always been able to explain them in the manner of a poet laureate. As the leader of a 2016 Wine Scholar Guild study tour of Southwest France,...

Lonely Planet has released their Best in Travel 2017 guide about THE places to visit in the next year…and Bordeaux tops their list as the No. 1 city destination in the world! Bordeaux contains more preserved historical buildings – such as Place de la Bourse – than any city in France aside from...

ITALIAN WINE SCHOLAR PROGRAM RECEIVES ENDORSEMENT FROM THE ITALIAN TRADE COMMISSION The Wine Scholar Guild’s Italian Wine Scholar Program received official endorsement from the Italian Trade Commission (ITA).The Italian Trade Commission is a governmental body whose role is to promote the...

Top Italian Wine Scholar student at IWEG Drinks Academy in Toronto will WIN a Study Trip Scholarship to Italy! IWEG, our exlusive Program Provider in Toronto, is pleased to announce the Italian Trade Commission in Canada as its first Gold Sponsor with the sponsorship of the new Italian Wine...

Italian red wines may get all the attention, but insiders know that Italian whites are as varied and interesting as the country’s reds. Italy’s multitude of mountains and hills ensures wines with bright acidity—the hallmark of Italian whites. Acidity is what makes a wine food friendly, and Italian...

The Super-Whites of FriuliIn the late 1970s, the producer, Jermann, created Vintage Tunina, a complex blend of native and international white grapes that became iconic among Friuli’s superior white blends. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Jermann inspired several other Friuli producers,...

Collio (or Collio Goriziano) DOC Collio’s vineyards date back to pre-Roman times; they were of renown then and are held in high esteem now. Their impressive whites are considered the finest in Friuli and are among the finest in Italy.

Friuli Grave DOC Friuli Grave was previously called Grave del Friuli but is often simply referred to as Grave. This is the largest DOC, both in terms of area under vine and in production. It accounts for more than one-third of Friuli’s total wine production.

Advances in the cellars coupled with better vineyard management and Friuli’s natural gift of a temperate climate, resulted in concentrated wines with an extra layer of richness. From the 1970s onward, Friuli gained commercial success and popularity for its white wines.

The Wine Scholar Guild announces its worldwide launch of a new study and certification program on the wines of Italy. The Italian Wine Scholar Program was created by Maurizio Broggi, native Italian, DWS and Certified Sommelier, who joins the Wine Scholar Guild as Education Director for Italy. This...