wine education

Wine Scholar Guild (WSG) is delighted to announce that Christopher Martin MW has joined the team as Director of Education. As one of the very most recent individuals to achieve the Master of Wine certification in February 2024, Christopher has a strong background in education, with over 18 years of teaching a range of students from primary schools to graduate-level courses. 

After nearly two years of hard work, we are thrilled to present the Wine Scholar Guild’s latest certification course… The Spanish Wine Scholar® (SWS) Program! The program officially launches in October of 2019, but it is already garnering significant attention around the globe.

Congratulations to Doug Homoky, FWS, for passing the French Wine Scholar exam with highest honors! About Doug:  I am currently a Gastroenterologist but my passion for tasting and learning about wine has been steadily growing for the past 20yrs.  The study of wine is

Congratulations to Emanuele Bertazzoni, FWS, for passing the French Wine Scholar exam with highest honors! About Emanuele: I am 41 years old and I have been working in the business for several years. Originally born and raised in Milano, Italia I have now been living in

To understand the Southern Rhône, get to grips with Grenache, says Matt Walls.

Congratulations to Federico Lleonart, SWS, for passing the Spanish Wine Scholarexam with highest honors! About Federico: I’m a wine professional with over 20-year experience. Originally from Argentina, I’ve worked in the hospitality business for a decade as a Somm and

Walking along the path that leads to the summit of the Cartizze hill, the town of Santo Stefano gradually emerges in the distance, its bell tower and a few quaint houses standing as a punctuation mark amidst the harmonious mosaic of woodland patches and vineyards.  Like real-life topographic contour lines, the intricately arranged, labyrinthine rows of Glera vines ascend and wind through the characteristic, humpy “hogback” hills. Ciglioni – small, narrow cultivated terraced plots that have been utilised here since at least the 17th century – lend rigour and a sense of order to the vegetative profligacy of this landscape.

In 2024 Wine Scholar Guild proudly announced the Albert Sheen Memorial Scholarship in memory of our dear friend and dedicated wine traveler, Albert Sheen. The scholarship application invited applicants to discuss the challenges of climate change in Bourgogne. We received a number of truly exceptional submissions and thank all our participants for their in-depth essays and perspectives. The selection committee has selected Marek Zelewski and is pleased to share his winning essay below. Marek has been awarded a seat on our upcoming Bourgogne Masters Immersion taking place in May 2024. Albert would have been honored to witness the positive energy and enthusiasm that this scholarship has ignited. A medium-acidity, off-dry, full-bodied white with aromas of baked yellow apple, starfruit, mango and ripe pineapple, pronounced notes of lemon curd, vanilla and pie crust, paired with elevated alcohol lingering on the palate. While it sounds delicious if one’s looking for a fun wine substitute for a tiki cocktail, hardly anybody would place this Chardonnay on the map anywhere close to Burgundy. However, given the predicted increase in its average temperatures (1), fast forward to 2050 and it could well be a glass of Mâconnais. While certainly not great for those taking blind-testing exams, the consequences of climate change for the French wine industry will be way more far-reaching. 

Picture a wine student in an exam, glass in hand, working methodically through the grid: clarity, intensity, aroma, palate, structure. She's been trained to be objective, to leave her biases at the door, to divide the whole into its component parts: acidity, tannin, fruit, oak—and reassemble them into a neat summation. She might even get the ‘right’ answer, but has she actually tasted the wine? This scene plays out in tasting rooms and wine schools around the world, every day. It's the foundation of modern wine education: systematic, analytical, replicable. And for certain purposes—building vocabulary, developing sensory memory, passing standardized exams—it works. It corresponds perfectly to the reductionist paradigm from which it springs. And yet, something essential is missing. Wine becomes an object to be decoded and dominated rather than an experience to be lived and moved by. The taster becomes a technician rather than a participant.

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

 The wine journalist and critic, Andrew Jefford was recently interviewed by Gavin Smith for the blog of wine merchant Fine+Rare. Words from Andrew on this thought-provoking interview: "I asked him to leave out the softballs, as 'polite' or 'respectful' interviews are tedious.  He didn't actually lay

Appellations can orient us, but the producer ultimately determines what reaches the glass. 

We would like to thank Peter Weygandt, one of the most highly respected importer of French wine in the USA, for taking the time to carefully review the French Wine Scholar® study manual and write us such beautiful words of testimonial. PETER'S FULL TESTIMONIAL ABOUT THE FRENCH WINE SCHOLAR® MANUAL "To anyone for whom knowledge of the subject of French wine is important, I would

Chris Martin MW joins the Wine Scholar Guild as our new Director of Education. Simon J Woolf spoke to him about his background and what he’ll be bringing to the role. There’s an assumption in the wine world that if you’re knowledgeable in your subject area, ergo you can teach. Chris Martin MW wants to challenge that idea. Unusually for the sector, he started out in the world of education and latterly cross-trained in wine.

Meet Alessandra Esteves MAES, DipWSET, FWS from Florida Wine Academy, a new Wine Scholar Guild approved program provider in Miami, Florida. Her first French Wine Scholar session started August 7th with another one scheduled to begin November 28th 2018. Learn more HERE. Give us a bit of background on your history in wine and your wine school, the Florida Wine Academy.

Meet Géraldine Gossot, Director of l'Université du Vin in Suze la Rousse, new French Wine Scholar® program provider in France! The first FWS session at l'Université du Vin is scheduled to begin December 2nd 2019, more information and registration HERE L'Université du Vin is one of the oldest wine education centers in France... Can you tell us more about the University, its origin, mission and importance in wine education in France?

Meet Jeni Wilson, founder of Vintage Class in Aranda de Duero, first wine school to launch the French Wine Scholar® in Spain! Their first FWS is scheduled to begin January 22th 2020, more information and registration HERE. Vintage Class will also offer the Spanish Wine Scholar® in 2020! Could you give us a bit of background on your personal and/or professional history in wine and what made you decide to move into wine education?

Meet Jörg Philipp, founder of Degustar in Stuttgart, first wine school to offer our brand new Spanish Wine Scholar® program in Germany! Your company, Degustar, is based in Stuttgart, Germany but you also work in Shanghai, China. Can you please summarize all the activities offered by Degustar in Germany and in China?

Meet Julien Boulard aka "Zhulian", one of China's most well-known French wine professionals with over 40,000 followers on Weibo. We are truly thrilled to welcome Julien, a Frenchmen of passion and talent, to bring the French Wine Scholar study & certification program to Nanning and Guangzhou. The first sessions will be announced shortly on Zhulian Wines' Weibo page. Q1. Julien, give us a brief background on your history in wine and your wine school After completing a Master in International Affairs (which I took because they offered intensive Chinese classes), my first job was for a wine importer located in a small Chinese city called Nanning. Well, small as in six million habitants…! The boss obviously offered me the job because I was French, and this particular feature could help bring some “authenticity” to his company. I wasn’t keen on being just a white face who could speak Chinese, so I decided that I had to study wine to add another string to my bow.

Massimiliano Guerra, IWS, FWS, Wine Enthusiast We have our first ever perfect score on the Italian Wine Scholar exams!