WSG

Summary: In this video we explore the limitations of the various wine tasting grids, and Justin introduces the cross system as an alternative method. Both systems are perfectly valid, but this might appeal to you if you share the same frustrations and want to give a different method a try! About the Speaker: Justin Martindale is the Wine Scholar Guild Membership Manager and one of our in-house Masters of Wine. Justin passed the notoriously challenging MW

With increasingly unpredictable weather in the Côte de Nuits, Matt Walls wonders what the region will look like in 20 years’ time. The past five years in Bourgogne have seen it all. From the hard frost of 2021, to the endless rains of 2024, then the scorching heatwave of 2025. What will the next 20 years bring? I asked some leading winemakers to look ahead and predict what 2045 might look like in the Côte de Nuits and beyond. 

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.

Where are we headed? This is a question which all of us have probably asked ourselves at some point during 2020, as a global pandemic unfolds chaotically across a planet experiencing runaway climate change. Both challenges have directly affected French wine growers, with trade tariffs imposed by the USA on European winegrowers forming a third stress-inducing headwind.

Join May Matta-Aliah, the official BNIA Armagnac Educator who has been working with the region since 2009, for an informational webinar about Armagnac. Wednesday Feb 21st @ 12:00 noon EST May will provide some historical background on Armagnac then bring it to the modern day to discuss some

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 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

After a generous 2018 French-wine harvest, nature has dialed back on its beneficence by around 12% in 2019: initial estimates put the crop at around 43.4 million hl compared to 49.4 m hl last year.  That’s not disastrous, though, especially since clouds have been gathering over the export scene in the last few months: the USA has imposed 25% tariffs on French wines under 14% abv, while sales to Hong Kong (often the preferred route into China for French fine wines) dropping by 26% over the last six months of political turmoil there.  The generally hot weather of 2019, of course, may give French wines a helping hand back into the US if those tariffs linger: it wasn’t hard to produce wine over 14% this year.

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 Christophe Mercier, founder of Wine & Spirit IQ in Bangkok, first wine school to launch the French Wine Scholar and Italian Wine Scholar programs in Thailand! Their first FWS and IWS sessions are scheduled to begin September 3 (FWS), August 17 (IWS Unit 1) and January 4 (IWS Unit 2), more information and registration HERE. Could you give us a bit of background on your personal and/or professional history in wine and what made you decide to create your own wine school: Wine & Spirit IQ?

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 Gina Marano, founder of Wine Academy of Las Vegas, our new program provider in Las Vegas!  Their first French Wine Scholar and Italian Wine Scholar sessions are scheduled to begin in September, more information and registration HERE. 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 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?

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

Meet Eno Cultura, a new French Wine Scholar approved program provider in Brazil. Their first FWS session is scheduled to begin October 18th in Sao Paulo. Learn more HERE. Sharing their accumulated knowledge from over 25 years combined experience in the European wine industry, Paulo Brammer and Thiago Mendes founded EnoCultura wine school in 2013. Q: Paulo, could you give us a bit of background on your personal and/or professional history in wine and your wine school, Eno Cultura?

Meet Reto Thörig and Juan Lo Bello from Wein-Werkstatt in Basel, first wine school to offer the French Wine Scholar® program in Switzerland! The first FWS sessions at Wein-Werkstatt are scheduled to begin March and June 2020, more information and registration HERE You state on your website that you help students to “experience wine – understand wine – promote wine”. Could you please introduce all the activities offered by Wein Werkstatt, your wine school in Basel?

 Sharon McLean is a Certified sommelier, DipWSET and Approved French Wine Scholar Program Provider at her firm Cru Consultancy, which she owns and operates with her partner, Treve Ring.She is also the Lead Instructor for the Wine Scholar Guild’s Live Online French Wine Scholar course series, an MW candidate, freelance wine writer and international consultant!  Sharon, given that we couldn’t fit all of your accolades and projects into that introduction it’s safe to say you are one incredibly busy woman! How do you fit all of this in? And... how did you start your wine journey?