The Drinkable Grape » education

A new journey starts

Liz Pirnat — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 02:38:51 +0000

I leave tomorrow for the EU first year Masters of Wine seminar in Austria.

I’ll admit it, I’m scared and very excited. While I expect I will learn a lot, I also expect to find out how much I don’t know and walk away overwhelmed. It will be an interesting week!

I’m going to attempt to post regularly, but I’m unsure of my internet accessibility.

Why should you take the French Wine Scholar course?

Liz Pirnat — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:06:46 +0000

As someone who has the Intermediate and Advanced Certificate. Along with the Diploma of Wine and Spirits from WSET, and LOVES their program, I think the French Wine Scholar (FWS) and the Master-level programs coming from the French Wine Society are worth the money.

Personally, education programs are only worth the money if you learn something along the way. I’m don’t want to collect post-nominals. I want to learn. There are a few programs that I question how much you actually learn.

Understanding French wine is the heart and soul of every wine education program. In order to succeed in WSET, the Master Sommelier program, or the Society of Wine Educators, you need to have a solid base in French wine. The French Wine Scholar program gives you that base.

The manual written for the French Wine Scholar program is the most comprehensive text on French wine. There are details I’d never seen in either The Oxford Companion to Wine, 3rd Edition, The New France: A Complete Guide to Contemporary French Wine (Mitchell Beazley Wine Guides) (I LOVE the Oxford Companion and The New France, and highly recommend reading those books), or other texts written for wine education programs.

The best part of the French Wine Scholar program in the classroom is you also get access to the web program. And that’s included in the price! Online you have access to quizzes based on the text and recorded webinars by various regional experts.

Registration is open. The French Wine Scholar program begins on Saturday, March 26. It will be three weekends long. Four days, over two weekends of lectures with tastings. The third weekend includes a review day and exam. The cost is $695.

Have I convinced you? Register NOW!

French wine and the French Embassy

Liz Pirnat — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:37:49 +0000

A few weeks ago I attended the First Annual French Wine Academy in DC. I will admit up front I signed up for the networking. The speakers sounded good, but you never know what the actual talk will be on. I have to say, I was very impressed. Overall, the speakers were very informative.

This conference went in great detail on the French wine business. If you have never attended a wine class before, this was not for you. But if you already know the basics of French wine, this conference was definitely for you. The best thing to compare it to would be taking the chapters on France from Tom Stevenson’s Annual Wine Report and making it into a conference.

Every time I attend some wine class or conference I get rediscover something. This time it was Beaujolais. Maybe it was because we tasted three 2000 Beaujolais crus that were outstanding, sadly the 1990 had travel shock. But I did not expect these wines to hold up as well with age as they did. I will be adding more Beaujolais to my classes in the future and personal drinking.

Another Wine Education Option?

Liz Pirnat — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:56:28 +0000

There are a number of options available for wine education that provides a certificate. These are available for those professionals in the wine business and consumers who want to learn more. And I’m sure I have left off a few additional options.

It looks like later this year or next year there is another new program coming online the Robert Parker/Kevin Zraly Wine Certificate program with three levels. With the final level exam involving a meeting with Parker and Zraly. The best description of the program:

The highest level is intended to provide a realistic alternative to other well-known wine certifications. Reaching that top level will challenge all wine experts.

I’m not sure how I feel about yet another wine education program starting. I support as much education in wine as possible, but I’m concerned the options are becoming to great and some of the options (including current options) are more interested in collecting money and giving certificates than making sure people actually learn something.