What would be acceptable criteria for granting certification to wine writers? There are many different avenues to learning about wine. Other than drinking and tasting wines at wineries and visiting vineyards, my first formal learning came with a community college class that met for two evenings for three hours each. In addition to the twenty wines tasted both evenings, the instructor presented the very basics of the winemaking process and pointed out some of the world’s wine regions. He talked about a structured tasting and asked our thoughts when we tasted the wines. Was this two-session class enough to qualify to make me as a certified wine writer?

The community college class increased my desire to learn more about wine. My next logical move was to take the WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust) Intermediate Certificate course. The course met one day a week over seven weeks while the eighth week was an exam week. A book along with twenty plus wines per week accompanied our instructor’s presentations. It didn’t take long to figure out that the WSET course was a social science course. There was plenty of geography, history and culture. Once again tastings were structured and we were required to write notes about the wines. Study for the exam was mostly rote memorization of wine terms, geography, wine regions and producers. Was the Intermediate Level WSET course enough to qualify me as a certified wine writer?

I never liked rote memorization in social studies classes in elementary or high school and don’t particularly care for it as an adult. I discovered that travel easily trumps these formal classes. The Intermediate WSET Certificate text devoted three pages to Italy. I learned far more spending two weeks on a vineyard in San Gimignano. Travel, for me is a much better learning experience. I was able to walk through the vines, taste the grapes forgotten by the harvesters, visit wineries and other vineyards in the Chianti Classico and Chianti Colli Senesi regions of Tuscany and taste/drink volumes of Italian wine. I learned much more about New Zealand by traveling through some of the wine regions. Standing in a vineyard in Gimblett Gravels, I observed, photographed and touched the soilless ground where grape vines were thriving. A short walk away I tasted wines at a winery. Travel learning burned impressions on my memory and is much more interesting than rote learning. Is wine travel enough to qualify me as a certified wine writer?

There are other programs in addition to the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET):
Certified Specialist of Spirits (CSS)
Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW)
Master Sommeliers (MS)
Masters of Wine (MW)

Other roads lead to wine knowledge. I’ll explore college level courses and making wine in my next post.

Cheers,
Terry