The Master of Wine exams are 70 years old – see how they’ve changed

MW Exam question in 1953.

The Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) celebrates the 70th anniversary of the first MW examination that was held on 13 May 1953 as part of an aim “to improve the level of training in the British wine trade” by the Wine and Spirit Association and the Vintners' Company.

As an illustration of how the wine industry and the Institute of Masters of Wine have changed, it is worth looking at some of the questions those candidates had to answer in that first year:

• "Say how you would set about obtaining a Justice’s Licence to sell Wine in England."
• "You receive an order for a Hogshead [250 litre barrel] of Port and 10 Dozen of Sherry from a customer in New York. Describe your procedure in importing and forwarding these parcels, giving details of the documents you would require, and how you would label the Sherry?"

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