Over the past several years, broad cultural movements—#MeToo, Black Lives Matter, the shift to remote work—have impacted the wine industry as much as any other. Within the wine education space specifically, the impacts of these movements have been widespread, spurring change at almost every level—with no signs of slowing down.
“This is where wine education is changing,” explains Mary Gorman-McAdams, MW, an independent consultant, educator, and Bordeaux specialist and the former director of the International Wine Center (IWC) in New York City. “You’re having this migration from it being this elite language that you’re almost born with, to something for people who have never had anything to do with [wine].”
From where to find educational resources to who can access them—and even the importance of formal certifications themselves—the wine education landscape looks significantly different than it did just five years ago. SevenFifty Daily spoke with schools, teachers, students, and organizations to understand what’s changed, what’s working, and where wine education goes from here.
Fundamental changes in wine education
“Wine education used to be quite formal,” says Gorman-McAdams. “Now, wine education is everything from ‘edu-tainment’ to credentials.” Deniece Bourne, a wine and spirits business development consultant and a Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) certified educator, echoes this sentiment: “Wine education has blown up. It’s become increasingly important over the last five years and not just for the trade, but for the consumer as well.”
The expansion of wine education has been driven in part by changing demand. Industry professionals are looking for a greater range of educational opportunities after scandals shook student confidence in industry strongholds like the Court of Master Sommeliers, Americas (CMSA). At the same time, curious consumers are showing a real interest in both formal and informal wine education; according to information provided by the WSET, consumer enthusiasts now represent approximately 50 percent of all students who take their wine courses.
“In a recession, you’re never sure what will happen with enrollments,” says Adam Chase, the director of Grape Experience Wine and Spirit School in San Francisco. In 2008, enrollments went up “because people were looking for new jobs and they felt they needed credentials to get them to switch to wine. To some extent, that has also been true during COVID.”
To keep pace with demand, new delivery methods have been essential for traditional educational programs like WSET and the formal wine schools that provide them. “We’ve seen a whole change in how wine education is done,” says Chase. “There’s always been the self-study platform that WSET offers, but with the advent of Zoom and other technologies, you can now run a course online and actually get [wine] samples.” The Grape Experience began offering these courses during the pandemic as student demand shifted from away from the classroom.
Some schools are even combining delivery methods. “When we run [WSET] Diploma D1 and D2, we run it as a combination of the WSET’s online classroom and three Zoom classes,” says Chase. The Grape Experience still runs traditional in-person courses, albeit fewer of them. “The student can choose what they want and what’s going to work for them,” he adds.
Now under new leadership, the CMSA in particular is undergoing even more fundamental changes as a result of recent criticism. The organization plans to evolve from an examination body into an organization that supports the profession more broadly through education, mentoring, and credentialing.
“We create opportunities for beverage professionals to advance their careers, and in turn those service professionals elevate the beverage and hospitality experience for everyone,” says Julie Cohen Theobald, the executive director of the CMSA, who joined the organization in 2021. “We have taken significant steps toward inclusivity and transparency over the past several years.”
New learning resources
As both professional and curious consumers look for new sources of wine education, a diverse range of resources have sprung up. Mostly started during the pandemic as a way to connect when travel wasn’t an option, Zoom tasting, webinars, and even online conferences have become standard offerings, even as pandemic restrictions have subsided.
“There are so many delivery platforms now, it’s almost like the Wild West,” says Gorman-McAdams. “There are so many people on social media, on YouTube, delivering their version of wine education.” Alternative delivery platforms have become popular because “a lot of [the formal educational platforms] are geared towards that academic approach, and not everyone learns in that way,” says Bourne. Examples range from informal content, such as the YouTube channel run by Master of Wine Konstantin Baum and Bon Appétit’s World of Wine video series lead by sommelier André Mack, to slightly more advanced material, such as Symington Family Estates’ School of Port, which provides a comprehensive online video course about the fortified wine, or Wine Australia’s robust education website that provides guides, maps, and videos about the region.
“The biggest benefit of the development of online sessions is being able to listen to and learn from winemakers from across the world,” says Matthew Gaughan, a WSET-certified educator and current Master of Wine student.
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