Wine Scholar Guild Education Director, Lisa M. Airey, CWE, FWS was knighted by the French government in a ceremony at the Embassy of France in Washington DC on March 28, 2018. She was inducted as “chevalier” to the Ordre du Mérite Agricole for her contributions to French agriculture (namely,...

#thespanishwineguy joins the WSG team full-time A couple of months ago we introduced you to Rick Fisher, our Program Developer for the upcoming Spanish Wine Scholar® (SWS) program. By way of reminder, Rick is part Catalan with a passion for his heritage and a desire to educate others about Spanish...

1) Bordeaux is France’s largest quality wine region and largest producer of AOC wine.2) The quality of its vintages drives the fine wine market globally. 3) Bordeaux’s rich history, commercial significance, mercantile mindset, size, and quality set it apart from other French wine regions.

Bordeaux is France’s largest appellation and largest producer of AOC wine! It has been exported since the Middle Ages. In fact, its inland port with its historic and stately, stone warehouses, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site! The region has been tracked with regard to vintage year for its entire...

Mastering Bordeaux, a primer with Jane Anson and Andrew Jefford of Decanter Magazine.

The Rhône is France’s second largest producer of AOC wines (after Bordeaux). Its viticultural history dates back to the Romans who sculpted its terraced topography and introduced the vine. It is in the Rhône where east meets west. The granite and schist of the Massif Central (west) collide with...

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 of the...

The Wine Scholar Guild is excited to announce the list of 2017 top exam scorers from around the world! French Wine Scholar®: Riccardo Vanossi, FWS - 100 pts (Milano, Italy) Italian Wine Scholar®: Chia-Jui Tsai, FWS, IWS - 99.5 pts (Taipei City, Taiwan) Bordeaux Master-Level: Jeffrey G. Jones - 100...

Master of Wine Jane Hunt is interviewed by Decanter Magazine’s Andrew Jefford about Tuscany and its wines. Jane has a long, distinguished career in various aspects of the wine trade. She leads the Wine Scholar Guild immersion tours through some of the legendary Tuscan wine estates.

Christophe Tassan is interviewed by Decanter Magazine’s Andrew Jefford about the Rhône Valley and its wines. “I was born in the dining room, in hospitality,” Christophe tells us, which seems appropriate, as this interview took place in a San Francisco restaurant around the corner from The Battery,...

Anyone who has been to Bordeaux is familiar with this signature sweet. It almost defies description: a rich popover dough with a custardy interior, coated in a dark, thin, crispy caramel. It is love at first bite and the souvenir shops know this. They sell the molds. But buyer beware…insiders...

Decanter Magazine’s Andrew Jefford describes the diversity of the Languedoc-Roussillon region’s appellations, geography, and wine styles. Andrew is a Montpellier local, a webinar presenter for the guild, and an immersion trip leader. His enthusiasm for the region and its wines is as contagious as...

Bourgogne has applied some new math to count its AOCs. They have shed their claim to 100 AOCs and reorganized their appellations to fit within a count of 84.

Learn more about the Wine Scholar Guild in this candid interview with Education Director, Lisa M. Airey If you missed our Education Director Lisa Airey’s cameo on the Wine Two Five Podcast last week, you can listen to the recording here:

Rick Fisher, our Spanish Wine Scholar Program® Developer, recently returned from New York City where he was attending the 24th annual Spain’s Great Match, the nation's leading Spanish wine event organized by the Trade Commission of Spain in conjunction with Wines From Spain.

Matt Kirkland was an attendee of the WSG’s first Study Trip to Tuscany with Jane Hunt, MW. Here, he shares some of the insights he gleaned from the trip. Quality in wine can be assessed based upon balance, length, intensity, and complexity (and typicity when not tasting blindly). As the workhorse...

Assisting trip instructor Gerard Basset MW, MS, our Tour Manager Sarah Beck-Graham reports daily on the learnings and encounters on our 2017 Bordeaux wine study trip taking place October 1st through 6th 2017. Sarah lives in Bordeaux and has 15 years of experience in the Bordeaux wine industry. She...

At long last, we have begun development of our Spanish Wine Scholar program! The program is spearheaded by Rick Fisher, a San Diego resident of Catalan descent. Rick’s passion for his Spanish heritage and a desire to educate others about Spanish culture, food, and wine led him to create Bodega:...

Pascaline Lepeltier, MS, discusses the itinerary for the upcoming WSG Study Trip to her native Loire. In this podcast interview with Decanter's Andrew Jefford, Pascaline discusses the Loire’s best and brightest…all of which happen to be estate visits on the upcoming five-day journey she'll be...

Master sommelier and Loire valley native, Pascaline Lepeltier, has been working with key Loire producers over the past months in preparation for the October 2017 Loire Wine Study Trip. Take a look at her notes on this carefully curated list of both iconic and rising star estates/producers in the...