As an accomplished wine writer — and now as the Wine Scholar Guild’s Academic Advisor — Andrew Jefford has decades of experience watching the French wine industry evolve. Here, he takes a look at the wine trends that are shaping the Champagne region, its landscape, its climate, the industry and...

Wine Scholar Guild is proud to honor those who set themselves apart by their extraordinary professional accomplishment in 2019. We take great pleasure in announcing the WSG Program Provider Awards, WSG Top Scorers Awards and WSG Master of Wine Candidate scholarships. WSG Program Provider Awards...

Katrin Naelapaa has been serving as Wines From Spain USA’s director since 2001. Born in Mexico City, and having studied in Madrid, Katrin was so deeply connected to the Spanish wine and food culture, she was fortunate to find a smooth transition to the wine world from her original career in...

There have been moments in my career as a professional winophile where I’ve realized I haven’t retained a bit of information that perhaps I should have learned in grade school had I been paying attention. Everyone needs a refresher once in a while and this series of blog posts aims to fill in...

Meet Reto Thörig and Juan Lo Bello from Wein-Werkstatt in Basel, first wine school to offer the French Wine Scholar® program in Switzerland! The first FWS sessions at Wein-Werkstatt are scheduled to begin March and June 2020, more information and registration HERE You state on your website that...

There’s no wine region I enjoy visiting more than Alsace. It’s beautiful, of course – and not just the half-timbered houses around which a profusion of flowers seem to float, or the grand hillside vineyards romping up to the forested Vosges mountains, always somehow bigger and more imposing in...

After a generous 2018 French-wine harvest, nature has dialed back on its beneficence by around 12% in 2019: initial estimates put the crop at around 43.4 million hl compared to 49.4 m hl last year. That’s not disastrous, though, especially since clouds have been gathering over the export scene in...

The Wine Scholar Guild is proud to announce that Julien Camus, WSG President, has received a “Future 50” award! The Future 50 list, compiled by Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC), recognizes 50 talented and enterprising professionals...

Timothy Magnus, of Magnus Vinum in Zurich, is a Bourgogne Wines Official Ambassador, a Weinakademiker, and holds the WSET Diploma in Wine & Spirits. He will be teaching the Wine Scholar Guild’s first ever Master-Level Intensive in Beaune in May 2020.

Meet Géraldine Gossot, Director of l'Université du Vin in Suze la Rousse, new French Wine Scholar® program provider in France! The first FWS session at l'Université du Vin is scheduled to begin December 2nd 2019, more information and registration HERE L'Université du Vin is one of the oldest wine...

WSG Academic Advisor Andrew Jefford was recently interviewed by Gavin Smith for the blog of wine merchant Fine+Rare. Words from Andrew on this thought-provoking interview: "I asked him to leave out the softballs, as 'polite' or 'respectful' interviews are tedious. He didn't actually lay into me...

The Wine Scholar Guild would like to announce that their own Tanya Morning Star (WSG program provider in the Seattle area through her school Cellar Muse) has embarked on an exciting project with the Consorzio of Orvieto DOC, with an aim to bring awareness to a historical wine region, it’s...

The wines of Valpolicella dance across the tongue with the same lift and loveliness as the name itself. Ideal with humble pastas as well as lighter red meats and game birds, it is well-suited to the table. As the more modest bottling of the Valpolicella region, it is largely (and unfairly)...

Meet Jörg Philipp, founder of Degustar in Stuttgart, first wine school to offer our brand new Spanish Wine Scholar® program in Germany! Your company, Degustar, is based in Stuttgart, Germany but you also work in Shanghai, China. Can you please summarize all the activities offered by Degustar in...

Andrew Jefford, award-winning author and columnist in every issue of Decanter and World of Fine Wine, Co-Chair Decanter World Wine Awards; Vice-Chair Decanter Asia Wine Awards as well as Wine Scholar Guild Academic Advisor, gives us his insight about the 2018 vintage in France. As October 2018 got...

Learning Italian wine inside and out can be a thrilling experience, but it can also be confounding. The wrinkles in Italian wine law are numerous, and staying on top of the latest modifications to DOC and DOCG regulations can feel as time consuming as the slow train from Naples to Sorrento....

The best thing about studying wine is the moments that call into question every “truth” you think you know. These are the tiny lightbulbs that impel questions to be asked, that engender reflection and that ultimately serve as the springboard to a deeper understanding of wine. It is often the...

The Loire Valley is one of France’s most dynamic wine regions. For every famous, household-name wine (such as Sancerre), there is at least two lesser known wines just waiting to be discovered! The Loire has it all: dry and sweet, still and sparkling, white and red. It has so much to offer… Did you...

Meet Rebecca Christophersen, founder of the Italian Wine Institute in Florence, first wine school to offer the Italian Wine Scholar® program in Italy! Their first IWS session is scheduled to begin March 3rd 2020 (Unit 1), more information and registration HERE. Could you give us a bit of...

After nearly two years of hard work, we are thrilled to present the Wine Scholar Guild’s latest certification course… The Spanish Wine Scholar® (SWS) Program! The program officially launches in October of 2019, but it is already garnering significant attention around the globe.