Wine education - is it worth it?
I've spent a large portion of my adult life taking a variety of wine courses - I am WSET certified, I have been working through my WSET diploma going on a few years now, olfaction courses, seminars, tastings, you name it - I've done it.
However, since moving back to the Okanagan recently, to reside in Kelowna so that I could be closer to family - I couldn't help but wonder if all those years of courses in wine sales and marketing were of any benefit to me.
I've befriended a few winemakers in the area and their perspectives vary greatly. They've shed light on the fact that the marketing side of the wine industry is vastly different than that of production. We simply don't learn the true intricacies of what actually happens behind the scene in the cellar. In sales, there is an awful lot of romanticism going on - sometimes which isn't the entire truth or even realistic at all as to what actually happens.
After having some pretty in depth conversations with one particular winemaker friend of mine, I started to question all the years of education and knowledge I had accumulated and wondered if it was of any value at all! Ultimately, the conclusion I came to is that the more you know, the less you know. Exercising a healthy amount of humility counts for an awful lot. The more arrogant you become with what you know - the less you are in touch with reality. If we stop learning, we stop evolving - so this realization I came to is that I needed to continue to educate myself.
What I've since decided to do is finish my WSET diploma, and work on that in conjunction with getting a few more harvests under my belt, and taking some winemaking courses here in the Okanagan. If I can round out my knowledge and education in an authentic and pragmatic way - there really is no disadvantage in the long term.
There really is nothing more valuable than education and knowledge, so if the opportunity is available to you to learn and grow - take it.
However, since moving back to the Okanagan recently, to reside in Kelowna so that I could be closer to family - I couldn't help but wonder if all those years of courses in wine sales and marketing were of any benefit to me.
I've befriended a few winemakers in the area and their perspectives vary greatly. They've shed light on the fact that the marketing side of the wine industry is vastly different than that of production. We simply don't learn the true intricacies of what actually happens behind the scene in the cellar. In sales, there is an awful lot of romanticism going on - sometimes which isn't the entire truth or even realistic at all as to what actually happens.
After having some pretty in depth conversations with one particular winemaker friend of mine, I started to question all the years of education and knowledge I had accumulated and wondered if it was of any value at all! Ultimately, the conclusion I came to is that the more you know, the less you know. Exercising a healthy amount of humility counts for an awful lot. The more arrogant you become with what you know - the less you are in touch with reality. If we stop learning, we stop evolving - so this realization I came to is that I needed to continue to educate myself.
What I've since decided to do is finish my WSET diploma, and work on that in conjunction with getting a few more harvests under my belt, and taking some winemaking courses here in the Okanagan. If I can round out my knowledge and education in an authentic and pragmatic way - there really is no disadvantage in the long term.
There really is nothing more valuable than education and knowledge, so if the opportunity is available to you to learn and grow - take it.
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