Photo by Ian McCausland
By Gary Hewitt, Sommelier( ISG, CMS), CWE
gary’ s corner
Napa Valley is a mature wine region with established wine styles; regional agricultural and food specialties; and thriving hotel, hospitality, and support industries. Maturation came quickly. Only forty years ago, visionary Robert Mondavi built his ground-breaking winery at Oakville, the first large-scale winery built in California since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933.
Mondavi’ s vision embraced education as a pillar of wine culture, but he was not the first visionary. Consider that the University of California established a dedicated viticulture and enology program in 1880 and the University Farm at Davis in 1906. Davis graduates rode the first wave of the modern California wine explosion to help establish regions such as Napa Valley.
But technology alone cannot ensure the blossoming of wine culture. The wine trade and hospitality industry must truly understand wine in order to appreciate the efforts of the winemakers, and, of utmost importance, to sell wine to customers. To this end, Napa Valley boasts the Culinary Institute of America( CIA), which offers outstanding programs in culinary and wine education.
Yet a third level of education is needed to create wine culture: appreciative consumers. While wine is naturally yummy, the complexity and diversity of wine lends itself to study either formally or just for fun. Again, following Robert Mondavi’ s lead, many wineries implemented educational programs to help visitors understand the connection between how grapes grow and how wine is made. Tasting rooms proliferated, allowing visitors to talk with individuals who know the wines. Furthermore, public wine appreciation programs and specialty magazines such as Wine Spectator helped create knowledgeable consumers.
The combination of educated producers, marketers, publishers, and consumers created a self-perpetuating cycle of world-class wines and a mature wine culture in Napa Valley. All of which brings us to wine culture in Winnipeg and Canada.
Maybe we cannot grow grapes in Manitoba— well at least not yet and certainly in no significant quantity. But we can create the other levels of wine knowledge to enrich our lives. To this end, we have evolving college culinary-hospitality programs. Assiniboine Community College in Brandon has recently expanded programs in their contemporary new Culinary Arts facility by adding emphasis on beverage service. Red River College recently announced the expansion of their Culinary Arts programs to coincide with the opening of a new downtown facility in the Union Bank Tower in 2011.
We also have wine education programs for wine trade and consumers. The emphasis at Banville & Jones is so strong that the facility is more akin to a community centre than a store. In addition to providing a range of light to in-depth programs for public consumption, Banville & Jones has graduated 20 fully trained Sommeliers from the International Sommelier Guild program. In addition, our own local wine magazine hit the shelves this year— it’ s called The Cellar Door( wink, wink). And finally, a new wine festival debuted this fall when the Independent Specialty Wine Stores launched Wine Stage Manitoba in affiliation with Manitoba Theatre Centre.
Maybe we lack a local wine region, but we could adopt Niagara Peninsula or Okanagan Valley and be proud of their developing culture. Let’ s get on with our love of wine; most of the pieces are in place. We may live in the frozen North but we can happily drink more than frozen daiquiris. �
WINE EDUCATION & CERTIFICATION
International Sommelier Guild An internationally recognized comprehensive hospitalityoriented three-level program with in-class instruction leading to the Sommelier designation
Wine & Spirits Education Trust Based in England but with high-profile international recognition, with hundreds of approved schools outside the UK, there are four levels of wine business and tradeoriented in-class programs that lead to the ultimate( fifth-level) designation of Master of Wine
Society of Wine Educators A USA-based association with a two-tier accreditation, Certified Specialist in Wine and Certified Wine Educator, and an outstanding annual conference
Brock University Cool Climate Oenology & Viticulture Institute A university program for indepth study in the science and technology of grape growing and winemaking( Mom, I’ m leaving home …)
Banville & Jones Wine Institute Winnipeg’ s leader in wine education offers many of the programs noted above in addition to offering noncertification programs called Wine Basics, Levels 1 and 2
See pages 48 – 49 for more information on the Banville & Jones Wine Institute offerings and schedules.
30 www. banvilleandjones. com