Wine, Wit, and Wisdom

Eric Henry, CSW, CWE

Having grown up in a military family (as a child he lived in South Korea for five years), and having enjoyed differing careers, Eric Henry, CSW, CWE, came to wine with a wealth of life experience.  He worked as a waiter and bartender at a Tex-Mex restaurant while attending college in San Angelo, Texas, in the late 1970’s.  At the time, the only wines served at the restaurant were Riunite, Lancers, and some Gallo jug wines; for a long time, he thought Chablis was a Gallo product because the menu offered “Chablis”—back then many Americans called any white wine Chablis.  Most fittingly, today one of his favorite wines just happens to be…Chablis.

After graduation, Eric undertook a successful advertising career in Los Angeles.  Eventually, he got into elementary education.  For nearly two decades, he worked as a 5th grade teacher in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs and eventually became a school principal.  After leaving public education, he took a job as a brand ambassador for the east coast winery Tomasello and began promoting their products to Chicago Whole Foods stores.  This in turn led him to found his own wine promotions agency in 2010.  More on that momentarily.

As it happened, Eric’s husband, who also works in the wine business, was preparing to take the CSW and needed a study partner, and that introduced Eric to the Society of Wine Educators.  Eric passed both the CSW and the CWE on his first outing, for which he credits being methodical and disciplined in his studies.  He read a good portion of the recommended reading list, practiced identifying scents with an aroma kit, and purchased the faults kit. Eric practiced semi-blind tastings at home and at a local wine bar in Dallas for six months.  He also attended the boot camp just before taking the CWE.  He is a teacher by profession and a life-long learner and a man with a curious mind, so the progression, the work, the continual improvement, was quite natural.

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Now about his company.  In 2010, while still in Chicago, Eric launched a small wine and spirits promotion agency called Summit Wine Tastings.  He began the company with only one client, but as word of mouth spread, his clientele grew.  In 2016 he and his husband returned home to Texas, where his firm—now operating out of Texas and Illinois—conducted more than 5,000 wine tastings in 2019.  He is able to partner with both large and small wineries because he has a unique vision for his company:  to take an educational approach with tastings, being sure that all his tasting representatives are wine enthusiasts themselves and that they can share accurate, helpful information with customers.  Although uncertain of this, Eric believes he may be the only CWE who owns a wine and spirits promotion agency.

In future, Eric hopes to continue learning, teaching others about wine, and improving his business, “building brands one sip at a time.”

Guest post written by Reverend Paul Bailey

If you are a SWE certificate holder and would like to be featured in our “On the Radar” series, please contact our Director of Education and Certification, Jane A. Nickles: jnickles@societyofwineeducators.org

Annie Edgerton, CSW, CSS

“I often say, many people have a hard time finding one thing they want to do for a job. . .I found two!  And I am so fortunate that the nature of both jobs allows me to do them simultaneously.”  Annie Edgerton, CSW, CSS, is that fortunate soul.

On the one hand, she is a professional performer, having been in the cast of Mamma Mia on Broadway and in the worldwide touring company of Kinky Boots.  She has a yearning to sing for every Major League Baseball team, and thus far she has sung the ‘National Anthem’ or ‘God Bless America’ for 25 of the 30 teams!

And then there’s wine.  Annie lives in New York City, where she works as a wine appraiser and consultant with her father, William H. Edgerton.  He was the one who taught her how to approach wine appraisals before she was even old enough to legally drink. In the ensuing years she absorbed much about the world of wine, and started teaching classes in 2003 (the first one for her castmates on a rainy day off during a national tour).  And it was around that time that she realized she needed to deepen her education—so, she jumped in with both feet.

Annie earned her Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) certification with the Society of Wine Educators in 2011, the WSET Level 3 Advanced in the same year, the Certified Sommelier designation from the Court of Master Sommeliers in 2014. She just recently earned her Certified Specialist of Spirits (CSS) and the WSET Level 4 Diploma. She is now working toward her Certified Wine Educator (CWE) and plans to apply to the Master of Wine program.

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Meanwhile, Annie has been able to combine her performing skills and her love of wine as the host of ‘Broadway Buzzed’ and ‘Wine Minx:  Uncorked’ on YouTube.  She is working toward creating programming for television and/or major streaming platforms on the topic of wine.

Writes Annie: “What I hear most often from participants in my wine classes is: ‘I love wine, I just don’t know that much about it.’  So outside of the appraisal work, my main focus is helping fix that!”

Annie’s association with the Society of Wine Educators (SWE) has been a fruitful one.  She has presented three seminars at conferences.  In 2015: ‘Lets Talk Turkey,’ about the indigenous grapes and international blends from that country.  In 2018, she offered ‘Outlier States:  Wine Gems from the REST of the Country,’ featuring wines from Maine, Arizona, New Jersey, Indiana and Missouri.  Last year, she and her father presented a seminar called ‘Heat, Floods, Fakes. . .and Skunks: the Art of Wine Appraisal.’  And she is on deck to present two seminars at the 2020 conference.

Throughout, she has followed her conviction that the best presentations are those which are personal in some way, which share a unique perspective beyond what is often encountered in trade seminars.  She finds the SWE certifications to be very strong and the educational materials up to date, detailed, and helpful.  And her expressed hope for the SWE is even wider industry recognition and respect.  To that end she is on the Membership Committee, and will likely run again for the Board, with the goal of helping the leaders of the SWE attract experienced, vibrant, diverse young members from all aspects of the industry, who will in their turn help move the organization into the future and become leaders in global wine industry thought and practice.

Annie may be contacted through her website or her blog, Wine Minx.

Guest post written by Reverend Paul Bailey

If you are a SWE certificate holder and would like to be featured in our “On the Radar” series, please contact our Director of Education and Certification, Jane A. Nickles: jnickles@societyofwineeducators.org

Madison Kreamer, CSS, CWE

One Saturday morning when she was ten years old, Madison Kreamer happened upon a cooking show on television and was so entranced that from then on she could always be found in the kitchen.  She was, it seemed, destined to work in some capacity in the hospitality industry.  She thought about going to culinary school but wanted the complete college experience and the ‘southern charm and highly regarded hospitality program led me to Auburn University.’  Madison has said that she doesn’t like to stand still, and her years in college were certainly full of exploration into the world of hospitality:  working at Dean and DeLuca on the December/January break every year; being a culinary intern at a fine dining restaurant in Alys Beach, Florida, between her sophomore and junior year; and pursuing an event planning internship in New York City between her junior and senior year.

In the midst of all these internships, she had the opportunity in 2016 to study in Ariccia, Italy, a small town outside Rome.  And it was there that she discovered the vast world of wine.  She describes the wonder, the romance, of wine in this way: ‘Each bottle of wine has its own story, representing timeless dedication and hard work.  One bottle of wine can bring together individuals from all walks of life and create memories to last a lifetime.  Enjoying a bottle of wine truly reminded me of the joy I received from cooking.  After spending hours in the kitchen, there is nothing quite like sitting around the table, conversing, and enjoying a delicious meal with friends and family.  It was the hard work and the reward that I enjoy so much.  To me, wine represents the same hard work and reward.’  She was on her way to a career in the wine industry.

Returning to the States, she took her first wine course at Auburn, which built a strong base of wine knowledge and aided her in passing the Introductory Sommelier exam.  Enter Trinchero Family Estates.  Trinchero sponsors seven hospitality programs around the country, including one at Auburn, for students to visit Napa Valley.  During the trip, participants are sponsored to take the CSW exam and are introduced to the wine industry through various educational seminars.  Madison visited Napa in her senior year and lost her heart to the place.  Accordingly, after graduation she packed up her car and moved to Napa to be a Wine Education Intern for TFE. It was a six month internship, which she describes as ‘hands down the most fun, challenging, rewarding job I have ever experienced.’  She dove in head first, under the mentorship of Barry Wiss, Vice President of Trade Relations for TFE and former president of the Society of Wine Educators.  With his guidance, and much study and hard work, she has advanced to become the Wine and Spirits Education Manager for Trinchero, and has had the opportunity to take and pass the CSW, the CSS, and the CWE.  It is worth noting that she believes that the CSW and the CSS are certifications that every wine professional should strive for in order to prepare themselves as industry professionals to educate consumers about their products, and she is appreciative of the SWE for helping her build up her wine knowledge and expertise.

Madison aims to continue building her resume with additional wine certifications, but she is most excited about simply becoming more knowledgeable about wine and communicating that love to others. The SWE has been important part of her wine experience along the way, and she is looking forward to being more fully involved with the SWE in the future. She cherishes the camaraderie in Napa Valley as people together explore the world of wine.  (And she still loves to cook, too!).   In her words: ‘If you were to tell me that I would be working in the wine industry ten or even five years ago, I would have thought you were crazy.  I used to think an open bottle of wine had a shelf life like vodka and was not even sure how red wine got its color, but its funny how things work out.  Today I could not be happier to be in the wine industry and to work for such a great company.’

Guest post written by Reverend Paul Bailey

If you are a SWE certificate holder and would like to be featured in our “On the Radar” series, please contact our Director of Education and Certification, Jane A. Nickles: jnickles@societyofwineeducators.org

Gary Twining, CWE

People come to the world of wine and spirits from a multitude of departure points and by sometimes winding paths.  Witness Gary L. Twining, CWE, who has had a long and distinguished career as a wine professional.

Gary was born in Oberlin, Ohio, and worked his way through college in construction, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Findlay College.  He was working on his Masters of Music Performance degree from Indiana University when he received an invitation to audition for the New Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and spent a year touring with them.  Later, he relocated to Las Vegas and found work playing in the house orchestras of some of the major hotels.

It was there in the desert that Gary discovered wine.  Stars would often gift their back-up bands with bottles of wine; in this case, John Davidson gave him a bottle of Havermeyer Piesporter Goldtropfchen and Mel Tormé presented him with a bottle of Faively Latricieres-Chambertin.

He began tasting, collecting, intensive study, and was soon asked to assist in teaching a wine appreciation class at University of Nevada Las Vegas.  Later, when the music scene in Vegas collapsed, he returned to Ohio and began to work in the wholesale wine trade. This developed into a career that lasted for 34 years—and all the while, Gary remained active as a wine educator, wine writer, and (yes) musician.

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Gary’s educational accomplishments are impressive.  He lectured on wine at UNLV; taught the wine curriculum for the Creative Activities Program at the Ohio State University for seven years; was involved in continuing education programs throughout northern Ohio, including the Laurel Run Cooking School, Loretta Paganini’s School of Cooking, and the Hospitality Division of Cuyahoga Community College.  He is currently an adjunct professor teaching the beverage class for Lorain County Community College, a class which is mandatory for their culinary degree.  Meanwhile, he has studied with the Institute of Masters of Wine and passed the dissertation and practical requirements of their formidable examination.  He continues to write the ‘Corkscrew Chronicles’ article for the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, and also writes for The Wine Buzz, an Ohio wine and spirits publication.

Some years ago, friends encouraged Gary to join the Society of Wine Educators, and that association has been a rich one.  He earned his CWE in August of 1994, making him one of the few CWEs in the country at the time.  In 1999 he was appointed to the Board of Examiners and for two years headed up the committee that prepared the written portion of the CWE exam.  He has taught seminars at SWE conferences on examination techniques, component and blind tasting, wine science, and Ohio wines.

Gary retired in 2018 as the Director of Sales, Northeastern Ohio, for Cutting Edge Selections, and is currently living in Elyria, Ohio.  He enjoys fishing (think bass, striper, and walleye), cooking, and delights in pairing wines with different foods.  Retirement has given him leisure to delve into his cellar and enjoy older wines he obtained years ago.  For the future, he hopes to continue teaching wine classes and leading tastings.  But his best goal of all is this: “to follow the lead of Alexis Lichine, leaving this earth with just one case of wine left in his cellar.”

Guest post written by Reverend Paul Bailey

If you are a SWE certificate holder and would like to be featured in our “On the Radar” series, please contact our Director of Education and Certification, Jane A. Nickles: jnickles@societyofwineeducators.org

Lori Boost Wise, CWE

Lori Wise, CSW and CWE, was born in Big Spring, Texas, but grew up in Austin.  She holds Bachelor’s degrees in History and Literature, and a Master’s degree in Art History from the University of Dallas.  Along the way, she worked in the mortgage business and was also a paralegal.  But her real calling was to the grape.  Her interest in wine was sparked during college when she began to travel, first—to California, where she lost her heart to Napa and Sonoma.  Then, to Europe, where she plunged into the wine and food cultures of France, Germany and Italy.  Inspired, she began to do a great deal of self-guided studying and “drinking everything from everywhere.”

In 2005, she opened a premium wine bar and boutique wine store in Lakeway, Texas, which was purely a labor of love on her part.  There, wine collectors would gather, share stories, taste wines.  They opened everything of interest:  vintage champagne, cult cabernet, first growth Bordeaux, even a couple of DRC’s.  During that time she studied for and passed her CSW with the Society of Wine Educators.  Ultimately and unfortunately, the store fell victim to a constricting economy.  Later, she went to work with the Mark Wine Group, a national accounts wine marketing company.  Mark Gmur, the owner and president of the company, is a Certified Wine Educator, and he encouraged Lori to pursue the certification.  She already had an interest in furthering her education and professional wine credentials, so she was primed to begin.  First up, she passed the Introductory and Certified levels from the Court of Master Sommeliers, then set off on her studies for the CWE.  Which turned into a journey.

Should anyone out there be tempted to think the CWE exam is a walk in the park, perhaps Lori’s story will be instructive—it is an achievement that takes time, effort, study, and hefty doses of perseverance.  She worked hard and passed the theory part of the exam, but successful completion of the tasting piece eluded her.  As it continued to do in subsequent attempts.  Which leads to the summer of 2019:  Lori went to Washington DC to the SWE annual conference.  There, a good friend introduced her to the restaurant Bistrot Lepic in Georgetown, and the wine person there gave her guidance to prepare for the tasting.  And all the effort paid off:  she passed the exam and is now a Certified Wine Educator.

In April of 2019, Lori took a sales position with Virtuoso Wine and Spirits, where she is able to taste wines from all over the world (which also aided her tasting preparation for the CWE).  Currently, for Virtuoso, she covers the Lake Travis and Hill Country areas outside Austin.  And so: Lori Wise, a gifted member of the lively food and beverage culture of the capital of Texas.

Guest post written by Reverend Paul Bailey

If you are a SWE certificate holder and would like to be featured in our “On the Radar” series, please contact our Director of Education and Certification, Jane A. Nickles: jnickles@societyofwineeducators.org

Jarred Craven, CSS

Jarred Craven, CSS, hails from south Florida.  He worked his way through the University of Florida—where he studied history and anthropology—by bartending.  After graduation, he did museum work in Romania for a time, but discovered it just wasn’t for him, so he returned to the world of bartending. After exploring several options, he settled in Austin, Texas, where until recently he was the bartender at popular, hospitality-driven cocktail spot named Drink Well. Not long ago, he won an IBA competition for America and was able to represent the United States in a global competition in China, which, in his words, proved to be “a very interesting and educational experience to be around so many other competitors and perspectives from around the world.”

Jarred has spent some 20 years bartending in craft bars, volume bars, and a multitude of other venues. Through this, he has gained a wealth of experience and skills in event planning, menu development, inventory, staffing, financial duties, and working with suppliers.  Along the way he has earned a number of awards and recognitions in the beverage industry.  Being heavily involved in the bartending community, both locally and at large, he actively volunteers in various ways.  As Chapter Director, President, and Chair of the Education Committee with the United States Bartender’s Guild he has organized dozens of events.  He is also chair of the Texas Tiki Week, and in 2019 he and his hard working committee were responsible for 21 events.  Also close to his heart is work with those who are less privileged, which has led to his involvement an education initiative that aims to partner with sponsors to offset the costs of beverage certifications in order to empower underrepresented demographics in the bartending industry.

Jarred became involved with the Society of Wine Educators when, through a cocktail competition, he won a scholarship to pursue the CSS certification.  He took the CSS exam in 2018, and made a perfect score on it, earning significant bragging rights!

Jarred again!

What’s next for Jarred?  For starters, he hopes to study for and take the CSE exam in the near future, and continue his association with the SWE.  He loves learning, but what really drives him is being around passionate people—he likes helping others succeed and in doing so, has discovered that being around people who are passionate about the industry has the added benefit of helping him recharge his own professional batteries. Jarred has big plans for the future, including a 2020 move to the Los Angeles area after a decade in Austin, Texas. Once in LA, he hopes to redirect his professional career a bit and become a brand ambassador, hopefully for American whiskey.

In Jarred’s words, “I am immensely passionate about the service industry.  To be in a position to nurture it and guide those in it through education and community outreach is always an honor.  I love learning, seeing old friends, and most of all making new ones.  I am about people, on both sides of the bar.  That’s what I love about this industry.  Even when things are difficult, the people make it all worthwhile.”

Guest post written by Reverend Paul Bailey

If you are a SWE certificate holder and would like to be featured in our “On the Radar” series, please contact our Director of Education and Certification, Jane A. Nickles: jnickles@societyofwineeducators.org