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