WSET, the largest global provider of wine qualifications, is launching the first ever global ‘Wine Education Week’ from 9–15 September 2019.
Part of WSET’s 50th anniversary campaign, Wine Education Week aims to engage with the growing population of wine consumers worldwide, encouraging them to learn more about wine.
Wine Education Week will be supported by a global network of brand ambassadors including Olly Smith in the UK; Terry Xu in China; Alyssa Vitrano (grapefriend), Kelly Mitchell (The Wine Siren) and Chelsie Petras (Chel Loves Wine) in the USA. The campaign will kick off on Monday 9th September with food and wine pairing launch events across the world at 6pm local time in 24 countries. Starting with Auckland, New Zealand and ending with California, USA, WSET is aiming for a continuous 24-hour global food and wine tasting session.
In the UK the launch event will involve an attempt to break the Guinness World Records title for the largest ever recorded sommelierie lesson which currently stands at 271 people. The food and wine pairing masterclass takes place at The Kia Oval, London SE1 and is sponsored by The Wine Society. Hosts Olly Smith and sommelier Virgilio Gennaro (Wine Director at Giorgio Locatelli Consultancy) will give attendees an insight into the art of pairing food and wine, guiding them through a tasting of four wines matched with complementary foods. Tickets to the event are £20.00 and will be available for purchase on Eventbrite from 21st May. There will also be launch events hosted by WSET in Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and Vancouver.
Following the launch, Wine Education Week will roll out with WSET course providers in 45 countries hosting more than 450 fun educational events to encourage consumers to learn more about wine and to drink ‘better’. With introductory sessions ranging from ‘Finding the Perfect Match’ to ‘World Wine Monopoly’ to ‘Mastering Maturation’, the events will help consumers make wiser choices when choosing a bottle and enable the trade to benefit from the increased likelihood of upselling.
WSET CEO Ian Harris comments:
Wine Education Week is an inspiring initiative that promotes WSET’s mission to inspire and educate wine consumers as well as trade professionals. It is reaching out worldwide through our network of course providers to engage with consumers across every continent, from New Zealand to Thailand to Mexico. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate WSET’s 50th anniversary and to demonstrate the progress we have made with wine education over the last 50 years.
WSET is supporting Wine Education Week through a range of promotional activities including a dedicated Wine Education Week website (in English and Chinese), in-market PR and social media support in the UK, USA and China.
