Thanks for writing this piece , I firmly believe as a writer you have the ability to put on paper what many of us who hold the DipWSET just can’t do . The notion that you don’t have enough knowledge to be a wine writer is ludicrous, the only person who knows exactly how invested you are and how much research you’ve done is you .
As a female outside the London area , I felt, I had no other option but to take the DipWSET for credibility reasons. It’s a hell of a lot of money to find just to prove you deserve your place on the ladder . There are many writers and influencers who hold little or no formal wine education, but who cares if their content is interesting , thought provoking and informative. That’s what people come for . 💪
A writer really has two qualifications needed - to be able to write - and to do so in such manner that readers finish the writing and come back for more.
WSET are retail qualifications really, enabling staff to learn the basics to enable them to answer questions in store, and to some extent host a tasting event.
But you couldnt write an article on say Valpolicella from what WSET teaches you. Good writing demands research, whereas WSET is for the immediate response. I did the diploma, and it nearly drove the love of the product out of me.
I very much doubt Harry Waugh, one of the great writers had a WSET qualification (I mean WSET wasnt even around then!) .
There is a parallel - wine is meant to taste good and bring pleasure. That is its only job. Yes we have been told for years than unless its this or that, or grown on a bed of ancient seashells on a slop of between 37 and 37 degrees pointing East South East then its going to be rubbish.. when obviously that isnt the case.
Both are out of date, elite opinions.
The type of writing matters too, is it a book on Barolo, or is it a 300 word article on barbecue wines? One requires expertise, knowledge and significant research into history, land, people, culture, cuisine, and very wide tasting. The other is to have found some wines, that are yummy and to be able to write about then in a way that others will be salivating.
So largely the big need for a writer I think is to taste widely, to be able to write about wines in some context. If you have only ever drunk 19 Crimes (which always seems to me to be a lot of crimes against winemaking in one bottle), then being able to tell whether you are recommending a good bottle of Spatburgunder or an indifferent one is impossible.
Getting some knowledge is never a bad thing, but essential to writing - absolutely not.
I'm relieved that you reached this conclusion. As nice as it was to have an external motivation to learn about regions and grapes that aren't even available in South Africa, it is absolutely possible to learn through autodidacticism.
I am horrified by Sedly’s statement...yet have noticed this growing expectation and assumption that formal wine studies are the pinnacle of wine knowledge (almost always from fellow WSET graduates). Nearly every week I need to remind people that the only thing the Diploma proved was that I can study for and pass an exam.
I can barely pour a glass of wine without spilling, know so much less about SA wines than someone who takes the time to learn through genuine enthusiasm and drinking the wines (but can blind nail a Grüner, of which SA makes erm one), and am far too quick to throw out terms like medium minus 🤣.
Formal wine studies, as with most formal studies, are a fast 2-3 year way of 'proving' you know the basics. And, in my pin-saturated opinion, will never compare to real life experience...because, often, information learned more slowly is knowledge you'll retain for much longer (versus cramming numbers and names into your head ever 3 months over a 2 year period). Thank you for talking about this!
This is a really interesting perspective. I have heard from others that some wine courses make them too regimented in how they taste and write about wine.
You do become regimented because you need to pass a tasting exam. Some people retain that way of tasting and talking about wine. Many find their own voice. More disturbing, for me, is the flood of WSET-trained conclusions that align with institutional expectations and assumptions about traditionally lauded regions/producers. Though, I guess that is part of learning...mimicking and adopting what you're taught until you find your own opinion?
Really interesting. Thank you. I am a writer and took my WSET Level 2 so I could write about wine and at least have a basic understanding of the wine making process. I hoped I might improve my palate as well. As you will see from my fledgling instagram page - csg_uncorked - I am fairly cavalier with my terms. The stuff I learned does help but my aim is share the pleasure I get from wine on various levels, not just the grape juice but the vineyards I visit, the people I meet and the way the industry works. I often joke that I am just trying to intellectualise my alcoholism. Well, I think I'm joking.
The AMOUNT of times I got asked what my wine credentials were when I owned my wine store and bar in Essex. I went as far as level 3 - like others have said, for some credibility - but after that, I was learning so much just by owning the store itself, I never went further. Not that I would have had much time with a 60hr+ a week job - as own businesses tend to be! I also wanted to put any money I had back into that store, not pump thousands into my own learning.
There are many reasons why someone might not get qualified - I suspect a lot of it is similar to me and bound to time and money - but it doesn't mean you're not qualified to talk about / sell wine.
Reading this reminded me of a bit in Stephen Duncombe’s study of zines:
“While [the term zines] has taken on a pejorative cast in a society that honors professionalism and the value of the dollar, the roots of amateurism are far more noble: amator, Latin for lover. While other media are produced for money or prestige or public approval, zines are done . . . for love: love of expression, love of sharing, love of communication.”
To come to wine writing purely for the love of expression, sharing, and communication is noble
To answer the headline: No. Wine writers need to be able to write. Full stop. And also it would be nice if they did journalistic legwork and travel to where wine is made and talk to winemakers - or at least have some curiousity and go out and talk to people as journalists do. I run into WSET-certified gatekeepers like the person throwing shade at Hannah all the time. My response is always: cool lapel pin, bro - what's it like to spend years and thousands of dollars studying for basically the wine version of Trivial Pursuit? Henry, if you go get a WSET certification I will never read you again lol.
Interesting piece, Henry. I likewise have no formal wine qualifications - but tend to agree with you that I/we can do what I do because we can write (and most wine writers, er, can’t.) And the most striking thing about that Hannah Crosby’s review to me was how clearly legally actionable it is… But there I go thinking like a journo again
As Will points out below, journalisn training and experience are probably more important. Having to turn round 700 words in two hours sharpens the mind somewhat
My point was the journalist course I took at Cardiff cost me around £9,000 back in 2001 plus the 9 months of not earning as it was full time. I can't remember how much I paid for WSET and Diploma but I paid the journalism loans all back in three years. Compare that with an MW? I'm glad I took the Cardiff route...
I want to add this. Learning vine science is under rated. At Napa College we own 10 acres. We work it year round. We learn soil structure and texture. Xylem, floem, root hairs, photosynthesis. The stages of berry development. Veraison veraison veraison, water stress, sun penetration thru to the 3rd leaf. I could farm any fruit or veggies after 2 years school and I continue to read nitrogen, cover crop, biodiversity. I find the more botany science I know, the better I understand what I am tasting. And the vocabulary is way better because I'm learning precise proper terms for the processes and the product components.
As one self-educated pretentious git to another, all I can say is, I can't imagine an American using the word "git" except as in, "I gotta git ou' a here!"
Fantastic article. I used to think I needed to continue with WSET qualifications or no one would take me seriously. Then I realized, eff that, I need to be working not nonstop studying. I don’t have the luxury of not paying bills and buying wines, finding blind tasting groups just to say I have them all. No one cares but those that have them. People outside of wine have zero idea what WSET is, they don’t even understand someone works in wine but isn’t a sommelier. Life experiences and hard work in my opinion are what counts more than anything. That being said I still enjoy learning and take courses here and there, like last year I got my winemaking certification from Purdue because it truly interests me.
Another excellent piece but you may be missing the most important thing. Does getting a wine qualification actually alter how you evaluate wine? After sixty years unqualified drinking, I think it does. MWs and WSETs are trained to look for and identify things in wine that unqualified people don't necessarily care about. A parallel can be made with art critics. How many times have we all read rave reviews of a show by a contemporary artist, channelling fashionable modern vibes, and thought the art was rubbish when we went ourselves. In the same way, I may read a review of, say, a pinot noir (it's often pinot noirs) in which the professional reviewer professes to find things I have never dreamed of "bright red cherry and raspberry fruit, rose petal and a hint of tomato leaf", that from a Wine Society NZ pinot noir review. Huh? Cherry is the giveaway. I don't want cherry in my pinot noirs, thanks. Let alone raspberry and tomato leaf. And I don't want my pinot noirs to be semi-roses either. I like some body and the old fashioned red burgundy virtues of rotting leaves and wet labrador, neither of which are even identified by MWs. And as for white burgundies or modern German rieslings. Professionals love citrus, steel, and minerality because those are things they have been trained to look for. Not me. I don't want my Chardonnay to taste of lemon or grapefruit or to have enough steely minerality to strip paint. Rounded and buttery with a hint of honey and ripe fruit in the nose is perfect for my untutored palate. I am a big fan of the Wine Society. Many decent wines at good prices. Try their dry Alsatian muscat. Wow. What a winner. But it amuses me how poorly reviewed the Society's Choices wines often are. They have been chosen by professional Wine Soc tasters but when they are bought by keen non-professional drinkers they often give them 2/5 star reviews because the non-pro drinker has a different palate. So, Henry, m'lad. Don't train for the exam. You do a great job as is.
Thank you Miles. I think it's partly what Will Lyons was getting at with his comments about MW but you are right pros like different things to ordinary drinkers. There's a really interesting Australian merchant/ writer Jeremy Oliver who writes how the industry is no longer making wines that people like, instead they are chasing awards and respect from their peers. Quote here: "Jeremy Oliver thinks it shows a lack of confidence to abandon classic styles. He wrote: "It's a massive trend in Australia today to harvest fruit before it's reached flavour ripeness, which instantly removes the resulting wine's chance of ever expressing site terroir or even regionality. That's why so many Australian Chardonnays, Shirazes, Grenaches, and Pinot Noirs taste the same." Just filed something for the Critic on just this subject
I am a woman. I have my WSET 2 and CSW. I pursued the latter because I wanted to focus on the knowledge behind understanding wine. It was also during COVID, and I could complete it 100 percent online. I just completed my FWS. I got the qualifications for my personal satisfaction. Yes, I write but learning gives me the ability to appreciate wine on a different level.
When I began writing professionally about wine 40 years ago I was already an accomplished journalist earning a living by writing articles on a variety of lifestyle/entertainment topics. I had already worked as a radio DJ, music director, TV host and producer of a morning TV show in a top 10 broadcast market. I knew the limits of my wine knowledge and did not critique or grade wines. I wrote about the business and people of wine, gaining access to trade events where I could learn 'on the job' so to speak. In the decades since I've reviewed and scored many tens of thousands of wines, judged at wine competitions, and passed (easily) the WSET 3 tests. My feeling about credentials is that readers don't give a damn. If I couldn't entertain and educate with what I write, no credential in the world would bring more readers. I have no ambitions to be a sommelier. I'm a journalist, have always been a journalist, and will remain a journalist as long as there are readers who subscribe to my Substack. As for blind tasting - like crossword puzzles - not interested.
Thanks for writing this piece , I firmly believe as a writer you have the ability to put on paper what many of us who hold the DipWSET just can’t do . The notion that you don’t have enough knowledge to be a wine writer is ludicrous, the only person who knows exactly how invested you are and how much research you’ve done is you .
As a female outside the London area , I felt, I had no other option but to take the DipWSET for credibility reasons. It’s a hell of a lot of money to find just to prove you deserve your place on the ladder . There are many writers and influencers who hold little or no formal wine education, but who cares if their content is interesting , thought provoking and informative. That’s what people come for . 💪
Thank you Leah!
A writer really has two qualifications needed - to be able to write - and to do so in such manner that readers finish the writing and come back for more.
WSET are retail qualifications really, enabling staff to learn the basics to enable them to answer questions in store, and to some extent host a tasting event.
But you couldnt write an article on say Valpolicella from what WSET teaches you. Good writing demands research, whereas WSET is for the immediate response. I did the diploma, and it nearly drove the love of the product out of me.
I very much doubt Harry Waugh, one of the great writers had a WSET qualification (I mean WSET wasnt even around then!) .
There is a parallel - wine is meant to taste good and bring pleasure. That is its only job. Yes we have been told for years than unless its this or that, or grown on a bed of ancient seashells on a slop of between 37 and 37 degrees pointing East South East then its going to be rubbish.. when obviously that isnt the case.
Both are out of date, elite opinions.
The type of writing matters too, is it a book on Barolo, or is it a 300 word article on barbecue wines? One requires expertise, knowledge and significant research into history, land, people, culture, cuisine, and very wide tasting. The other is to have found some wines, that are yummy and to be able to write about then in a way that others will be salivating.
So largely the big need for a writer I think is to taste widely, to be able to write about wines in some context. If you have only ever drunk 19 Crimes (which always seems to me to be a lot of crimes against winemaking in one bottle), then being able to tell whether you are recommending a good bottle of Spatburgunder or an indifferent one is impossible.
Getting some knowledge is never a bad thing, but essential to writing - absolutely not.
I'm relieved that you reached this conclusion. As nice as it was to have an external motivation to learn about regions and grapes that aren't even available in South Africa, it is absolutely possible to learn through autodidacticism.
I am horrified by Sedly’s statement...yet have noticed this growing expectation and assumption that formal wine studies are the pinnacle of wine knowledge (almost always from fellow WSET graduates). Nearly every week I need to remind people that the only thing the Diploma proved was that I can study for and pass an exam.
I can barely pour a glass of wine without spilling, know so much less about SA wines than someone who takes the time to learn through genuine enthusiasm and drinking the wines (but can blind nail a Grüner, of which SA makes erm one), and am far too quick to throw out terms like medium minus 🤣.
Formal wine studies, as with most formal studies, are a fast 2-3 year way of 'proving' you know the basics. And, in my pin-saturated opinion, will never compare to real life experience...because, often, information learned more slowly is knowledge you'll retain for much longer (versus cramming numbers and names into your head ever 3 months over a 2 year period). Thank you for talking about this!
This is a really interesting perspective. I have heard from others that some wine courses make them too regimented in how they taste and write about wine.
You do become regimented because you need to pass a tasting exam. Some people retain that way of tasting and talking about wine. Many find their own voice. More disturbing, for me, is the flood of WSET-trained conclusions that align with institutional expectations and assumptions about traditionally lauded regions/producers. Though, I guess that is part of learning...mimicking and adopting what you're taught until you find your own opinion?
Really interesting. Thank you. I am a writer and took my WSET Level 2 so I could write about wine and at least have a basic understanding of the wine making process. I hoped I might improve my palate as well. As you will see from my fledgling instagram page - csg_uncorked - I am fairly cavalier with my terms. The stuff I learned does help but my aim is share the pleasure I get from wine on various levels, not just the grape juice but the vineyards I visit, the people I meet and the way the industry works. I often joke that I am just trying to intellectualise my alcoholism. Well, I think I'm joking.
The AMOUNT of times I got asked what my wine credentials were when I owned my wine store and bar in Essex. I went as far as level 3 - like others have said, for some credibility - but after that, I was learning so much just by owning the store itself, I never went further. Not that I would have had much time with a 60hr+ a week job - as own businesses tend to be! I also wanted to put any money I had back into that store, not pump thousands into my own learning.
There are many reasons why someone might not get qualified - I suspect a lot of it is similar to me and bound to time and money - but it doesn't mean you're not qualified to talk about / sell wine.
I love your comment! This industry is best learned by DOING.
It’s the last six words that are resonating with me. Great piece and much to think about.
Reading this reminded me of a bit in Stephen Duncombe’s study of zines:
“While [the term zines] has taken on a pejorative cast in a society that honors professionalism and the value of the dollar, the roots of amateurism are far more noble: amator, Latin for lover. While other media are produced for money or prestige or public approval, zines are done . . . for love: love of expression, love of sharing, love of communication.”
To come to wine writing purely for the love of expression, sharing, and communication is noble
To answer the headline: No. Wine writers need to be able to write. Full stop. And also it would be nice if they did journalistic legwork and travel to where wine is made and talk to winemakers - or at least have some curiousity and go out and talk to people as journalists do. I run into WSET-certified gatekeepers like the person throwing shade at Hannah all the time. My response is always: cool lapel pin, bro - what's it like to spend years and thousands of dollars studying for basically the wine version of Trivial Pursuit? Henry, if you go get a WSET certification I will never read you again lol.
Ha ha ok
Interesting piece, Henry. I likewise have no formal wine qualifications - but tend to agree with you that I/we can do what I do because we can write (and most wine writers, er, can’t.) And the most striking thing about that Hannah Crosby’s review to me was how clearly legally actionable it is… But there I go thinking like a journo again
As Will points out below, journalisn training and experience are probably more important. Having to turn round 700 words in two hours sharpens the mind somewhat
My point was the journalist course I took at Cardiff cost me around £9,000 back in 2001 plus the 9 months of not earning as it was full time. I can't remember how much I paid for WSET and Diploma but I paid the journalism loans all back in three years. Compare that with an MW? I'm glad I took the Cardiff route...
I want to add this. Learning vine science is under rated. At Napa College we own 10 acres. We work it year round. We learn soil structure and texture. Xylem, floem, root hairs, photosynthesis. The stages of berry development. Veraison veraison veraison, water stress, sun penetration thru to the 3rd leaf. I could farm any fruit or veggies after 2 years school and I continue to read nitrogen, cover crop, biodiversity. I find the more botany science I know, the better I understand what I am tasting. And the vocabulary is way better because I'm learning precise proper terms for the processes and the product components.
As one self-educated pretentious git to another, all I can say is, I can't imagine an American using the word "git" except as in, "I gotta git ou' a here!"
I think he was demonstrating his effortless grasp of the local vernacular.
Fantastic article. I used to think I needed to continue with WSET qualifications or no one would take me seriously. Then I realized, eff that, I need to be working not nonstop studying. I don’t have the luxury of not paying bills and buying wines, finding blind tasting groups just to say I have them all. No one cares but those that have them. People outside of wine have zero idea what WSET is, they don’t even understand someone works in wine but isn’t a sommelier. Life experiences and hard work in my opinion are what counts more than anything. That being said I still enjoy learning and take courses here and there, like last year I got my winemaking certification from Purdue because it truly interests me.
Another excellent piece but you may be missing the most important thing. Does getting a wine qualification actually alter how you evaluate wine? After sixty years unqualified drinking, I think it does. MWs and WSETs are trained to look for and identify things in wine that unqualified people don't necessarily care about. A parallel can be made with art critics. How many times have we all read rave reviews of a show by a contemporary artist, channelling fashionable modern vibes, and thought the art was rubbish when we went ourselves. In the same way, I may read a review of, say, a pinot noir (it's often pinot noirs) in which the professional reviewer professes to find things I have never dreamed of "bright red cherry and raspberry fruit, rose petal and a hint of tomato leaf", that from a Wine Society NZ pinot noir review. Huh? Cherry is the giveaway. I don't want cherry in my pinot noirs, thanks. Let alone raspberry and tomato leaf. And I don't want my pinot noirs to be semi-roses either. I like some body and the old fashioned red burgundy virtues of rotting leaves and wet labrador, neither of which are even identified by MWs. And as for white burgundies or modern German rieslings. Professionals love citrus, steel, and minerality because those are things they have been trained to look for. Not me. I don't want my Chardonnay to taste of lemon or grapefruit or to have enough steely minerality to strip paint. Rounded and buttery with a hint of honey and ripe fruit in the nose is perfect for my untutored palate. I am a big fan of the Wine Society. Many decent wines at good prices. Try their dry Alsatian muscat. Wow. What a winner. But it amuses me how poorly reviewed the Society's Choices wines often are. They have been chosen by professional Wine Soc tasters but when they are bought by keen non-professional drinkers they often give them 2/5 star reviews because the non-pro drinker has a different palate. So, Henry, m'lad. Don't train for the exam. You do a great job as is.
Thank you Miles. I think it's partly what Will Lyons was getting at with his comments about MW but you are right pros like different things to ordinary drinkers. There's a really interesting Australian merchant/ writer Jeremy Oliver who writes how the industry is no longer making wines that people like, instead they are chasing awards and respect from their peers. Quote here: "Jeremy Oliver thinks it shows a lack of confidence to abandon classic styles. He wrote: "It's a massive trend in Australia today to harvest fruit before it's reached flavour ripeness, which instantly removes the resulting wine's chance of ever expressing site terroir or even regionality. That's why so many Australian Chardonnays, Shirazes, Grenaches, and Pinot Noirs taste the same." Just filed something for the Critic on just this subject
I am a woman. I have my WSET 2 and CSW. I pursued the latter because I wanted to focus on the knowledge behind understanding wine. It was also during COVID, and I could complete it 100 percent online. I just completed my FWS. I got the qualifications for my personal satisfaction. Yes, I write but learning gives me the ability to appreciate wine on a different level.
Regardless of the debate (and it is indeed a debate) I never tire of a mention of 'The Lady' in the Jeffreysian canon.
Misti always used to laugh when I said I was ‘working on my Lady column.’
When I began writing professionally about wine 40 years ago I was already an accomplished journalist earning a living by writing articles on a variety of lifestyle/entertainment topics. I had already worked as a radio DJ, music director, TV host and producer of a morning TV show in a top 10 broadcast market. I knew the limits of my wine knowledge and did not critique or grade wines. I wrote about the business and people of wine, gaining access to trade events where I could learn 'on the job' so to speak. In the decades since I've reviewed and scored many tens of thousands of wines, judged at wine competitions, and passed (easily) the WSET 3 tests. My feeling about credentials is that readers don't give a damn. If I couldn't entertain and educate with what I write, no credential in the world would bring more readers. I have no ambitions to be a sommelier. I'm a journalist, have always been a journalist, and will remain a journalist as long as there are readers who subscribe to my Substack. As for blind tasting - like crossword puzzles - not interested.