WSET 50 Anniversary Celebration

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The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), the largest global provider of wine qualifications, launched the first ever global ‘Wine Education Week’ from 9 -15 September 2019. Part of WSET’s 50^thanniversary campaign, Wine Education Week aims to engage with the growing population of wine consumers worldwide, encouraging them to learn more about wine.

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The New Zealand School of Food and Wine was invited to host the New Zealand based celebration which made us the event first in the world to kickstart the WSET 50 Anniversary Celebrations on 9 Sept 2019 in the Viaduct. The celebration was followed by the tasting of French wines sponsored by Maison Vauron.

Wine Education Week has been created by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), to engage with the growing population of wine consumers worldwide, encouraging them to learn more about wine.

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In 2018/2019 a total of 108,557 candidates took a WSET qualification, breaking the 100,00 barrier for the first time.This represents a 15% increase year-on-year versus last year's candidate figures.

The New Zealand School of Food and Wine has been teaching these programs since 2004.

Wine Education Week was 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. Started 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.

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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 50^thanniversary and to demonstrate the progress we have made with wine education over the last 50 years”.