The new Austrian Chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine, Dr Josef 'Pepi' Schuller MW who has taken over the two-year position from Joanna Locke, rejected recent criticism that the Institute is elitist and out of touch with its own students. But he also stressed that the institute would always reward excellence.
Schuller´s election is part of the efforts to increase the international influence of the institute and ward off the insinuations that it is out of touch. It already conducts annual education programmes running in Australia, France, Austria and California where Master Sommelier is more tuned to the US market environment.
Schuller is currently the Chairman of the Austrian Wine Academy in Austria.
Implicitly acknowledging the criticism, Schuller tells Decanter, 'An institute in London that claims it wants to be a wine leader is not enough. We (the institute) are proud of our British roots but there are more and more international students being accepted into the programme all the time. We now have members from 23 different countries.'
Although an Indian (or a person of Indian origin) is years away from becoming a MW, there are a few in India who have got the diploma after successfully completing I to IV levels of certifications. This diploma is mandatory to be invited to join the MW programme. Since it was established in 1953, more than 2000 candidates have appeared in the exams but only 278 have acquired the MW qualification- the latest list including Pancho Campo, President of Spanish Wine Academy, an associate of Indian Wine Academy.
Moreover, the MW is tuned more for the Europeans although Australia, South Africa (which has 2 MW including Lynne Sherriff who has been re-elected as the vice-chairperson, Canada ( MW) and US etc are also represented in the elite institute. 'We need more MWs from the traditional European wine countries,' says Pepi, adding,' we also want to form more partnerships with global wine industry leaders and find new sponsors.' Says Pepi according to the report in Decanter.com
The institute may want to shed its elitist tag but the strict standards of exams including a thesis will make things always too difficult for every Tom, Dick and Susan to become a MW. Many are known to have given up after 2-3 attempts even though there are some who still dream and fantasize being a part of this elite fraternity. |