WSA Alumni on the Move

Congratulations to WSA alums who have either been recently promoted or have moved on to bigger and better things. 

Down in wine country, you'll find WSET Advanced Graduates Morgan Ennis and Mich Nelson in new tasting room positions.  Morgan recently left her position at Cork - A Bottle Shop to become Tasting Room Manager at Daedalus Cellars and Mich recently left Stoller Vineyards to join the Erath Winery team as Guest Services Supervisor.  Mich reports that her new position is "the perfect fit."

Further south in the Eugene area, WSET Advanced Graduate Lorne Mews is still at Benton-Lane Winery but has been promoted from National Sales Manager to Vice President. Congratulations Lorne!

For those of you still dining out in this depressed economy (and for the sake of our restaurant-based alums, we urge you to!), visit WSET Advanced student Lisa Marcus at Le Pigeon and WSET Advanced Graduate Amy Rehagen at Toro Bravo.  An easy assignment given that these are two of our favorite Portland restaurants.

Braiden Rex-Johnson, WSET Intermediate student also has news.  In addition to her other writing projects, Braiden is now a regular contributor to the Seattle Times Pacific Northwest "Taste" Column and is a monthly contributor to Amazon.com's Al Dente Blog.  And WSET Intermediate Graduate Laura Brady, president of Lux Wines, just announced a new wine sales website, including a bridal registry.  Check out Laura's new site here.

Want to know more about what WSA grads are up to?  Visit our graduates page.  

2nd Annual Alumni Party - Saturday, April 4

We love to keep track of our alums and catch up on what they're up to and - with well over 100 WSET graduates - our annual WSA alumni party is always the easiest way to that.  If you're an alum or current student, we sincerely hope you'll join us Saturday, April 4, at 4:30p.m. down in Carlton, OR.  

A huge thank you to alums Ksandek Podbielski and Kim McLeod for offering space out at their beautiful Anne Amie winery for the party!

More details including pre-party winery/vineyard visits and after-party dinners will be circulated soon.  In the meantime, get this event on your calendar!

Payment Plans for WSET Courses

For many of our students - particularly those seeking to enter the beverage industry - WSET certification courses are a big investment.    

If you're interested in registering for a WSET wine certification course, but can't swing the tuition in one lump sum, contact us about payment plans.  Payment can be spread over 2, 3, or 4 monthly installments at no additional charge.  

Gifts for Wine Lovers

A friendly reminder that wine classes make a great holiday gift for the wine lover in your life. Information on gift certificates can be found here, or contact us for more details.  

This spring we will once again offer our popular Introduction to Wine Series, a great option for someone who wants to get familiar with wine tasting and wine terminology in a fun and interactive class.  Register for individual class sessions for $50 each or enroll in the entire 3-part series for $135.  

Our International Wine Passport Series is a great option for wine lovers at all levels - from the professional to the "just enthusiastic".  Enroll your wine lover in one of our Frequent Flyer Programs (membership available at several levels) and let them select the class or classes of their choice.  

Questions? Don't hesitate to be in touch.

2009 International Wine Passport Series

Details of the 2009 International Wine Passport Series have now been finalized and the full program can be found here.  

We selected the 12 Portland wine professionals we would most like to learn from and asked them to put together a class on a wine region they are passionate about (well, in truth we asked only 10 Portland wine professionals to join us - 2 of the classes will be taught by us!). Their interests spanned the globe and therefore so will this series.  We'll spend plenty of time in Europe of course, but we're particularly excited about the sessions that take us into the lesser known - and often lesser appreciated - New World wine regions.  

The classes will be fun, relatively informal, and appropriate for all levels.  Whether you are a wine geek, a wine professional, or someone who just likes to enjoy a glass at the end of the day, we hope you'll join us!  Drop in for an individual session or sign up for multiple classes through our Frequent Flyer Program and save up to 20%.