One of the ideas I walked away from Wine Bloggers’ Conference 2011 with was the idea that I need to inject a little more “me” into my blog.  I try to update about my day before my detailed tasting notes and then talking about whether I enjoyed the wine as the rest of the evening unfolded.  But, those updates seem to have become more generic over time.  Instead, I would like to go back to giving more of insight into my day, since wine choices and enjoyment are definitely affected by my mood.

Additionally, I continue to receive a significant number of emails from new readers that found me through Snooth’s “What We’ve Been Reading” write-up.  While I’ve been slowly responding, and still plan to do so, it occurred to me that answering reader questions would be a perfect way to help make my blog more personal, while also sharing information that is clearly interesting to some readers.

With that…welcome to the inaugural “Mailbag Monday!” Whether it’s about me, about blogging, about a particular wine, about drinking habits, about wine education, etc., I know there are things you want to know…and I will give try to give you an answer.  You can send me an email, in which case I will keep the question anonymous, or you can leave your question as a blog comment.  Each question will be answered on the blog, so, bring ‘em on!

The first Mailbag Monday question is…

How did you decide on Wine & Sprits Education Trust (WSET) over some of the other certifications/course paths?

Honestly, taking my first WSET course was all luck and timing.  In January 2009, Hubby and I were on a family vacation in Mexico when I said I wanted to take a wine course while he went to graduate school.  When we came back, I searched for classes in the area and found a 6-week course for wine lovers with no wine knowledge at the Washington Wine Academy (WWA).  The course just happened to be the WSET Intermediate class.

While I entered the class thinking it would be my one-and only, I was quickly smitten and couldn’t wait to take another course.  I did some research and decided to stick with WSET and take the advanced class when WWA offered it.

For me, there were really two reasons for staying with WSET after that first course: (1) it has good recognition with both restaurants and distributors, so if I ever decided to do a career changes, my options would be open; and (2) it lead straight into the WSET Diploma, which I’m not pursuing at this point, but if I do, earning my Diploma level would mean an automatic invitation to sit for the Masters of Wine exam.

All in all, that’s my long way of saying that I decided to stay with the WSET courses because they seemed to keep more doors open.  Should I decide to narrow down and take a Certified Specialist Wine or the Certified Wine Educator exams, pursue the WSET diploma, or take courses that cover specific wine regions having the WSET background seemed like a solid foundation, while also being a end-goal in itself.

Do you have a question?  Don’t be shy! Send me an email or leave your question as a blog comment!