About The Vinguard Wine School

Starting January 2023, The Vinguard will begin offering wine classes in person and online for wine professionals and consumers who want to deepen their wine knowledge through a natural wine lens. While most wine consumed today is conventionally farmed and made, natural winemaking processes are becoming more popular, and natural wine is a growing sector of the market, as can be seen with the increase of natural wine shops, bars, and wine lists throughout the United States.

What Makes The Vinguard Wine School Different from Other Wine Education?

  • Students will be encouraged to draw on their lived experiences and knowledge gained through their senses to create building blocks for further understanding. Our unique sensory memories are an invaluable tool.

  • Our goal is to provide tools so that students learn to confidently trust their own palates.

  • We believe that learning about wine must take into consideration the history of colonialization, white supremacy and the subjugation of many groups and cultures.

  • The end goal is not just to give students a pin or certificate but to ignite a passion for learning about wine.

  • Optional certification is available to students who come up with a final project that demonstrates their understanding of class material. We do not believe in standardized testing.

  • We are transparent about the wineries and other businesses that support our educational programming.

  • We only collaborate with companies that share our values.

  • Our classes will provide a robust education accessible to all wine drinkers, not only those who prefer natural wine.

It’s Needed

The Vinguard Wine School will fill a void for well rounded, open, and creative study of wine. Natural wine, which often places “freedom” as an underlying value, promotes creativity but there is not much structured structured learning available. While many natural winemakers eschew the conventions of AOC, DOC, and other regulating systems, the lack of historical and contextual knowledge and an understanding of the basics of wine tasting, regions, and grapes do a disservice to wine consumers and other wine professionals who are looking for guidance. Some who work in natural wine enroll in the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), Master of Wine, and Court of Master Sommelier programs to gain background knowledge. However, these programs are not only rife with problems but also work against the tenets of natural wine.

Our Issues with Conventional Wine Education Programs and Certifications

Instead of teaching critical thinking and tasting, the WSET, MW, and MS have a set idea of what is considered wine flaws and what makes a wine delicious, grapes noble, and regions superior. Their teaching breeds conformity and homogeny in wine, indoctrinating learners that there is such a thing as “correct” or “good” wine instead of being encouraged to go on their own wine journey. These organizations are more about certification – teaching to pass a test – than learning.

Additionally, these entities are often inaccessible to many because of their high costs: $7K for the Court of Master Sommelier examinations alone. In addition to the course, people spend thousands of dollars on travel and wine to prepare for the exams. The result is that those with access to money or other resources have an advantage. The costs create obstacles for BIPOC, womxn, and lower income people. Furthermore, these certifying bodies perpetuate a white, Eurocentric framework based on conventional winemaking practices, which will increasingly become out of touch with a diversifying wine population. The name “master” is offensive to many as it denotes the history of slavery in the United States. In addition to the baked-in white supremacy, sexual harassment and gender discrimination plague the Court of Master Sommeliers. While some of these bodies are now providing partial scholarship opportunities to BIPOC and womxn, they remain based on patriarchal, white supremacist, neoliberal systems packed with implicit bias. Furthermore, they do not consider the different ways people learn, with one testing system used to determine if a person “passes” and can qualify for certification. We think there is a better way for people to learn about wine.

Our philosophy

We think that people who want to learn about wine should be encouraged to draw on their experiences and the knowledge gained through their senses to create building blocks for further understanding. Our goal is to provide tools for this exploration. We believe that wine should be evaluated in a larger context, considering:

  • Farming and its impact on the environment, ecosystem, and workers.

  • Vinification processes. Most winemakers use multiple inputs, including commercial yeast, enzymes, nutrients, and other chemicals. Wines made without additives or subtractions tend to have a greater expression of terroir and a range of aromas and flavors.

  • The history of winemaking and its impact on BIPOC, immigrant, and lower income communities.

  • Transparency. Consumers have a right to honest answers about farming, vinification, and the producers’ business practices.

Instruction

Teaching should be about igniting a desire to learn amongst others more than translating knowledge one has accrued. The Vinguard selects instructors and speakers with experiential and historical knowledge who share this educational philosophy and have a palpable love for natural wine. The goal is to inspire curiosity in students so that they leave classes not so much with answers but with even more questions and a heartfelt passion for one of the earth’s greatest treasures.

The Vinguard founder, Pamela Busch, who, over their 32-year career in the wine industry, has been a wine buyer, entrepreneur, educator, and writer, will oversee all wine education.

Instructor requirements:

  •  At least two years of experience working in the wine industry.

  •  Demonstrable thorough knowledge of the subject matter.

  •  Sharing The Vinguard’s educational philosophy.

Who Can Take Our Classes?

Anyone and everyone…who is 21 and older. People who work in the wine, restaurant, or other food and beverage industries will receive a thorough education. However, the classes will be accessible to consumers with varying knowledge levels. Some classes might suggest having prior knowledge.

Affordability

The Vinguard wine school will provide its students with affordable and thorough wine education. Expenses will be limited to wine and other materials, instructor, and venue fees. We will offer some classes online, eliminating the venue and, in some cases, wine costs. In addition, there will be scholarships, prioritizing BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and womxn. Attendees can also use Afterpay, which breaks the class cost into four payments.

What is natural wine?

While there is no official definition of natural wine, The Vinguard agrees with commonly held principles:

  •  Farming must be, at a minimum, practicing organic. Regenerative or ecological agriculture is optimal.

  •  Grapes must be hand harvested.

  •  Only indigenous fermentations.

  •  No subtractions except bentonite (clay) filtration.

  •  No additions except for minimal SO2.

We also believe that wine should be made in accordance with:

  • Acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land.

  • Fair labor practices.

  • Humane and cruelty free treatment of animals.