Napa seminar
The stage two/PO IMW North American residential seminar took place this year between 3 February and 7 February in Napa Valley. Thirteen MWs and 45 students participated; 27 stage two and 18 practical only students. As tradition dictates, students had practical tastings in the mornings, and on the first day were treated to immediate individual feedback from MWs to get them on the right track from the start. Three rigorous plenary tasting sessions were organized by North American stage two practical coordinator Adam Lapierre MW featuring “A Tour of Italy” with Eric Hemer MW/MS and Peter Marks MW, “Classic and Diverse Wines of Australia” sponsored by Wine Australia and led by former student, Mark Davidson, and finally “Easily Confused Wines”, a focus on tasting laterals by Mary Margaret McCamic MW and Amy Christine MW. Afternoon theory workshops provided students with content as well as the opportunity to exercise their newly gained knowledge with essay writing skills. These sessions were comprised of “Bulk Shipping”, led by Nova Cadamatre MW, “Global Consolidation”, led by Eric Hemer MW/MS and Matt Deller MW and “Contemporary Issues”, led by Dilek Caner MW and Elsa Macdonald MW. The evenings were also packed with tasting opportunities including the annual Robert Mondavi Winery dinner, the new Napa Valley Vintners ‘Speed Dating with a Winemaker’ Dinner and the Jackson Family Wines walk-around tasting. The seminar concluded Friday with the IMWNA annual Bordeaux tasting, where participating students had the opportunity to taste over 65 wines from the 2015 Bordeaux vintage. All in all, a busy, informative and fun week for both students and MWs!