Educating students about wine is more about the “psychic paycheck” than the monetary one for Peter Marks, MW, partner and Vice President of the Napa Valley Wine Academy (“NVWA”), the leading provider of Wine & Spirit Education Trust (“WSET”) courses globally. Peter tells us about the different levels of the WSET (from Level 1 to Diploma), the full costs of wine education, and the benefits. He also discusses the innovations happening with online learning, including sending wine kits out with their courses and best practices for virtual seminars. Detailed Show Notes:  Being in wine education is more about the “psychic paycheck” - getting feedback from your customers and students Napa Valley Wine Academy Founded in 2011, offering WSETbprogramsNow the largest WSET provider in the worldAn Approved Program Provider (“APP”) for WSET - it’s like a franchise; NVWA buys materials, study packs, and exams from WSET; grading is done by WSET in London65% of business in WSET, 35% in other wine programsDevelop proprietary courses - e.g., Wine 101, Wine 201, Napa Valley Wine Expert, Oregon Wine Expert, and the Business of Wine (with Tim Hanni, MW)WSET 4 levels, 1 through 4 (4 is called the Diploma)Levels 3 & 4 provide more understanding of the subjectsThe diploma includes the business of wine and is a precursor for the Master of Wine programGeared towards all aspects of the wine industry, very broad view vs. other programs (e.g., Court of Master Sommeliers is focused on restaurants/service, and Society of Wine Educators is focused on education)Wine industry (or “trade”) participation in courses Level 1 - ~90% consumer, 10% tradeLevel 2 - ~75% consumer, 25% tradeLevel 3 - ~40% consumer, 60% tradeLevel 4 - ~10% consumer, 90% tradeMore consumers are coming into the programThe benefits of a wine education, the 3 C’s of the WSET Credential - showing your accomplishmentConfidence - knowing the facts about wine, speaking with confidenceCulture - participating in the culture of wine...the pay may be low, but being a part of the friendship and social aspects of the wine industry~100,000 WSET students/year - now the “go to” wine education organization - it covers the entire industry and is global Recent changes to the program - giving students what they want Launched a Sake programSplit spirits from Wine for the DiplomaIntroducing Beer soonVirtual classes Has always been an option - was called “self-study” and had to go in person to take examsExams for L1 and L2 are now offered online; L3 and Diploma cannot be because they include tastingsNVWA launched wine kits (wine samples re-bottled into small vials) for virtual classes - do virtual tastings with them; the wines are disguised to be blindHad to learn how to better engage students online - using breakout rooms, polls/quizzes, reducing seminar times to 1-2 hours, best practice is to engage with students every 3-5 minutesDo live webinars that are recordedPricing is the same as in-person, but no travel costsThe cost of wine education Course fees, wine (for Diploma ~200-220 wines are recommended to know; wine can cost $500-2,000 for samples), travelWine kits are included in course costsScholarships - NVWA has several partners for scholarships Wine Unify for L1-3Wine AccessThe Roots FundJohn Hart (former NBA star) - for the BIPOC communityThe return on wine education Constellation Brands paid bonuses for employees who passed WSET qualifications and also offered tuition reimbursement Get access to library episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.