In January 2017 the next annual European MW students’ residential seminar will be held at the campus of the Austrian Wine Academy in Rust, Austria. The AWA is the largest wine school on the European continent and has hosted this MW seminar for the past 13 years. The IMW and the AWA now plan to co-operate even closer and to also offer an annual Introductory Masterclass to the IMW program in Rust.
Over the past 13 years, almost 500 MW students have started their long journey to become a Master of Wine in Rust and many succeeded. It can therefore be said that the Austrian Wine Academy has been a fruitful source for new MW students. At this stage seven MWs have taken their WSET Diploma and their advanced “Weinakademiker” qualification at the Austrian Wine Academy and in 2016 more than 10% of the newly accepted MW students worldwide have graduated at the Austrian Wine Academy. Penny Richards, Executive Director of the IMW, says: “With the Austrian Wine Academy we not only have a perfect venue for the annual European MW students’ residential seminar, but also a very professional educational partner that generates high calibre students for the MW program!”
Through international partnerships the AWA offers the WSET Diploma, the officially recommended pre-qualification for MW students, also in several other countries in Central Europe, most notably at Geisenheim University in Germany and Zurich University in Switzerland.
In 2016 the AWA also signed a new partnership with the Istituto Grandi Marchi (IGM), and will from now on also offer the WSET Diploma at the Palazzo Antinori in Florence. The president of the Istituto Grandi Marchi, a major supporter of the IMW, Piero Mastroberardino, says: “A common vision for both partners was to offer the recommended stepping stone to the MW program to Italian and international wine aficionados for the first time in our country. We are obviously also very happy to welcome the Diploma students during their course days in Italy to our wineries”.
Earlier this year the Austrian Wine Academy hosted for the first time an Introductory MW Masterclass in Rust. This Masterclass offers an introduction to the MW Study Programme over two days for wine professionals who are interested in finding out more about the depth and scope of the programme. At the end of the Masterclass, eligible attendees had the possibility to sit the entrance exam for the Institute’s Study Programme. The overall number of participants was extremely high, which is evidenced by 12 new MW students who qualified for the MW programme through this Introductory Masterclass. Josef Schuller MW, Managing Director of the AWA and past Chairman of the IMW: “After the great success of the Introductory Masterclass in Rust we agreed with the IMW to offer this course annually. Our graduates come from 33 different countries and I am sure that we will see even more of our “Weinakademiker” being accepted to the MW program and hopefully they will also pass the MW exams in future.” The next Introductory Master Class is scheduled for June 9-10 2017 at the campus of the Austrian Wine Academy in Rust, Austria. For more information, please contact: Sarah Kirkpatrick, Marketing and Communications Manager, Institute of Masters of Wine; phone: +44 (0)207 383 9131, e-mail: skirkpatrick@mastersofwine.org
For information about the WSET Diploma courses see http://www.weinakademie.at/english.php or contact Josef Schuller MW, Director of the Austrian Wine Academy; phone: +43 (0)2685 6853, e-mail: josef.schuller@weinakademie.at
About the Austrian Wine Academy
The AWA was founded in 1991 in Rust, Austria, as a national non-profit national wine school. It was co-founded by the Austrian Wine Marketing Board and Chairman of the Academy’s Board is Willi Klinger (Managing Director of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board); Managing and founding Director is Dr. Josef Schuller, MW. Aside from seminars in Rust and other Austrian cities it is offering other wine courses on various levels. Following a new partnership with the Istituto Grandi Marchi, the Austrian Wine Academy also offers the WSET Diploma at Palazzo Antinori in Florence from 2016 onwards. The Istituto Grandi Marchi is an organization of 19 leading Italian wineries such as Antinori, Gaja, Lungarotti, Masi, Lageder and others.