America's Toughest Wine Expert
By Wine Atlas, Wednesday 31 January 2007 :: Wine - United-States :: #135 :: rss
Only 98 Americans hold a diploma from the British-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust. It is awarded after a minimum of two years of study followed by extensive written and blind tasting examinations. Many fail the first time around. Success entitles one to use the initials "D.W.S." ("Diploma in Wine & Spirits"). Overwhelmingly, the graduates come from the world of sommeliers and wine and spirits salespeople.
Then there is Jonathan Grossweiler, D.W.S. since 2006, a powerfully built, shaven-headed ex-Marine from somewhere in New Jersey.
"I'd rather not say which town I live in," Mr. Grossweiler, 34, told me. "I don't want the inmates to be privy to that information." Those inmates are at a prison for sex offenders in Middlesex County, N.J., where he works the 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift as a corrections officer.
Why and how did a prison guard embark on a journey to becoming a wine expert? Mr. Grossweiler answered those questions last week in an interview at the International Wine Center in Manhattan, where he got his diploma.
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