 | |
Wine expert Jeannie Cho Lee
|
 |
|
The title of ¡°Master of Wine¡± is like a Ph.D. for those working in the wine industry. The title has been awarded since 1953 by the Institute of Masters of Wine, and only 277 people worldwide have received the honorable title so far.
Now, a 40-year-old Korean woman, Jeannie Cho Lee, has become the first Asian to obtain the MW title. A wine expert working in Hong Kong, she supervises the curriculum in a private wine school, the Fine Wine School, and regularly writes contributions to wine magazines such as the Wine Spectator of the U.S. and the Revue du Vin of France.
In an interview with the Chosun Ilbo in Seoul on Thursday, she described the arduous process of gaining the title. ¡°The written test and wine tasting are held over four days. They don¡¯t average your score. If you don¡¯t pass on the first day, you are out. You taste 12 kinds of wine and write the place of origin, vintage, type of grapes, the quality, and what made you come to the conclusion on one or two pages of answer sheet over three hours in the morning,¡± she explains. ¡°In the written part of the exam in the afternoon, you choose three out of five questions, and write 20 to 30 pages on the terroir -- the chemical makeup of the vineyard soil, climate and precipitation.¡±
Lee was born in Korea but moved to the U.S. at the age of seven. She majored in humanities at Smith College, and received a master¡¯s degree in public policy from Harvard. But she was captivated by wine while she was studying at Oxford for a year and a half in 1988. In 2001, she signed up for the two-year MW school and finally finished her studies seven years later while raising four children.
Lee said she feels there are too many ¡°label drinkers¡± in Korea, meaning people tend to care more about the brand than the quality of wine. ¡°It is pretty much the same in Hong Kong and China. Chateau Lafite-Rothschild of Bordeaux is the most popular brand in China. It¡¯s about 50 percent more expensive than other top class Bordeaux wines. The fact that red wine occupies 60 to 70 percent of the wine market in Korea, China and Hong Kong is also similar,¡± she says.
She adds there is no reliable and credible wine expert in Korea. ¡°There is so much information on wine on the web, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s all that correct,¡± she says. But she ended the interview on a hopeful note, saying, ¡±I believe Korea will very likely produce a wine expert who will be recognized globally as well as locally because Koreans are so passionate about what they are doing.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
