Hill Country Wine Academy

[00:00:06] Howdy Vine Trippers, I wanted to take just a moment to talk to you about the Texas Wine Lover website and their phone app for both iPhones as well as Google devices. You can actually download this app, put it on your phone, or just go to the website if you're not an app person. And if you ever want to go visit some of these great locations that we've been talking about in the podcast, this will give you great information about the place before you go.

[00:00:30] And you'll be able to find other wineries in the area, so if you want to make a day of it, go see several other places as well. You can search by region, you can sort the listings, find ones that are kid-friendly, family-friendly, even ones that host RVs. All kinds of different sortable listings you can find there in that app and on the website. You can find other things as well in the area like restaurants, accommodations, maybe events that are going on at the different wineries.

[00:00:56] So it's your one-stop resource that goes hand-in-hand with this podcast to be able to find those great places to go visit. So check out the Texas Wine Lover website. It's txwinelover.com. Or go to their app. You can find it on the Google Play Store or the Apple Store as well. Enjoy your trips among the vines and use that app.

[00:01:17] Welcome to Texas Under Vine, an exploratory podcast to scout out the best that Texas wine country has to offer.

[00:01:47] I'm your wine guide, Scott, and I'm here to lead you on an auditory expedition to the vineyards and wineries across the great Lone Star State. Each episode will cover a different vineyard, winery, or wine-related business operating in Texas. You'll hear interviews, descriptions, and details about each location that will excite you to visit and experience them for yourself. Ready to plan a wine tour? Use these episodes to choose the most interesting spots for you and your friends to check out.

[00:02:15] Most of all, enjoy hearing about the rapidly growing wine industry in the state and what makes our wines and wineries the best. Howdy, fellow vine tripper. Welcome to bonus episode seven for the Texas Under Vine podcast.

[00:02:42] Now, again, this is another bonus episode that I have for you. And if you're new to the show, let me just kind of fill you in on that. So most of the episodes that I produce are typically focused on wine destinations. So specific places you can go to get great wine here in Texas, wineries, things like that.

[00:03:02] But there are a lot of other businesses that are kind of adjacent to those wine destinations that still provide some great added value to you that you might want to know about as you're going to visit these great wine destinations in our state. So that's kind of what these bonus episodes are all about. Businesses or events or things that will enhance and hopefully escalate your wine journey as you go through these great wine destinations here in Texas.

[00:03:30] And so today I've got another bonus episode for you. Just such one of those businesses. Okay. On your wine journey, have you ever found yourself feeling a little intimidated by wine or maybe wanting to just learn more about it? I know in my own wine journey, I was that way. When I really discovered wine and kind of became passionate about it, I am very much kind of an obsessive type person. So I wanted to dive in head first and just learn as much as I could.

[00:03:58] There's so much in the wine world, the language, you know, the jargon, the lingo about wine, the processes, how wine is made, why there's different flavors. What is terroir, all these weird words, things like that, the jargon I talked about earlier. There's so much to learn and know about in the wine industry. And sometimes it can be very intimidating, especially if you're just getting started on your journey or you just know, you know, I'm the kind of person, I like wine, I like to drink it. I just don't know really anything about it.

[00:04:26] And so there are options for you. Today, I'm going to tell you all about the Hill Country Wine Academy. They are a business that is all about wine education. And they're located right here in Texas, smack dab in the Hill Country. Okay. This wine school started back in 2023. It was originally called the William Chris Wine School as it was started and operated out of that particular winery.

[00:04:53] However, in an effort to broaden their focus of other types of wine curriculum and education offerings, as well as to appeal to a broader base of people to come and take these classes, they rebranded their name as the Hill Country Wine Academy. The director of education for the Hill Country Wine Academy and for William Chris Wines is Kelsey Kramer.

[00:05:15] Now, Kelsey started off in the hospitality industry and she became familiar with Texas wines through a tasting of a Texas move-ed that happened to be from William Chris Wine. Now, that wine intrigued her and it piqued her interest enough to seek out and actually take a job there at William Chris Wines as a tasting ambassador.

[00:05:37] That role itself kind of branched off deeper into wine education and kind of forged her role now as the driving force behind the Hill Country Wine Academy. Their mission is to share wine knowledge and education with anybody looking to further their wine knowledge, especially if you're interested in the Texas wine industry and our unique to all the things that we have here that make our Texas wine amazing.

[00:06:04] So, at the Hill Country Wine Academy, they offer several different types of courses. They offer certification classes for high-end learning, for professionals, things like that, or people that really want to just dive in deep, which is something we've kind of mentioned on this podcast a few times before in passing. Now, I'm talking about WSET and they actually teach level one and level two.

[00:06:26] There are four different levels to WSET and it really goes in-depth in your knowledge of wine throughout the world. It's a global organization that's based out of London and they offer those first two levels of classes with the hope of expanding to level three somewhere down the road, be able to offer those courses.

[00:06:46] But in addition to those kind of really in-depth wine certification classes, they also offer some shorter, fun little courses about different subject areas and other types of certifications as well. Even one that they developed called the Texas Wine Ambassador Certification. And that is a really unique class in and of itself.

[00:07:06] They developed that course with the idea of the audience being people who work in wineries and tasting rooms and things like that, to be able to have a greater knowledge of the Texas wine industry and the unique things in Texas that affect the wines that we produce, our terroir, the area where the grapes are grown, unique influences that we have here in Texas. But I'm going to say, as someone who's actually taken that course, it's not just for winery employees.

[00:07:34] Anyone who's fascinated by and wants to know more about Texas wines and what really makes Texas wine unique could benefit from taking this class. So even though it was kind of intended to be for winery employees, it's definitely branched out and a lot of people could take that class and really benefit from the knowledge you'll get from it. And in addition to those certification classes and that ambassador course that I just mentioned,

[00:07:58] I said a moment ago they also have some short form courses that you can take that are geared around different subject areas. Things like how to pair food with wine. They also have one that's about how to know when a wine is age worthy. Should I take this bottle of wine and age it or should I go ahead and drink it now? So they offer some great little practical classes like that for the everyday consumer.

[00:08:22] And the beauty of taking these courses there at Hill Country Wine Academy is they're going to provide all of the wines that you're going to taste during these different courses. So you'll have everything provided for you as you get to learn about wine and taste these great wine samples that they provide. And for some of the courses that are longer courses like take a full day, a lot of times they'll even provide lunch for you. And they're a relatively new organization, like I said, started in 2023.

[00:08:50] So they're still kind of ramping up courses and coming up with ideas. And so they're also very open to you as the listener. If you have some sort of wine education, you'd like to see a course that is interested you or maybe something you'd like to learn more about that isn't one of their standard offerings. Message them and talk to Kelsey or our assistant there and they can talk about things and maybe put a course together.

[00:09:15] They're very open to coming up with brand new content to deliver, find out what it is the consuming public wants so they can provide and extend that education. Now, they're actually in the process of moving locations. But when I went, I got to go to their original location and sit down in one of their classrooms with their director of education, Kelsey Kramer.

[00:09:36] And we got to sit down and talk about not only their current course offerings, but her dreams and plans for future course offerings and other things that they might can do there to expand the Hill Country Wine Academy. So without further ado, let's go to that interview and hear directly from her. Howdy, Vine Trippers. Welcome to this special bonus episode of the Texas Under Vine podcast.

[00:10:04] And I am here at the Hill Country Wine Academy with Kelsey Kramer, the director of education here and at William Chris Wines. And we're going to learn a little bit about some of their really fun classes and the things that you can do if you're wanting to really dive into deeper knowledge like certifications and things more in the wine professional world. You can't, but they also have a lot of great offerings just for those of you that want to know a little bit more about wine. You're going to find out a little bit about that today. So I'm excited to bring this episode to you.

[00:10:33] So without further ado, Kelsey, tell me a little bit about yourself. So what got you on this journey and got you started in the wine industry? Oh, it's it goes pretty far back. I started as an actress. And so my no one starts in wine. I don't think I don't know that many people are groomed from 10 years old to start. Tasting and drinking wine. I would probably be much better at it if I was. But I started in theater. I got into it in middle school.

[00:11:03] I was a really shy person. And so I got into theater to kind of find my inner extrovert, which I found much more than I used to have. I started in theater and I I was a book nerd and I was a big learner. I had never pictured myself as an actress. But something about reading material and bringing it to life really struck me. And I like to help people understand stories and tell stories.

[00:11:32] So I found myself applying for colleges where I could get an acting scholarship or going to musical theater and follow that path. And so I got my acting degree. I got a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting and I was singing and dancing a little bit at the time, which was it was never the path that I had seen for myself. I thought doctor, marine biologist, writer, anything else.

[00:11:57] And when I finished my degree, I was deciding between musical theater, television, movies and screen acting and on stage theater. And so I selected television. I thought that was going to be the next big thing. And we have wonderful television shows that I watch every day that I'm like, I could have been on that.

[00:12:20] But when I went to Chicago to get into television, I had to get a job because acting does not pay bills, especially early on. So I walked down the street and there was a strip of restaurants and stores that were quite high end. And I just did the thing I've always done, which is walk into a place and say, hey, do you have a job? And the first place I walked into was a Michelin star restaurant. And I had no idea anything about it.

[00:12:47] I had been in hospitality and hotels, that side of hospitality. And they gave me a job as a hostess and they had a wonderful education program. And I never auditioned for anything. I just started learning about wine. And then that has progressively led to becoming a wine educator, which is a much simpler story. That was when it all really first happened. That was the bloom of it all. It was the bloom.

[00:13:12] It really was like the moment that kind of grabs you out of the path of your life and says, you were on the wrong path. Keep going this other way. So I needed to be forced to see that my path was not television. It was storytelling about wine. Yeah. For whatever reason. I've had multiple times in my own career, my own life, where you hit a fork in the road and all of a sudden it's taking you to choose this path. And now you're going way from where you thought. I thought I was going to go down that path.

[00:13:42] But all of a sudden, well, here I am, you know? I love it. And I try and listen for those moments now. So I'm ready for life to pluck me out of wine education. But it hasn't yet. Okay. But I'm always ready for it. I haven't come to that crossroads. Well, personally, I hope we keep you here for a little while. We hope so too. But I don't get a say in those things. Yeah. Funny the way life takes this. Okay. Well, then let's talk about this journey. So we've come to the crossroads. You've now taken down this path and you're getting into wine, learning about wine.

[00:14:11] What brought you to the Texas wine industry here and even into the educational side of teaching about wine? That was a really long journey to get to there. So my background is, my wine background is in international wine. So I started in, I mentioned I started in hospitality. That was the start of it all. I came in and was learning about food and this was a Japanese-French fusion restaurant.

[00:14:36] And so I was learning about caviar and roe and I was having, you know, raw octopus tastings and I was having sake tastings. And wine was just a piece of it. So it all centers around food and sensory experience folded into hospitality, which education is all of those things. Education really is hospitality when you take it to the wine industry. And so I was studying French, Spanish, Italian wines, anything but Texas wine.

[00:15:05] I was in Chicago at the time, so there was no Texas wine. I'm from San Antonio originally, and so I did come back and I walked into the best wine bar that I knew of in San Antonio, which was High Street Wine Company. And I continued this education on international wine, but I'm a storyteller. So I asked to start teaching classes and I started teaching classes about women in the wine industry.

[00:15:31] I would put together little flights on the weekends of volcanic wines. And I would pick three wines off the menu and talk about grapes that grow near volcanoes. And I would find patterns in the wine industry that helped me understand it to a level, in a way that I needed. I'm a patterns person. And so if you just give me an encyclopedia or a book of wine that doesn't have an obvious pattern, I have a lot of trouble following it.

[00:15:58] So I started to teach for the type of people that learn the way that I do. Systematically. Yes. Yeah. Very systematically. And not leaving out pieces of information that can be really crucial for the understanding. So I found that I would learn a bunch of things about tannins, but there was one piece of information that I was missing that kind of linked it all together.

[00:16:21] And so I wanted to give full picture, systematic education that built up for people. And, you know, it never ends, but that's kind of what I'm doing. I think of it as building blocks. So I tasted my first Texas wine when I was at High Street Wine Company. So their program is representative of the entire world.

[00:16:45] So they have a ton of Italian wines, tons of French wines, a good amount of California wines, a good amount of Australian wines, classic producers, some newer fresher producers. They had two or three Texas wines on the menu and they were on the bottle program. So, you know, of 250 SKUs and wines on the menu that would rotate, I never got to taste those wines. Then we pulled on one by the glass and I tasted the wine and it was made from mervedre.

[00:17:15] And that is my favorite grape. I had fallen so in love with it because it's so meaty, savory, earthy. And I find mervedre to not be a very obvious grape. It has a lot of subtleties and I find it to be a very mysterious grape. It feels like it has a lot of secrets and I want to know the secrets. So I had tasted these grapes from Spain.

[00:17:41] I tasted mataro, which is the same grape from Australia and California. And I tasted the classic French versions. And then there was a Texas version. And it shook me because they're so different. You know this. The mervedres from Texas are delicate and elegant. And they don't have the same structure or color that you would find from classic French styles or Spanish styles. And so I found my next project.

[00:18:11] And that was around 2017, 2018. And so Texas kind of crept up on me. Hit your radar. Yeah. It hit my radar. And then I had the burning question. Do I continue with international wine? Do I go for my advanced sommelier certification? Do I continue in service? Or do I divert and answer the question or try and find the answer to the question, why does this wine taste this way?

[00:18:38] And when I started going down the Texas trail, I found that there were different answers for that question. There was no, like, coming to the conclusion of why Texas wine tastes the way it does. So I realized we're in this journey. And I've always wanted to be a part of something that hasn't been solved yet. I want to be a part of finding the answer. And so I hard diverted off the trail and into Texas wine.

[00:19:07] You wanted to dive into the mystery of merved. I want to solve the mystery of merved. You know, and I've noticed with different merveds that I've tried throughout Texas, just depending upon the terroir, whether it's high plains or hill country or even the winemaker style, merved can be, can present in so many different ways. You can have really earthy, deep kind of, but you can also have something that are very bright and fruity.

[00:19:33] It's so complex and so, I can't think of the word I'm looking for, but easy to, not manipulative, but you can present it in so many different ways. Versatile, maybe that's what I want to say. It's a terroir expresser. So as many terroirs as you have in Texas, that's how many different styles of merved there are. So I'm still not done counting how many terroirs there are in Texas. It is far beyond the number of ABAs we have. It's unlimited.

[00:20:00] And merved is so great at expressing that. So you're completely right. There's so many different styles and I'm still tasting all of them. All right. Well, we are a further step into your journey here. So you're intrigued by Texas. You want to figure out this merved or puzzle. You want all that. So then how did you land here? What did that look like? At the time that I was pouring that Texas wine by the glass and I was getting so excited about the conversation,

[00:20:29] I saw a job posting pop up in the Texas wine industry and it was from the same producer whose wine it was. And that was William Criss. Okay. And so I thought it very obvious. I just apply for them. I go straight to where they're doing the thing that I need the questions answered to. And so it was during the COVID shutdown. Okay. So High Street Wine Company had closed its doors.

[00:20:56] We were selling wine in various different ways. We would try and take wine deliveries to you. All those creative methods. We tried everything. They came to the point where they weren't needing as many team members as were there. I was teaching classes at the time and they were sparsely attended. And so I felt the need to shift away. And so I saw that job posting pop up and I made the very tough decision to apply to continue my journey elsewhere.

[00:21:26] And then High Street eventually successfully opened back up and everything. And now I'm just a frequent guest there. I got the job at William Criss as a tasting room ambassador. But very quickly, I started building new experiences for guests to get a little bit deeper into what's in the glass. Vertical tastings, horizontal tastings, things like that. And eventually I applied for the director of education position.

[00:21:54] And this was after I was a virtual brand ambassador for a while. So I started on the tasting room floor. And at that time, virtual tastings were still going strong. We had expanded our virtual offerings in reaction to the COVID shutdown. And so I dove into that for a while. And then I found my way back in education. I did a little stint in marketing beforehand.

[00:22:22] I'm a glutton for education for myself and for others. And so essentially my desire has been to see all sides of the industry in order to have a well-rounded education. And so at the time that I was at High Street, I was like, I need to either go into distribution. I need to, I can't remember what the second one was. Or I need to work at a winery and I need to see what it's like to be in the vineyard.

[00:22:51] And I was convinced I was going to end up going into distribution. And instead I found myself out at the winery. So I did a little stint in marketing. And then I went into the director of education position. It was a one-person department where I was teaching the entire team. And we had 130 or so team members at that time.

[00:23:13] And our family has only grown, especially since we've expanded to uplift, grower projects, skeleton key, things like that. And now wine for the people. So we've increased to a two-person department now, which is super exciting. You've doubled in size. I have. We're seeing double the growth in our department. We're a small department, but we are very mighty.

[00:23:39] We train the team when they first come into their roles. We give the Texas Wine Ambassador Certification Course, which was originally built for those team members. So they had a lot of comfort learning about Texas wine amidst a lot of programs that teach you a lot about wine, but nothing about Texas wine. And then we've expanded those offerings to be able to give WSET certifications and then short-form classes for our guests.

[00:24:09] And then now I'm rolling out a little bit into wholesale as well to start giving some more education to, you know, frontline employees who are serving Texas wine but have never worked in the Texas wine industry. So retail, on-premise programs, places like High Street Wine Company, where you could have had a Texas wine class for the team when I was there.

[00:24:31] Cool. And I was pleased to be able to take the Texas Wine Ambassador Course at the wine symposium last year that you taught. Great class, really enjoyed it. Good overview of all kinds of things, Texas especially, and the terroirs that we have here in the soils and all the fun things about Texas. And so I'm excited to share these classes because I not only see you from the outside, but I've been a participant in part of it as well. You have. And here we are. So you've got the Hill Country Wine Academy.

[00:25:00] Let's talk about the location and the school for just a moment. We are here currently at your location where you've been holding these classes. But I've heard you mentioned earlier that you're going to be moving soon, possibly. So let's talk about kind of the history of this place and what the future might hold for your location. Yeah. So we started as the William Chris Wine School. This is when we were just William Chris and we were only teaching our team.

[00:25:27] There's such a demand for education, I'm happy to say, that we grew beyond that very quickly. It started with WSET courses. We built the Texas Wine Ambassador Certification Course in order to give a more full knowledge about Texas wine, of course, as you know.

[00:25:43] So you can take WSET Level 1 and learn about wine generally and then the Texas Ambassador Certification and have a well-rounded knowledge of Texas wine in context to the rest of the world is the goal. That we rebranded last year to the Hill Country Wine Academy, and that's when we moved locations as well. So where we are now in Stonewall, Texas, it's just five minutes down the road from William Chris.

[00:26:12] This gave us the space to be able to expand our offerings. So we offered the certification courses only for a while, and then we grew to be able to offer short-form classes because we had such interest from not just our guests,

[00:26:27] but members along the 290 corridor who were being hired for ambassador roles or general manager roles or tasting room manager roles and not knowing structured information about Texas wine. And so we started in Stonewall. We've been here for about a year, but we are moving off location now. So we're moving back to several locations.

[00:26:54] So the goal of the Hill Country Wine Academy has been that we can come into the market where it's needed. We can go to the places where people are interested in Texas wine because how it has been is if you're in San Antonio and you're interested in Texas wine, driving out to the Hill Country Wine Academy means driving out for a 9-to-5 class an hour and a half or an hour, an hour and a half away from the school itself.

[00:27:20] But we desire to have a school that can accommodate the size of Texas. It's a big state. That's the real trick. It's a massive state. It's as big as several countries. And there's wine all over the state. And there's wine everywhere. So we should be able to have programs that are consistent that travel the state. And so we go out into Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas right now.

[00:27:50] And then we have locations at Carter Creek Winery Resort and Spa and William Criss as well. And really, we work in reaction to the market needs. So if someone calls me and says, hey, we want a class wearing grapevine, I say, let's make it happen. And we go and establish a location there, whether it's temporary or full time. Almost like pop-up trainings here and there as needed. Pop-up certification courses. Wow, cool. I like that.

[00:28:18] So what would you say is your kind of vision and mission for the Hill Country Wine Academy? Who are you trying to reach? And what can people expect? The vision is applicable knowledge. There are so many wine classes that are out there that are lectures. There are encyclopedias. There are wonderful wine books. I am an actress.

[00:28:41] I'm used to being in an improv troupe where you have eight other people that you're riffing off of and building a story with in the moment. And acting, even when you have a script, is all about going up on stage and creating something that feels new every time. And it isn't repeatable because that gets boring. And I am, at my heart and core, an entertainer.

[00:29:07] So the goal is that when you come into a class with us, you're first of all entertained because without the entertainment piece, no one is listening. Eli could read a book. Yeah. Anyone can read a book. And we don't want to teach our classes to something that you can read outside. It should be new information.

[00:29:25] And so we really focus on a core of information that has patterns that can be followed so that if you forget information, you can go back to the pattern and reconcile it in your mind and find the answers. And then being able to work with the product. So all this information that I had about wine up to a point, I could tell you what great varieties grew like. I could tell you where they were grown in the world.

[00:29:53] I could tell you what the labeling language was like. And I could blind taste wine and tell you it tastes like this, this, this, and this. But what I really found myself craving and what I wasn't familiar with was how to make wine work for me in the way that I wanted to. There's this barrier with wine where until you can answer your own questions, you don't understand it well enough.

[00:30:21] And I want to give people that earlier. So if you're asking, for instance, whether a wine needs to be decanted or not, I want to give people the tools to taste the wine and tell that for themselves. And make sense of the wine world in a way that fits into the wine that they're drinking every day. I don't think that you should have to go to a ton of wine classes to be able to have a wine journey.

[00:30:48] And so our classes help to improve your relationship with wine. I call myself a wine therapist. I am here to improve your relationship with what's in the glass. And that journey never ends. But it should be something that people can do on their own. And here's the reason why. I was in tasting groups for a long time to go through my sommelier certifications and to be able to get to the point where I could blind taste and pass the exams.

[00:31:14] I stopped going to tasting groups after a while because I found that the people in my tasting group would affect how I felt about the wine. It's an echo chamber, right? Totally. And I would go out of the tasting groups less confident. And I wasn't sure if it was because I was missing the point of things or if I just wasn't learning the right way. Or if it's because I honestly was disagreeing and I was finding things to be different in the wine.

[00:31:44] And some of the classes that I was taking at the time felt very like you either agree or you're wrong. Or there's a certain way to do this and you shouldn't go outside of that. And I wanted a more welcoming way to get into the wine industry and kind of make it fit with my very neurodivergent ADHD brain, which thinks in patterns and also not in patterns at the same time.

[00:32:13] I need the entertainment factor of wine. So I found that when I stopped going to tasting groups, suddenly wine tasting made total sense to me. And then I went through my WSET diploma program and I was having great scores on my tasting. So it turned out that I was just, I was conforming to a way of learning about wine that didn't fit into the way that I, my relationship with wine.

[00:32:38] Which is less about who the producer is and more about tasting the wine and finding out the way for it to best shine. And I'm just interested in what I'm interested in. And I want to be able to see that to its end and I want to help other people do the same. I want to be able to ask, what is your wine journey? What are you interested in learning? And then build that path for someone so that it's not recommending the same books to every person.

[00:33:04] I think that that does a disservice to people who, you know, just think and dream and learn in different ways. Well, and I think that's one of, to me, one of the great mysteries with wine. For me, at least in my journey, you can learn as much as you can. I mean, I've taken certification classes. I, like you said, I understand producers. I understand labeling. I understand all these things, varietals. But just picking a wine to go with whatever I'm eating that day.

[00:33:32] That's the practical where the rubber meets the road, right? And wine pairing to me is one of the hardest things. And I was like, people ask me, what should I drink with this? And that's when my heart starts racing because I'm like, I don't know what your palate's like. And I don't know what, you know, I don't know how I could handle being in the service industry because I don't know how I would do that. To me, that's the rubber meeting the road. And it doesn't matter what the wine label says or what the producer, what the average weather temperature was in this region during this time. You know, it's more, how can you make wine work for you?

[00:34:02] So we've, we have the certification courses and they're great. They're a great foundation, but they're built for standardization. Assuming that everyone's going to come out understanding the same thing. And what I just was saying doesn't match up with that. So we created a series of classes that kind of answer those questions and take the ideas that we start talking about in the certification courses and then make them moldable like clay.

[00:34:31] So food and wine pairing, for instance, we have a short form class that's called Wine and Bites. It's a workshop where we have three flights of wine with three flights of food. And we're approaching each flight from a different angle where we're answering the question. If you're ordering wine off of a restaurant menu and you've never tasted the wine before and then you're going to order a dish to go along with it. How do you approach that situation?

[00:34:58] And how is it different than if you have a wine that you know you're going to open for dinner and you're building dinner to fit that wine? Those are very different scenarios. And it all comes down to the same foundational topics that we talk about in WSET Level 1, Level 2, and the Texas Ambassador Certification Course. But it's about molding that information to the way that you interact with food and wine. So it takes that.

[00:35:24] There should be no like blood pressure going up or like heavy breathing or like feeling like it's this big mystery. It's really not. But there are a lot of classic food and wine pairings out there. But do you really need to know every single one in order to know what to order for dinner? Yeah. No. Or just the basic stepping stones. Yeah.

[00:35:44] There are people who want to interact with wine in the wine world who shouldn't be expected to have a certification course or two or have read one of the wine encyclopedias. There are wonderful books about wine. But no one has to read those to be able to enjoy the wine. So our classes are a great way to skip past all of that if you want to or find out whether you're interested in reading more about it and getting to a professional level of understanding.

[00:36:13] Also jumping off point for that. Yeah. Well, the next time I show up at your door with a couple of bottles of wine, I'm going to say, I'm here for couples counseling. That's exactly what I want. I want that. It should be like that. I mean, bring me a wine and say, I want to understand this better. I want to have a communication that's open and friendly and low pressure. Sure. So let's get into some of the nitty gritty, some of the course offerings that you have.

[00:36:43] We've kind of hit around and punched at them from different angles. We talked a little bit about that you're a WSCT approved provider. For those that aren't familiar with WSCT, there are basically four different levels of WSCT from level one, two, three up to diploma level. Are you able to teach all four levels here? No, we offer the first two levels. So I'm currently going through my diploma. Once I'm finished with my diploma, we will offer the level three.

[00:37:09] I don't know that we'll ever do the diploma level. I'm not going to take it out completely. You never tucks you into whatever it does. But at this point, we're looking to be able to offer levels one through three. Okay. And then who are those courses kind of more? What are they focused on? Who are they geared towards? It used to be geared towards professionals in wine.

[00:37:30] I don't know that that's so true anymore because a lot of people, just everyday wine drinkers, are starting to pour wine out here on the weekends or as a part-time job or are starting to speak about wine at a professional level even though they don't work in the wine industry. And so WSET is now for any professional who's looking for very structured, formal wine education.

[00:37:58] The pins that you get, the certificates that you get, these are internationally recognized. So WSET is given in 79 countries, at least the last time that I looked. Based in London. Yes, based in London. But so many countries around the world offer them. It creates this web of people who speak about wine in a similar way. So it creates a uniform language about wine, which is a very beneficial thing. It doesn't make wine boring or cut and dry.

[00:38:28] It allows for professional assessment of wine and assessment of regions to follow patterns that logically make sense. And then eventually you start writing research papers about that information. And that's at the diploma level. The assumption is that people who are going through WSET are looking to taste wine in a formal way, make assessments about the wine,

[00:38:52] whether it's what the grape variety is and they're in a blind tasting, where the grapes were grown, what the vintage was like, or even just service, quality, food and wine pairing, how long the wine can hold in bottle. So if you're wanting to answer any of those questions about wine, this gives a very structured way that's universally accepted to find those things to be true. Now, in those classes, the thing that you have to understand is that even though wine is a personal thing,

[00:39:21] if you say that a wine smells like vanilla and the instructor says this wine has no vanilla aromas in it, you have to calibrate your palate to that. And the reason is because when we're talking about vanilla, specifically we're talking about wines that have been aged in oak barrel, not many or no wines will have that vanilla aroma if they haven't been aged in oak barrel. And so when you feel like you're smelling something that the instructor says is not there,

[00:39:49] it's about finding out what that aroma is similar to that you're actually smelling and then calibrating your palate to that. So there's some self-work that you do in the class. And that's why it's been associated with professionals taking it is because you're trying to hop on to this universal way of speaking about wine. Some people find it less desirable because they're wanting to just have the personal experience of wine.

[00:40:18] And for those people, I say to go into the Texas Ambassador Certification Course or one of the other short form courses that we offer. So the Texas Ambassador Certification Course I mentioned was originally built for the ambassadors who were serving Texas wine at William Criss. And that has now far expanded beyond those ambassadors to other ambassadors along the road here, but also guests who are wanting to understand the same question that I wanted to understand,

[00:40:48] which is why does Texas wine taste the way it does? And this is a semi-structured way and semi-artistic way of coming to that understanding. So we talk geology of Texas, soil types of Texas, patterns of climate across Texas, and then we talk about how we're going to get into it. We taste many wines, and we do some comparisons in the class as well, Italian Sangiovese versus Texas Sangiovese,

[00:41:12] to reconcile why Texas wine does what it does and tastes the way that it does. But in that course, specifically what we're looking at and what's so important to that course is the application piece of it. So it's understanding that if you smell and taste a wine and you say, this wine smells like this, this, and this, and it has high tannins and high acidity and yada yada, saying that to another person doesn't necessarily make them want to enjoy the wine.

[00:41:41] So how do you get to the other person and make them feel the way that you do about the wine without just telling them what they're going to taste? Same with food and wine pairing, same with, we deal in a little wine service technique there. It's all about impact on another person to make them fall in love with the product. It's not just fact dropping and lecture. It's the application piece. That is an official certification as well.

[00:42:11] We recommend it in conjunction with WSET, but it is for anyone, anyone who's interested in Texas wine. That is the first class that you should take with us before you continue on in your wine journey. And then the short form courses are some of my favorites because they're the topics that I am asked most about or the topics that I find most interesting that I've dedicated some time to building a course around. And each course has some structure to it

[00:42:40] and then is a workshop so that we can use that structure in real world examples. My favorite example is called Hold or Foldom. And it's a class about whether you should age your wine in bottle or pull it out because it's ready for drinking. But the intention of the class is not to memorize some information like Mervet in Texas takes six years in bottle before it's ready to drink. That's not the intention of the class.

[00:43:08] The intention is that you will learn what a wine tastes like when it's fully developed and then taste five wines to determine at which point each wine is at. So that way, when you're going into a tasting room or when you're traveling the world and tasting wine, you can taste a wine and assess that for yourself. Okay. Is the texture going to become more thick and viscous or is it going to thin out from here?

[00:43:37] Is the tannin sufficient to be able to hold the wine longer? Is the wine very fruity right now or is it lacking a little bit of fruit? All of those I can get you to assess successfully over two hours. And we have five real world examples, all which are at different points in their lives. Yeah. Again, where the rubber meets the road. Working knowledge. Exactly.

[00:43:59] What are the time limits that you're looking at for maybe WSET level courses versus the ambassador versus the short form? How long is somebody committing to? The Texas ambassador course and WSET one follow the same format. They're in nine to five class. So it's a full day. We offer lunch. It's full service. You come out to meet us. We pour typically nine wines during the class. Wines are provided as part of it. Wines are provided. Absolutely. And they're excellent examples of what we talk about in class.

[00:44:29] And then WSET two is a little bit more of a commitment. So it's 16 hours. We break this up over three sessions plus an introductory virtual session so that you have some prep work done before you go into class. And then there's an exam that's separate.

[00:44:47] So you come out to see us a couple times and we break down the class into essentially white wines of the world, red wines of the world, and then Italy and sparkling and fortified wines. So you progress through the class and taste 43 wines. Yeah, there's a lot more. I think it is a lot of wine. So each session we're tasting 12 to 15 wines.

[00:45:12] And we move quickly through everything, but it's open for anyone. So the idea is that WSET level two, WSET level one is not a prerequisite for it. So any person who knows nothing about wine could come into WSET level two and join into the conversation and be where they need to be in order to successfully pass the exam with whatever score that they would like.

[00:45:37] As long as they're ready for a little bit of outside study and they're going to really focus on it, it's possible for anyone. And a very fun class. Well, having level one, I think for me when I did it benefited me in level two. But it's not like you said, it's not required. You can start with level two. But whatever you take, get level one will definitely benefit you through the level two. I'm glad you said that because a lot of people prefer to take WSET level one.

[00:46:03] And I think it helps to take it because you understand the language that you're going to be using to talk about wine in that class. There are certain terms that it helps to be familiar with before you go into level two. And then understanding how WSET is structuring the class. I think the context is really, really helpful. Yeah. So levels one and two, it's multiple choice questions.

[00:46:27] There's no expectation that you're so familiar with blind tasting at that point that you need to do anything more. That's your first interaction with wine in a formal setting. And then the short form courses, they range from an hour and a half to three hours. If it's a workshop, we tend to go for longer. But we have some shorter classes like Vino Vernacular. It's a wine vocabulary class. There's application to it. And we do taste wines during that class.

[00:46:57] But it's more about nailing down the very unique language that wine has from vineyard to wine. Yeah. And in the winery as well. Sure. And it can be overwhelming to the first time drinker of wine doesn't know all the terminology and the jargon and things like that. Those wines, those words and vernacular can be a little bit overwhelming. I would say even beyond that, there are professionals of wine that are working with wine every day.

[00:47:23] And if you haven't spent a lot of time in the vineyard, there's likely vineyard terms that you're not very familiar with. Or if you do spend a lot of time in the vineyard and you don't spend a lot of time formally tasting, there is always a language barrier. Unless you're working on all parts of the industry, it's hard to know all of it. But I almost considered, so I've done through level three of WAC2 myself. And I almost likened it to level one being more like a high school level.

[00:47:52] Level two being almost more of like a college level. And level three being more like master's level. Because now you're really getting into focusing and in-depth with everything. With the doctorate level being that diploma level. I describe it the same way. Yeah. It's the teacher in us. Do you have any like fun like success stories or things of people who took the class and really came back like, Oh wow, this is a really fun thing that I experienced through it or something that really helped me later on?

[00:48:17] Well, I do have students who reach out to me and let me know that they've used certain pieces of information from specifically the Texas Wine Ambassador Certification course. I'll have people come to me and say, I've been doing this job for a while and I got into this scenario that I always get into and I never know how to handle it. But this time I was able to handle it and this is what I said.

[00:48:39] And the biggest success that I see is the pride that people have in representing Texas Wine and having the aha moments in class. But I think some of the stories that I'm proudest of is reaching people far across the world. So we have some Texas wines in Japan now.

[00:49:01] And I taught a class for someone who is in Japan who is now a Texas wine ambassador in Japan pouring Texas wines. And we're about to double the amount of Texas wines that are in Japan. So reaching people that far and having, you know, the Texas ambassador pin come up in pictures in Germany, in Japan, in New York, that is a really beautiful thing.

[00:49:31] So Texas wine, hopefully reaching further in the market is part of the goal of this course is that we're teaching people in HEB and they will ask for this education far across Texas. And that places like Whole Foods may end up start doing the same thing and create ambassadors that create more ambassadors that reach out across the United States and then eventually the entire world.

[00:49:59] We did teach the Texas ambassador certification course to about probably 50 HEB ambassadors in Houston recently. And so having that class come together and celebrate Texas wine when they're representing wine from around the world is that was really special as well.

[00:50:22] And we're about to do the same thing in San Antonio locations, Dallas and Austin for HEB. So it's not just about the success of the individual people that are excited to understand Texas wine or to come back to Texas wine after not having a great experience with it before. It's also about people coming back to desire more, to increase our reach across Texas and beyond.

[00:50:49] And then recently I gave a kind of a modified presentation of the Texas ambassador certification, but at a more advanced level at Texom, which is a place that a lot of Texans submit their wines to for awards. But it's been a conference for a long time as well.

[00:51:06] And they have judges and conference attendees from 10 to 20 states in attendance who are, some of them are getting exposure to Texas wine for the first time. And the feedback that we've gotten there specifically is that they're seeing Texas wine in a new light. That they had an impression of Texas wine that they had previously gotten.

[00:51:33] And now it's the new frontier and the content that we're providing is impactful for professionals of wine who aren't in the Texas wine industry, but are in New York pouring wines of all kinds, high-end wines in a restaurant setting, all the way to journalists, wine writers, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So all of those have been moments where it feels like this is the right path.

[00:52:01] What we're doing is impactful. The wine actually is good. I wasn't just crazy. I knew that I detected something and that there was a mystery to solve. And we're actually, you know, getting towards the path of answering the question, why is Texas wine so special? Do you offer any virtual type classes for people who maybe aren't in Texas but want to know more about Texas wine? Good question. Ask for that.

[00:52:30] That's what I would say is we have the capability for it. But right now the virtual class that I've done is for one Japanese ambassador far away. I want to be able to offer more of those. See if there's a demand out there for that. Yes, I think there is. I need to know who those people are and I need you to ask for it and then we can get it for you. There you have it, listeners. So if you are somewhere else in Texas or even outside of Texas for my non-Texas listeners and watchers

[00:53:00] and you're wanting to take some of these cool courses here at Hill Country Wine Academy or just know more, make sure you contact Kelsey and let her know, hey, there's demand out here. And maybe they can start providing some of those really cool things for you guys virtually as well. Can you come here? Please. Yes. Let us know. So how have you talked about the challenges of Texas wine? So again, so many people either don't know outside of Texas, know about Texas wine. I saw a statistic that said 95% of Texas wine is consumed here in Texas.

[00:53:30] One part of that, we just don't have the distribution engine. But you go to places outside of the state and they're like, Texas makes wine, you know. And so that's one of the challenges I think we face here in Texas with the wine industry is that not only the distribution, but just the getting the word out. But even the challenges that we face as a terroir here in Texas, I mean, I would say weather-wise,

[00:53:54] I think we face some of the biggest winemaking and vineyard challenges than almost any other wine region in the world. You know, the climate changes, the storms, the weather we get here, all kinds of things. It's a very unique winemaking area. So how do you highlight that and talk about all of that with some of your courses? Yeah, that's really interesting because everyone comes in with a preconceived notion of what Texas wine is going to be like.

[00:54:22] So we start by shaking that out. And I ask, what have you heard about Texas wine? What do you know about it? And then we can work to answer some of those questions. But I go for a concise pattern, of course. I have six major challenges identified in the Texas Wine Ambassador Certification course. There are many more. There are intricacies. But that class is really about leading with things that are not challenges.

[00:54:51] It is leading with the fact that any challenge is manageable as long as we have adaptable winemakers and adaptable growers. And the growers who are growing here have been growing here for generations. They are cotton farmers. They are farmers of other agriculture. They have cattle. They have goats. They have worked the land in Texas with the same challenges for a long time.

[00:55:16] Making the wine is a really tough challenge because if we're given a really tough vintage, which is almost every vintage, it is still possible to make exceptional wine as long as we're not trying to copy what other regions are doing. And that has not tended to be the way that Texas winemakers are approaching winemakers. So the challenges are only challenges if you allow them to be challenges.

[00:55:43] But if a Texas winemaker says, oh, we had hail this year, but that's no problem because we had hail last year. We had hail five years ago. We lost 70% of our grapes in 2014 and we were still able to make exceptional wine. Let's not treat it as a challenge. Let's treat it as a part of our environment and then adapt to it. So if we know that we lost 70% of our grapes in 2014 to hail and frost and things, let's plant different grape varieties.

[00:56:12] Let's add hail netting. Let's add frost fans. Let's make a different style of wine because we have less grapes. We can make a different style of wine than we normally do. And all of those don't make for a challenge as much as they make for an opportunity to celebrate our environment in the raw way that it is.

[00:56:35] I think that what we have here is one of the hardest places to grow wine in the world. And if the world continues to change in the same way, people may come to Texas to learn how to make wine in challenging environments. We are the future of wine and we will have clones of the future. We will have the grape varieties planted that other places are going to have to add to their curriculum.

[00:57:04] Look at Bordeaux, a very classic wine region that has approved more grape varieties in reaction to the climate changing. Texas is already growing those grape varieties. So we are a wealth of information for people to figure out how to do what we're doing. And we have quality wine to prove that it's all possible. It can be done. I think more of the challenge is in the market.

[00:57:30] Yeah, getting into distribution, figuring out how to get people to take a chance on Texas wine. And that's a more interesting discussion for me because that's what I've studied is the consumer reaction to wine. It is sometimes more difficult to get a Texan to take a chance on Texas wine than it is to get a non-Texan. Really? Yeah, because Texans know too much about what they like to live here. Grew up with it, right. They've felt the heat.

[00:57:59] They've felt the drought. They know how difficult it must be. But people from outside of Texas don't understand how extreme it is. And so sometimes non-Texans are more open-minded to the wine being quality wine and grown in a reasonable environment. Well, and I wonder too how much of that is that, I mean, if you just look at the Texas wine industry, we're still so young in our progress here.

[00:58:24] You look at wine in Texas even 20 years ago, it was very different than what you have today. And so I wonder how many Texans who've grown up here, that's what they knew of wine, and they don't understand the change that we've experienced over the last 20 years from sweet, goopy wine to Texas fine wine that, you know, can be served in Michelin star restaurants. Dry, elegant, high quality.

[00:58:49] So maybe their Texans aren't as willing to take the chance on it because of that past history that they just assume it's always going to be the same. Absolutely. It's getting people onto the journey with us. Don't try Texas wine now and then 20 years from now as your second time. Do the journey with us.

[00:59:10] Try some fantastic Texas wines and try some that don't hit your fancy and then continue trying more and go on the journey. Because 20 years ago was very different. Five years ago, it was still very different. Five years from now is going to be very different than where we are now. So the journey is happening and it's happening very fast. It's a delight to go along the ride and to see that change happen in real time.

[00:59:37] Even in the two and a half years now of this podcast, it's changed like crazy. But that's interesting. So in Texas, we take our challenges and we turn them into opportunities and strengths. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Just like anything. If those things really got us down, we wouldn't have the industry we have now. We would have succumbed to it already. So let's talk down the road right now.

[01:00:04] We've looked a little bit about where Hill Country Wine Academy is now. And you're speaking of being young in the journey. I mean, you just really started just a couple of years ago, really. So, I mean, you're really just blooming and starting to get planted here. What do you see as the future for Hill Country Wine Academy? What would you dream of? What would you see things being added on or what it might become in this area or even in Texas? You know, I really don't know the answer to that question.

[01:00:32] Because just like winemakers and growers are adapting to the changes of their environment, the Hill Country Wine Academy has done the same thing. And I'd like for it to continue doing that. I want to know what is the ideal for our students to continue with. I can picture more short form classes on a range of regions instead of topics. You know, we don't have real regional classes at this time.

[01:01:01] We have more applicable wine topics like food and wine pairing. So I can see us venturing into that. I can see us adding WSET Level 3 very soon. I can see us adding advanced versions of the Texas Ambassador Certification course because that's currently the biggest request that we have. I can see virtual programs becoming desirable, which I'm so excited for because that would

[01:01:24] mean that our content is reaching beyond Texas or to the furthest parts of Texas and want to be able to respond to that. And I can see us traveling to more places in the market. I can see us traveling further. I can see us bringing classes to some of the states that have asked for the Texas Certification course that it hasn't made sense to build up to yet. We've had people talking about bringing the class to Michigan.

[01:01:52] We've had people talk about bringing the class to New York. We've had people ask about bringing it to Las Vegas, Mexico. I'd like to be able to do those things and to be able to spread the message of the Texas Ambassador Certification course or whatever else people are interested in learning. We are really a school that's about responding to the needs of the students. And the wine industry is ever-changing.

[01:02:17] We are always going through moments of wine where there's ebb and flow or different interests about different things in the wine world. And a good wine school should adapt to that. So we will hopefully always be on message with what's currently relevant in the wine world. As the industry evolves and changes to follow along with that. Yes. And expecting our students to be following along with that and desiring to keep up as the

[01:02:46] wine industry changes. Well, there are, there's a lot of resources out there with wine. And I think wine can be very intimidating to a lot of people who don't know where to start. And, you know, we've talked a little bit about those systematic type resources. We've talked about books. We've talked about seminars. I mean, you look around, there's wine things. YouTube, just jump on YouTube and you can find courses. You can find things. There's a lot of stuff out there. But in your opinion, what would you say is really the thing that should appeal to listeners

[01:03:16] to say, you know what, I don't, maybe I want to go down the professional path, but maybe I'm just a consumer and I just, I like wine. I want to know more about it. What really sets Hill Country Wine Academy apart that people would say, that's where I want to go. I want to know more. So the great thing about the Hill Country Wine Academy is that it's a place to indulge your curiosity in an entertaining way. So we are all about entertainment. I'm, I have an acting degree. That's what I do.

[01:03:44] I love to do improvisation. So the classes I call part lecture, part comedy show, if you laugh at the jokes that I made. And it's a discussion. It's meant to be interactive and conversational. And what we do is we have entry level certification courses. We don't have any advanced certification courses at the moment. So anyone can come in at any level of wine knowledge.

[01:04:10] But we also don't restrict the conversation just to beginner level things. So if you want to get an honest representation of how people talk about wine as professionals, this is a place to indulge that curiosity and see if you want to go any further. What I can guarantee is that it's going to be entertaining, that you're going to get the questions that you have answered, and that you will leave knowing whether you want to

[01:04:37] go in a certain direction with wine or whether you're ready to just start enjoying it with less pressure. Our goal is that we can get into the nerdy parts of class and that every student will be able to go along with the conversation. I'll make sure that everything is understandable, but we really don't shy away from getting really nerdy with it.

[01:04:59] We've talked about polymerization in classes, but everyone's able to go along the journey with us. And you meet them right at their level, wherever they are. Meet them at their level, but we make sure that it doesn't stay a beginner level class. I don't think that's necessarily fair because there's so much about wine to learn. And the beauty of it is that you get in the weeds really quickly and you just have to revel in it. Yeah. And so we do.

[01:05:26] Our classes are a celebration of wine, less than actual classes. I think we call them classes because they're a bit more formal than a tasting. The only thing that I would add is that we have a wonderful newsletter. It typically goes out once a quarter. It's a great way to stay in touch with what we're doing, classes that we've created, new classes coming up, but also materials that we've created that are available for people

[01:05:55] working in tasting rooms or even just people who want to have great maps about Texas wine. So the newsletter is a great way to find out whether you want to find out more about the Hill Country Wine Academy. Okay. So let's say a listener is really getting interested. They really want to take some of these classes and check out your offerings and investigate, maybe sign up for stuff. How do they do it? Where do they go from here? So we have several locations. The best place to go to, though, is our website.

[01:06:24] That will give you all the information. It's hcwineacademy.com. Go onto the website and we have our full list of classes. It'll tell you the type of class, the location, whether lunch is provided, everything that you need to know. And for short form courses, you can book right there. Oh, cool. You'll be able to pay out online and then show up on the day of class. The certification courses, we go through a request form.

[01:06:52] So there is a request to book form where we collect your information. And then a member of our team, either me or the other person that's part of our team, will contact you and give you more information about the certification course that you're applying for and talk through what your interest is in the certification course to make sure that it's the right course for you. So one thing that we don't do is allow you to just book without knowing whether the course is right for you.

[01:07:20] So we are available to talk through the courses and make sure that you're getting what you want out of it. So we do all of that online. We offer classes Sunday through Tuesdays unless there is a special request to go outside of those hours. For instance, our wholesale courses, we'll do those on whatever day the team is wanting. But for the rest of our classes, we rotate Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and we do an even rotation of those.

[01:07:47] So for instance, our next WSET2 cohort is coming up on Sundays. So if you need a weekend class, that's the time to do it. And then the one after that will come on Tuesdays. And then the one after that will come on Mondays. It's okay. Cool. So you can find the day that fits you and that's perfect for your schedule as well. And that's, I'm sure, something they'll talk with you about as they do the requesting. What does my schedule look like? What fits best? And you can kind of say, well, this cohort might be best for you for your schedule and things like that.

[01:08:15] On the website, there is a phone number where you can text with someone live and they can help you find the course that's right for you. So if you have to do a Monday and you're interested in a certification course, but you don't know which one to start with, text us that and we'll have the conversation with you and make sure that you get into the right one at the right time. Excellent. All right.

[01:08:42] Well, if there's one thing you will learn in the wine industry is no one knows it all. There is always more things to learn. Matter of fact, the more you end up learning about wine, the more you realize how much you don't know about wine and how much more there is to learn. Anyone and everyone could benefit from taking courses here at the Hill Country Wine Academy, whether you're a passionate consumer, an industry professional, maybe a first time taster of

[01:09:09] wine, or maybe if you work in the wine industry, there are courses and places for everyone here. Those WSET classes can benefit everyone no matter what level you're at. And even those short form classes really find that niche for all of different consumers and different tastes and different people who want to learn different types of things about wine, like food pairing and such. Now, as always, make sure to check out their website and it's www.hcwineacademy.com.

[01:09:38] You'll find more information there about the wine school itself, as well as take a look at some of those courses and the descriptions and things that they're currently offering. And then you can also take a look at their calendar and see when they're offering some of these courses to hopefully maybe schedule something and find something that fits for you. And don't forget that even if you can't find something that fits your schedule just right, as Kelsey said in the interview, make sure to contact her and her team.

[01:10:05] They'd be glad to work with you and try to see what they can come up with to make something work for you and your schedule. They want everyone to learn and to have the advantage of taking these classes. Now, I myself have actually benefited from several of the courses that they teach there at Hill Country Wine Academy. As for WSET, I did want to give my two cents about that. I've actually worked my way through level three of WSET so I can speak towards these courses.

[01:10:32] And if you are the kind of person that feels really intimidated about wine and you just don't really even know where to start, level one is a great entry point for you. It's not just for industry professionals. You'll build a great foundation of knowledge about wine in just six to eight hours. And when you're done and you pass that exam at the end, you'll get a certificate as well as a pin that you can wear and you'll feel proud of the knowledge and the skills you've acquired in level one for wines.

[01:10:59] But you'll probably also learn that there's more to learn and you want to dive even deeper. And for those that maybe have a foundation already in wine, you might want to jump straight into level two. It's not a prerequisite to take level one before you take level two, but level two is going to go even more in depth. And it's a longer class because of that. But you get to taste, I think Kelsey said something like 43 wines or something like that in the level two. So you're going to taste a lot of different wines from all over the world, really increasing

[01:11:29] your knowledge, your confidence so that when you walk into any wine or any tasting room, you're going to feel comfortable with what you see on the menu. You're going to know the things that you kind of have a palate for, the things you like best, how to pick certain things, how to match with food. You're really going to feel confident in your skills when you take that level two. And in addition to those WSET classes, I've actually taken the Texas Wine Ambassador course from Kelsey there. And I can say it really opened my eyes to a lot about Texas.

[01:11:59] And whereas WSET is more global and international, you're going to learn about wine in France, Italy, USA, Spain, all over the place. This Texas Wine Ambassador course really boils it all down and focuses in on the unique wine industry we have here in Texas. There's a lot of unique challenges, a lot of unique things that we have that make our wine special here in Texas. And you're going to learn about a lot of that really interesting stuff that will really

[01:12:26] increase not only your visibility of Texas wine, but how much you're going to enjoy it. It's a winner of a course for sure. And I've got my pin. So I can say with confidence that you're going to love it and it'll really benefit you. Was that the bell? Well, class is dismissed. But it's time for me to get back on the road and go visit even more of these great wine destinations that you've come to expect on the episodes of this podcast. Before I go, though, would you do me a favor?

[01:12:54] If you're enjoying this content and learning about wine and going to visit these great wine destinations, would you leave me a rating and review wherever you get this podcast? I don't tell you what rating to give me. That's your own personal choice. But if you would go out and do that, it really helps me get noticed. It helps the podcast be seen by other people in the listings, people who are looking for information like this. They just don't know it exists or where to find it. You can be a help to me in that. So if you'd be willing to do that, it would really warm my heart.

[01:13:24] Thank you so much. And it's free and it only takes a couple of minutes to do. And for those who are watching this on my YouTube channel, don't forget to like, follow and subscribe. And leave me a comment down below. If you've been to the Hill Country Wine Academy and taken some of their courses, tell me what was your favorite thing that you learned while you were there? Or if now your interest is piqued and you're wanting to go take a class there with Hill Country Wine Academy, tell me what you're most looking forward to, the class that you want to take and what you want to learn from it.

[01:13:54] And with that, my time is up. So don't forget, subscribe to the podcast and follow my socials to be notified anytime a new episode is released. And until then, happy trails and bottoms up, y'all. Thanks for listening to Texas Undervine. We strive to provide you with the best information about wine businesses all over Texas.

[01:14:18] Be sure to check out our website at texasundervine.com and follow us on our socials at Texas Undervine to stay up on all the upcoming episodes. Please email us with any suggestions or feedback. Also, contact us if you're interested in donating, sponsoring, or advertising on the podcast just to help us cover our expenses and bring even more great info to you in future episodes. Above all, travel safely and most especially, drink responsibly.

[01:14:54] Howdy, Vine Trippers. Did you know that I now have a merchandise store for Texas Undervine? I only have a handful of limited items, but you can go check those out and wear your Texas Undervine swag if you'd like to tell all your friends about the great wine locations we have here in Texas and maybe get them interested in the podcast as well. So there are things like t-shirts, there's a hoodie, there's a beanie, a ball cap, things like that. But one of the most exciting things I have right now is my limited time offer t-shirt. That's my season one t-shirt.

[01:15:23] So this is your Tasting Through Texas, Texas Undervine season one t-shirt. It's only going to be available for a little short amount of time. On the back, it has all the different locations like a band tour t-shirt. So this is a limited time item and you can go out and get it now. And one of the great things about that t-shirt is a portion of every sale goes to support the Texas Hill Country Winery Scholarship Fund. So you know that by buying that t-shirt, you're also investing in the growing and flourishing

[01:15:50] of an amazing wine industry here in Texas and all of those people that are going to come and make it even better. Check out that merchandise store. It's on my website at texasundervine.com. Just go up to the top. You'll see the link for the merchandise store.