Monday, December 3, 2007

Asian Master of Wine

China is poised to become very important to the world of wine. It will likely become a huge market for wine, as well as producing much of its own wine. I have thus been reading numerous articles about wine and China. You can read some of my previous posts on China here.

The Agence France-Presse has an article about a woman who might become Asia's first Master of Wine. Jeannie Cho Lee, a Korean who currently lives in Hong Kong, has been preparing to become a Master of Wine. She has already passed the first two sections of exams and only has to complete a dissertation based on original research.

The test is extremely hard, with only about a 10% pass rate. Only 265 people worldwide have earned the title of Master of Wine.

Lee received support from the famed wine writer Jancis Robinson. Jancis encouraged Lee to take the exams. What has made it even more of an achievement is that Lee is not part of the wine trade. Plus, while preparing for her preliminary exams, Lee found she was pregnant with twins. Lee plans to write her dissertation on the marketing of foreign wines in China.

I certainly wish Lee the best of luck. She has accomplished much so far and I certainly have faith that she will eventually earn the title of Master of Wine. It is certainly very interesting that a woman may become Asia's first Master of Wine. Kudos to her.

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