Teaching Wine Management (Wine Management Study in Higher Education in The Netherlands)

‘Wine; for some it is a delicate craft, to be fine tuned and practised until it is perfect, for others it is an art form, to be contemplated and discussed until it is understood. For yet others it is just another agricultural product to be bought and sold. No matter what one's feeling about the subject of wine, all agree: the key is education (Reiss, 1999).’ To explore the ideal setting of education in wine and more specifically education in wine management a research programme was undertaken to supply an empirical foundation towards content and methods which could be employed in Higher Education. In the research a qualitative approach was adopted in which 24 F&B Managers of four and five star hotels were interviewed. Information was gathered about the perception of wine, the relationship between wine and culture and wine and health as they were perceived by the managers. The economical value of wine as part of the total offer of the hotel was calculated. Some of the methods used in hotels to train staff in wine management were described. The managers were also asked for their opinion about the level of knowledge on wines they find graduates to have in The Netherlands. Finally, ratings to the importance of different subjects within wine management were given by the respondents which indicates where the emphasis of wine management education should be in the future.