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Home » Headline, Wine

Catavino Spanish Wine Education Scholarship: Bloggers Have An Opportunity to Learn About Spanish Wine!

Submitted by Gabriella on Tuesday, 2 June 200931 Comments |

diplomaCatavino has always dedicated itself to one primary mission: to educate the world about unique and interesting Spanish and Portuguese wines through our travels in Iberia. However, as Iberia is chock full of fabulous wineries and regions to visit, we’ve only touched the tip of the metaphorical iceberg in our quest to cover the Peninsula. With time, our name and reputation have preceded us, allowing us to form strong contacts and new, life-altering friends. One such contact has been with The Wine Academy of Spain. Founded by Pancho Campo, the enigmatic figure whose Master of Wine title was the first to be granted to a Spanish national, The Academy’s mission is to educate the world, from pole to pole, about Spanish wine. Every year, they hold courses worldwide to educate professionals and journalists on everything from terroir to native grape varietals within Spain. But beyond this, Pancho is also the proud creator of the Climate Change and Wine Conference (see our articles here) and are organizers of the Wine Future Conference, which will be held in November of this year.

For our contribution, Catavino will ensure that the entire Wine Future Conference is streamed online come November. We also be conducting interviews with many of the participants and live blogging the event in an effort to show the reality of  “The future of wine online”. And as a result of this opportunity, we were able to meet the dedicated crew who are not only making The Wine Future Conference a reality, but who are also the foundation of The Spanish Wine Education programs in the USA, The Wine Academy of Spain. And as a result of this meeting, we’re elated to announce an incredible opportunity for any blogger!

Starting on June 12th, the Wine Academy of Spain will begin its 2009-2010 USA tour. Following Catavino’s suggestions, they will give 1 free scholarship per USA city to a blogger. And although the Wine Academy of Spain is on the forefront of education, they are still in the beginning stages of utilizing on-line communication effectively; hence where we come in. Catavino will be responsible for the organization and development of this initiative.

The course itself is a 3 day intensive certification course on the major Spanish Appellations, climates, soils, history, wine styles, grape varieties, etc. Each course will allow you to taste over 50 wines – including sherry and cava, provide you with a solid education foundation, and will hopefully incite you with a passion for Spanish wine. And to boot, the top 15 high-scorers, across the USA, will be treated to a week long Spanish Wine Tour covering Spain’s top DO’s.

Catavino is very excited to be able to offer this scholarship, and we hope that many bloggers will enter to win! We’ll be announcing the winners early next week; whereby allowing you time to register. Unfortunately, this contest will only be available for all events after the Denver course held this June. That said, if you’re a blogger in Denver who wants to participate, please contact us and we’ll see what we can do.

To Participate:

  1. you must have a wine, food or travel blog for over 6 months and with a minimum of one post a week
  2. you must write one post answering the following: why do you want to learn more about Spanish wine? You can write a post, make a video, or record a podcast, as long as you post your entry on your blog before June 15th and leave a comment on this post with a link back to your entry.
  3. all entries will be judged by the Wine Academy of Spain and Catavino for originality, quality of content, and for the fun of it, best conversation in the comments section.
  4. winners will be announced on June 20th on Catavino.net
  5. the prize is 1 admission to:
    The Spanish Wine Education Program - This is a 3-day professional training course on Spanish wines. - This program provides to the participants 2 certifications: “Spanish Wine Educators” and “Certificate on Andalusia and its Wines”. Value: $465
  6. you must make absolutely clear in your post which ONE of the following cities you would like to take the course: Houston TX, Chicago IL, Boston MA, New Haven CT, Atlanta GA, Seattle WA, Portland OR, San Francisco CA, San Diego CA, Cleveland OH, Washington DC, New York (only one blogger per city)

Any questions about this contest can be left in the comments below.

Seriously, this is an incredible opportunity, not only because we’d love to take this course ourselves, but also because it coincides with our mission to encourage all of you to continually break out of the norm and try wines you might not have ever tried in your life. Life is about exploration, curiosity and passion. Even if you wouldn’t categorize yourself as a huge Spanish wine fan, why not challenge yourself to see if maybe, just maybe, this course could change your mind. Go ahead and participate!

Good luck!!

Gabriella and Ryan Opaz

Terms and Conditions: This contest is only good for 1 pass into 1 Spanish Wine Academy Course in each of the specified cities, and does not include food, lodging or transportation to and from the course.

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