Meet Our Wine Educators

It's not hard to meet someone on the Chaddsford Winery retail staff who is pretty knowledgeable about wine. But it IS hard to achieve the rank of trained wine educator from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) in the U.K., the only internationally recognized credentialing body that exists today. We are therefore very proud to have quite a few staff members who are currently involved in the five-level WSET curriculum which ultimately leads to the revered "Master of Wine" degree. Come meet these great wine resources!

Long term wine educator Mark Cochard, CWE, DWS earned the fourth-level WSET Diploma in 2003. The Diploma credential is the traditional prerequisite for the Master of Wine degree, the ultimate level of wine study. According to Mary Ewing-Mulligan, MW Executive Director of WSET programs in the U.S., "the WSET Diploma in Wines & Spirits is a highly challenging two-year program covering viticulture and vinification, tasting, wine regions of the world, spirits production, and the wine and spirits market."

Mark has earned the distinction of Certified Wine Educator from the Society of Wine Educators, which also requires advanced wine knowledge, and he received the 2000 Banfi Vintner's Award of Excellence for his performance on the CWE exam.

Since receiving the WSET level 4 Diploma in Wine and Spirits Mark has gone on to become an Internal Assessor for the WSET level 3 Advanced Certificate, taught the First Growth Course at the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College, teaches sections of the newly revised WSET level 4 Diploma as well as becoming a Certified Spanish Wine Educator conferred by the Wine Academy of Spain.

Mike Theiss completed WSET's third-level Advanced Certificate and has been a trained wine professional at Total Wine in Delaware.

Anthony Ianni is currently a candidate for the WSET Diploma and is a wine steward with the Fair Hill Inn in Fair Hill, Md.

Another name you'll notice in conjunction with high-level wine classes at the winery is veteran educator Frank Patterson. Frank is owner of Tradewines Inc., a Wine Education Company, holds his PhD in Chemistry, and can be found giving seminars on the Chemistry of Wine. In addition, he has done some part-time teaching at the Philadelphia Restaurant School and also conducts wine classes for the Food and Beverage Management programs at Cheney University and Delaware County Community College.

Russ Burda has been on staff at the winery for six years and started conducting Reserve tastings in the Spring of 2005. Russ has earned the WSET Advanced Certificate with Merit.

Matt Esser, former Sommelier at the highly regarded Dilworthtown Inn, is currently responsible for Wine Sales with Shiffrin Selections and has earned the WSET Advanced Certificate.

Melanie Chadwick began her love of wine during a summer in Paris twenty-five years ago. Her formal wine education began there at Le Ecole du Vin. Most recently she completed the WSET Advanced Certificate. She enjoys tasting wines and exploring wineries in many corners of the world. If you have the opportunity she suggests trying some Croatian wines - great surprises - and avoiding Chinese wines.

Deb Monaghan has been working for Chaddsford Winery for 10 years and received her WSET certification in 2005. Deb has also studied at L'Ecole du Vin au Beaujolais.

Chaddsford followers in Philadelphia have had the opportunity to take classes from another Chaddsford educator, Laurey Ford, who is currently working our off-site events. Laurey, who attended the Restaurant School of Philadelphia, majored in Restaurant Management at Philadelphia University, and has stints at the Adams Mark Hotel and Le Ecole du Vin in her background, has also completed the WSET Intermediate Certificate.

Come out and meet these very interesting individuals in our Saturday Reserve Tastings and our Wine Education classes!