Say you're nervous before your first date, quickly walking through the Ped Mall and passing by the Bread Garden, when you decide that it would be best to get a bottle of wine to ease that first awkward conversation. But what wine should you get? You have no idea where to begin, from the price of the bottle to the color to the type of wine! You've got to make the best impression to ensure a second date! Don't worry, because Dan Ceresia has got it covered. Ceresia, colloquially and soon to be professionally known as "the little wine guy", continually strives to perfect the matching of everyone with the wine most suited for them.
"I want to foster and perpetuate wine culture for middle class America, because it was always for the elite, and it's not. I'm gonna make it something that's easy and approachable."
Yet in order to achieve this goal, Ceresia is going to have to study. Currently, he is passing exams from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), preparing to take the Level Three exam. "There are four levels: level one is foundations; level two is the intermediate course; level three, which I'm in, is for the advanced certificate course. After passing the test on August 15th, I'll be able to put CWE behind my name, which stands for Certified Wine Educator. I hope to complete level four, after which I'll receive a diploma and be able to apply to become a Master of Wine. The Masters of Wine is the highest wine society in the world, with less than 300 certified Masters globally."
His upcoming exam features many questions on location, maturation, cost breakdown, style, methods of producing, spirits, and everything else across the board of wine. For Ceresia, though, this comes through rigorous training of not only the mind but of the body as well. "Understanding of wine is the understanding of the senses, smell, taste, color."
Dan has high ambitions for his knowledge of wines and how he wishes to share it with the world. "I want to start my own wine school or a wine house, to sell and review wines and educate on them. I want to make wine accessible and ease and to bring it to middle class America through online workshops. I want a site where anyone can go on and watch reviews and know about upcoming wine tastings. I say let's make wine education more affordable and applicable. Unless you want to be a certified wine geek, there's no reason to go into an accredited school. Why make it more complicated and take all the fun out of it for people who just want to enjoy wine?
"I love the world of wine; I love the industry. I want to be an authority on wine, a wine consultant. I look forward to being able to assist restaurants and their waitstaff with paring wines and foods. I want to help investors decide what wines they should buy and hold onto, with the idea of auctioning them off in the future."
You'll be able to meet Dan and revel at his expertise, at the upcoming wine tasting at the Bread Garden Market on April 28th, 5:30p-8:30p, tickets are $12. He says you won't be disappointed. "It'll be the biggest wine tasting I've ever thrown. I want a wine from every region around the world."
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