Heather Dougherty is an Effingham-based educator who has presented to the club many times in recent years. She is a member of the Association of Wine Educators and the Circle of Wine Writers.
She says of her approach to wine education:
I’m a committed francophile, except in matters of rugby, so am always happy exploring the classic (and the less well known) wines of France. Champagne and sparkling wines are a continuing passion, and I am UK Champagne Ambassador 2018 and hold the Champagne Master Level qualification from the Wine Scholar Guild. I am also one of three Certified Rhône educators in the UK. Outside France I am a Certified Rioja educator.
However, I am always on the lookout for what’s new and exciting in the world of wine and keep my knowledge as broad and up to date as possible.
Following a ten year stint in the travel technology business, where wine appreciation was strictly recreational, I began studying the WSET Diploma in Wine & Spirits and realised my future career lay in wine.
Studies complete, I set up Red White & Rosé in 2006, specializing in fun, informative wine events. Since then I have conducted tastings for corporate clients, wine societies, private groups, business networking organisations as well as for the wine trade.
I never like to deliver dry lectures (in either sense of the word) and am happy to work with the format that works best, from a classic approach, to fast-paced blind tasting quizzes – and most things in between.
I have worked with accountants, solicitors, banks, the Ministry of Defence, American Women of Surrey, as well as numerous wine appreciation groups and wine trade clients.
A regular judge for the Decanter World Wine Awards, I also enjoy writing about wine – especially of the sparkling variety. In 2018 I held the first edition of Love Wine Guildford, a one-day festival for wine lovers, in conjunction with fellow AWE members Laura Clay and Richard Bampfield MW.