Drink it in
St. John’s entrepreneur opens wine school for the masses

Tracey Dobbin insists people are trading in their beer mugs for wine glasses.

She may be right. Statistics from California-based Wine Institute show global wine consumption grew by 3.3 per cent from 2008 to 2011. That’s provided a business opportunity for the St. John’s native, who opened Autour du Vin this spring. Dobbin’s business is both a wine school and an agency specializing in wine tourism. But it isn’t based solely in Atlantic Canada; the head office is in one of the wine-making capitals of the world, Bordeaux, France.

Autour du Vin specializes in offering certified wine courses that expand the wine knowledge of its students. The school is now offering courses in Halifax and St. John’s and plans to offer them in P.E.I. and New Brunswick in the near future. Autour du Vin completed two such courses in Halifax in September.

A former occupational therapist, Dobbin first got interested in the subject when she took a wine tasting course in 2008. Since then she’s added to her wine knowledge and now has a master of business administration in wine management and marketing. She’s currently enrolled as a second-year student at the Institute of Masters of Wine in London.

For people involved in the hospitality industry, improving their knowledge of wine is becoming more important. Dobbin says that’s especially true in large centres like St. John’s where the oil and gas industry has the economy booming and the city is getting visitors from all over the globe, some with sophisticated tastes in wine. Those visitors expect their servers to be knowledgeable and wine lists to be first rate. “It wasn’t like that in the past,” Dobbin says. “It’s becoming necessary in the hospitality trade to communicate with these wine consumers. You need staff that is very knowledgeable about wine.”

Autour du Vin’s courses can give people that knowledge. But Dobbin says they aren’t just for people in the hospitality industry, anyone can take them. She adds it’s even possible knowing the difference between a Shiraz and a merlot might come in handy with a client someday. “So much business happens at the table,” Dobbin says. “Having a little wine knowledge can go a long way.”