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Mary Ewing-Mulligan is the Renaissance woman of wine in America. She is the first woman in the United States to have earned the prestigious Master of Wine accreditation, the degree that recognizes the highest level of wine knowledge in the world. She is also the co-author, with her husband Ed McCarthy, of Wine For Dummies, the country’s fastest-selling wine book for novices. She combines these extraordinary scholarship and communication credentials with remarkable business acumen as the owner and president of the eminently successful International Wine Center, headquartered in New York City.
International Wine Center began as a predominantly consumer-oriented venue for wine tastings and classes and included a popular wine club. Under Mary’s leadership, however, it has evolved into a training ground for top wine-focused professionals in the restaurant, retail, wholesale and importing areas as well as for dedicated, serious wine lovers. Since 1994, International Wine Center has been affiliated with London’s esteemed Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), and now concentrates its efforts on teaching the comprehensive and challenging WSET programs to Americans. These courses offer some of the most rigorous academic standards in the wine study field.
For all of Mary’s accomplishments, she is a modest, warm, friendly and direct woman who readily admits to having known nothing about wine when she joined the Italian Trade Commission immediately after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania. Faced with a choice of specializing in Italian fashion or Italian wine, she chose wine simply because she liked the people she met in that business. During her time there, however, she fell in love with wine.
After subsequent stints as an agent for Italian wineries and handling wine-related public relations for Pepsico Wine & Spirits International, both bringing her valuable experience in the wine trade, she decided that her real career interest was wine education. In 1984, she joined the fledgling International Wine Center as director. In addition to offering wine classes for consumers, the business included a restaurant called Tastings.
When the building became slated for demolition and International Wine Center owner, the late Albert Hotchkin, Jr., was on the verge of closing the company, Mary came up with a proposition for him. She suggested that she find a new location, take on more responsibility and become Hotchkin’s partner. They remained partners until 1997, when Mary bought Hotchkin out and became the International Wine Center’s sole owner.
During this period, Mary continued to hone her wine skills. She spent five years of intensive study for her Master of Wine degree, which she finally achieved in 1993. She and her husband also became the authors of six Wine For Dummies books including sequels covering white wine, red wine, French wine and Italian wine. The original Wine For Dummies book, now in its third edition, has been translated into 16 languages and is also available on audiotape.
Mary is also the wine columnist for the New York Daily News as well as for other publications. She has made dozens of television appearances and frequently judges at major national and international wine tasting competitions and lectures to private groups. In 2003, she was honored with the European Wine Council’s Distinguished Achievement Award for her “immense knowledge and inspired teaching skills.”
In a 1998 Gourmet magazine profile about her, Mary is quoted as saying “Wine embodies everything I’m interested in: aesthetics and science, specifically plant biology and chemistry; the cultures of the world; and the people who make wine. My best friends I’ve met through wine. Wine provides the context for all I am.”
International Wine Center is the perfect venue for Mary to share her special knowledge and training to help educate other American wine professionals and build their expertise on the subject that she cares most about.
International Wine Center began as a predominantly consumer-oriented venue for wine tastings and classes and included a popular wine club. Under Mary’s leadership, however, it has evolved into a training ground for top wine-focused professionals in the restaurant, retail, wholesale and importing areas as well as for dedicated, serious wine lovers. Since 1994, International Wine Center has been affiliated with London’s esteemed Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), and now concentrates its efforts on teaching the comprehensive and challenging WSET programs to Americans. These courses offer some of the most rigorous academic standards in the wine study field.
For all of Mary’s accomplishments, she is a modest, warm, friendly and direct woman who readily admits to having known nothing about wine when she joined the Italian Trade Commission immediately after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania. Faced with a choice of specializing in Italian fashion or Italian wine, she chose wine simply because she liked the people she met in that business. During her time there, however, she fell in love with wine.
After subsequent stints as an agent for Italian wineries and handling wine-related public relations for Pepsico Wine & Spirits International, both bringing her valuable experience in the wine trade, she decided that her real career interest was wine education. In 1984, she joined the fledgling International Wine Center as director. In addition to offering wine classes for consumers, the business included a restaurant called Tastings.
When the building became slated for demolition and International Wine Center owner, the late Albert Hotchkin, Jr., was on the verge of closing the company, Mary came up with a proposition for him. She suggested that she find a new location, take on more responsibility and become Hotchkin’s partner. They remained partners until 1997, when Mary bought Hotchkin out and became the International Wine Center’s sole owner.
During this period, Mary continued to hone her wine skills. She spent five years of intensive study for her Master of Wine degree, which she finally achieved in 1993. She and her husband also became the authors of six Wine For Dummies books including sequels covering white wine, red wine, French wine and Italian wine. The original Wine For Dummies book, now in its third edition, has been translated into 16 languages and is also available on audiotape.
Mary is also the wine columnist for the New York Daily News as well as for other publications. She has made dozens of television appearances and frequently judges at major national and international wine tasting competitions and lectures to private groups. In 2003, she was honored with the European Wine Council’s Distinguished Achievement Award for her “immense knowledge and inspired teaching skills.”
In a 1998 Gourmet magazine profile about her, Mary is quoted as saying “Wine embodies everything I’m interested in: aesthetics and science, specifically plant biology and chemistry; the cultures of the world; and the people who make wine. My best friends I’ve met through wine. Wine provides the context for all I am.”
International Wine Center is the perfect venue for Mary to share her special knowledge and training to help educate other American wine professionals and build their expertise on the subject that she cares most about.
