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“Christine, don’t spend more than $50,000 on wines for my dinner party this weekend.”
These instructions jumpstarted Christine Ansbacher’s interest in wine. At the time, she worked for a member of the Vanderbilt family who was a prominent philanthropist and social figure in New York society. This man didn’t go shopping like a mere mortal. Oh no, he collected art, wine and books in the manner of a Renaissance prince. Christine’s interest in wine grew when he asked her to build and stock a wine cellar with fine and rare wines that grew to 30,000 bottles over three years. During that time, learning about wine became a passion, and she decided to make it her profession.
Today, Christine is a wine expert with two world-class wine certifications. She is one of only 190 Certified Wine Educators (CWE) in the US, and has joined an even more select circle by earning the Diploma (DWS) from the London-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust attained by only 105 other American wine professionals. She has also traveled to every major wine region in the world walking the vineyards and tasting wines with the winemakers.
All this technical expertise could mean that she now speaks “vino babble” delighting in explaining how the soil and climate influence the taste of a wine…..and how this red wine smells like blueberries with a whiff of smoky bacon fat and freshly-laid asphalt. But that’s not her style. Instead, Christine focuses on sharing practical tips that save regular wine drinkers time, money and aggravation so they’ll want to enjoy a glass of wine with a meal. For example, three ways to make a $15 bottle of Cabernet taste like you spent 50 bucks; three reasons you should refuse a bottle of wine at a restaurant; and four ways to really impress a client without emptying out your wallet.
She also dishes out funny sound bites and colorful historical anecdotes about famous people, the wines they loved and the times they lived in. While America’s first wine expert Thomas Jefferson advised his countrymen, “Good wine is a daily necessity,” The Wine Diva likes to say, “A meal without wine is called breakfast!” Her whole approach helps people feel more relaxed, confident and adventurous about drinking and trying new wines with a meal. For example, “Instead of the usual Sauvignon Blanc, try Spain’s greatest white wine, just $10 a bottle at retail, called “Albarino”—but her memory trigger is to call the wine “Al Pacino”, and so she says, “invite Al Pacino to dinner tonight.”
Christine was dubbed “The Wine Diva” at a wine tasting dinner held at the Metropolitan Opera in New York because she’s not just a wine educator, but a wine entertainer who instructs with a healthy dose of theatrics. She agrees with Benjamin Franklin who once said, “Wine should be a laugh, not a lecture. Her career has many facets:
featured speaker at corporate and non-profit events all over the US for the past eight years
Author of the best-selling wine guide called “Secrets from The Wine Diva: Tips on Buying, Ordering and Enjoying Wine”
Keynote speaker at wine festivals across the country including Miami, Atlanta, Hawaii and Monterrey
Wine writer for Chief Executive Magazine
These instructions jumpstarted Christine Ansbacher’s interest in wine. At the time, she worked for a member of the Vanderbilt family who was a prominent philanthropist and social figure in New York society. This man didn’t go shopping like a mere mortal. Oh no, he collected art, wine and books in the manner of a Renaissance prince. Christine’s interest in wine grew when he asked her to build and stock a wine cellar with fine and rare wines that grew to 30,000 bottles over three years. During that time, learning about wine became a passion, and she decided to make it her profession.
Today, Christine is a wine expert with two world-class wine certifications. She is one of only 190 Certified Wine Educators (CWE) in the US, and has joined an even more select circle by earning the Diploma (DWS) from the London-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust attained by only 105 other American wine professionals. She has also traveled to every major wine region in the world walking the vineyards and tasting wines with the winemakers.
All this technical expertise could mean that she now speaks “vino babble” delighting in explaining how the soil and climate influence the taste of a wine…..and how this red wine smells like blueberries with a whiff of smoky bacon fat and freshly-laid asphalt. But that’s not her style. Instead, Christine focuses on sharing practical tips that save regular wine drinkers time, money and aggravation so they’ll want to enjoy a glass of wine with a meal. For example, three ways to make a $15 bottle of Cabernet taste like you spent 50 bucks; three reasons you should refuse a bottle of wine at a restaurant; and four ways to really impress a client without emptying out your wallet.
She also dishes out funny sound bites and colorful historical anecdotes about famous people, the wines they loved and the times they lived in. While America’s first wine expert Thomas Jefferson advised his countrymen, “Good wine is a daily necessity,” The Wine Diva likes to say, “A meal without wine is called breakfast!” Her whole approach helps people feel more relaxed, confident and adventurous about drinking and trying new wines with a meal. For example, “Instead of the usual Sauvignon Blanc, try Spain’s greatest white wine, just $10 a bottle at retail, called “Albarino”—but her memory trigger is to call the wine “Al Pacino”, and so she says, “invite Al Pacino to dinner tonight.”
Christine was dubbed “The Wine Diva” at a wine tasting dinner held at the Metropolitan Opera in New York because she’s not just a wine educator, but a wine entertainer who instructs with a healthy dose of theatrics. She agrees with Benjamin Franklin who once said, “Wine should be a laugh, not a lecture. Her career has many facets:
