ELLENSBURG — Amy Mumma doesn’t care what her students like. She tells them on the first day of class that their personal tastes aren’t important.

"It’s about what the customer likes, so ditch the ego," she tells her students at Central Washington University.

For Mumma, it’s vital that students never forget it’s the customer who matters. That’s because they’re preparing to enter a business often perceived as snobby and self-important.

"There’s already too much ego in the wine industry. I don’t want to add to it," she said.

Mumma shows no evidence of an inflated ego, but it would be understandable if she did.

Read Dan Catchpole’s entire Yakima Herald-Republic article here. 

Photo: CWU wine program coordinator and teacher Amy Mumma, left, visits Swiftwater Cellars winery at Suncadia July 18, 2012 where she talks with (l-r) Nik Larsen , Cara LeDuc and Lara Bainter. All three, employees of Swiftwater Cellars, have studied under Mumma. Mumma often visits her current and former students at the wineries at which they work. (GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic)