CWU's Mumma Wins First Wine Women Award

June 22, 2005

Contact: Douglas Lonowski (509-963-1513/fax 509-963-1690/e-mail: lonowskd@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Amy Mumma, program coordinator and instructor for the Central Washington University World Wine Program, can lay claim to being the world's top female wine professional, after winning the "Wine Women Awards" competition. The finals of the first annual event were held Thursday, June 16, in Paris.

Mumma was among 167 nominees from 20 different countries for the international award. Ten finalists, five each in the "professional" and "amateur" categories, were selected for all-expenses-paid trips to France for the finals where they were required to present their technical knowledge, tasting and presentation skills.

In the end, a jury comprised of wine professionals from Europe and the U.S., selected Mumma as the professional "Wine Woman 2005," for which she received an all-expenses-paid tour of several of the top wine centers in France. In addition, she attended "Vinexpo" in Bordeaux, France, which is one of Europe's largest wine and spirits trade shows.

To reach the finals she had to submit a summary of her professional activities, which include being the only candidate from Washington in the prestigious Master of Wine program at the Institute of Masters of Wine in London, frequent service as a presenter at national and international conferences and as a wine judge.

She also had to take a pair of technical exams, testing her knowledge on a wide variety of areas concerning wine, including viticulture, winemaking, the global world of wines and wine trade, and submit information about the CWU World Wine Program, which offers wine training for members of the wine industry, academic programs for students and educational short courses for consumers.

Mumma's background also includes studies at the Université de Bourgogne in Dijon, France, where she earned her Diploma of Tasting. She holds the Advanced Certificate in Wine and Spirits from London's Wine and Spirit Education Trust and has visited many of the world's vineyard and wine producing areas.

The international Wine Women Awards was designed to recognize women who devote themselves "with passion and professionalism" in jobs promoting the wine industry, through asserting their competences and their originality, and by putting into practice their talent in the service of selection and advice concerning wine.