Glancy Wine Education Foundation

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Lodi, CA
Glancy Wine Education Foundation

Funding wine education for underserved and minority communities.
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We raise a majority of our scholarship funds by putting on fantastic wine experiences and through individual and corporate donations.

07/21/2026

🎉 We’re celebrating 6 years of the Glancy Wine Education Foundation!

In that time, we’ve awarded 303 scholarships totaling over $405,000 to help aspiring wine professionals from underserved communities across the U.S. pursue their dreams. The average award is $1,477, real, meaningful support that makes wine education more accessible.

We couldn’t do this without our incredible partner schools, helping us expand our national reach:

🍷
🍷 International Wine Center
🍷 American Wine School

We’re proud to be building a more diverse, inclusive, and sustainable future for the wine industry, one scholarship at a time.

👉 Need financial aid for wine education? Visit the link in our bio to apply (available in English and Spanish).

06/30/2026

Behind every glass poured is someone working to build a career in hospitality.

The average restaurant worker earns around $15 an hour before tips. Income that varies by shift, by season, by the economy.

For people working those hours, a WSET certification or a Court of Master Sommeliers credential isn’t a luxury.
It can be a difference between a job and a career. But the coursework costs money most hospitality workers don’t have.

That’s the gap the Glancy Wine Education Foundation works to close.

Your support makes it possible.

Link in bio to donate.

06/25/2026

This Pride Month, we’re celebrating Jerry McGie, CMS Certified Sommelier and Wine Director at Dalida & Maria Isabel Restaurants in San Francisco.

Jerry’s approach to wine education is refreshingly real: certifications matter, but the most valuable learning happens outside the classroom. Work a harvest. Befriend a winemaker. Walk into a wildly obscure wine bar and order something you’ve never heard of. And if you really want to understand a wine, try pairing it with a song. On Dolly Parton’s 80th birthday, Jerry paired “Jolene” with a 2018 Chateau Musar from Lebanon — big, gritty, soulful, and unforgettable. Just like Dolly.

We love spotlighting professionals who forge their own path and bring creativity and joy to this industry. Jerry is exactly that.

Follow Jerry on Instagram Jerry McGie and find him pouring something unexpected at Dalida or Maria Isabel.

📸 Photo credit: Isabel Baer Isabel Baer

🔗 Link in bio to learn more about GWEF scholarships and how we’re working to make the wine world more inclusive.

06/16/2026

This Pride Month, we’re celebrating Terah Bajjalieh — winemaker, founder of Terah Wine Co., and a fearless voice for inclusion in the wine world.

Named one of Wine Enthusiast’s Future 40 Tastemakers in 2024, Terah has built her label from the ground up, crafting wines that reflect her passion and her point of view. She believes wine education opens doors for people who’ve historically been told there wasn’t a seat at the table for them. Credentials matter. Community matters more.

The Glancy Wine Education Foundation funds scholarships for aspiring wine and hospitality professionals — because we believe talent and passion should determine who gets ahead, not access to resources. People like Terah inspire that work every day.

We’re proud to shine a light on her work and her words this month and every month.

🍷 Explore her wines and join her wine club at terahwineco.com

WomenInWine QueerInWine

06/10/2026

This Pride Month, we’re celebrating Zoltan Nagy, General Manager and Wine Director at Macarena Group in Palo Alto, California.

Born in Transylvania and raised in a Hungarian family, Zoltan moved to Barcelona at 20 and spent more than 15 years building a remarkable career across wine and hospitality. He has worked at some of Spain’s most celebrated dining institutions, including the three-Michelin-starred Cocina Hermanos Torres and Oria, the Michelin-starred restaurant led by Martín Berasategui. A Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers Americas, he has also served as a wine judge for the Berlin Wine Trophy and the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, among others.

As an educator specializing in Cava, Sherry, and Rioja, Zoltan has traveled the world sharing his passion for the stories and cultures behind every bottle. Today, he brings that same spirit of connection and discovery to his guests in Palo Alto.

We’re proud to feature voices like Zoltan’s in our community. The wine world is richer when everyone has a seat at the table.

PrideInWine

05/31/2026

This AAPI Heritage Month, we’re honored to spotlight Janie Woo — Executive Director of The Stratford, a luxury retirement living community in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a proud member of our board as Scholarship Chair.

Janie’s life in wine has unfolded one chapter at a time. She began in hospitality, went on to found her own wine distribution company in Asia, and eventually became a vineyard owner. Today she is co-founder of Tobias Glen vineyard and the creator of a wine brand with three expressions, each named in a different language but rooted in the same philosophy: enjoy life. She is also an investor in Ethy’s Fancy, a Michelin Guide recognized restaurant.

As a first generation Chinese immigrant, Janie never expected wine to become such a central part of her life. But at every turn, education was what gave her the confidence and credibility to take the next step.

“Wine crosses borders, bridges cultures, and welcomes everyone to the same table. Education is what makes that welcome feel real, and it is precisely why the Glancy Wine Education Foundation’s mission is so close to my heart.”

We’re grateful to have Janie’s heart, history, and leadership guiding our work.

05/25/2026

Donna Kato’s path to wine was anything but linear — and that’s exactly what makes her story worth telling.

A Japanese American biochemist and founder of a biotech consulting firm, Donna came to winemaking through a lifetime of connecting science to the natural world. Her great-grandfather was a peach farmer in Japan, and that thread of working the land never left her. After years in biotech, she went back to UC Davis to earn her Master’s in Viticulture & Enology and founded Adonna Wines, producing limited-release Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from her Canfield Vineyard in Sonoma County.

For Donna, wine education isn’t just about credentials. It’s about building the kind of knowledge and confidence that opens doors, especially for those coming to the industry from outside traditional pathways. That belief aligns with everything GWEF exists to do.

This May, in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, we’re proud to celebrate Donna, and grateful she shared her perspective with us. 🍷

05/18/2026

This AAPI Heritage Month, we’re celebrating Susan R. Lin, MW — a woman who has built a career at the intersection of artistry, intellect, and advocacy.

Susan is also one of our own. As a past GWEF scholarship recipient, her journey is a living example of what this foundation exists to make possible.

She holds two graduate-level distinctions that are rare individually and virtually unheard of together: Master of Wine and Master of Fine Arts. She currently serves as Head of Wine at Belmont Wine Exchange and as President and Co-Founder of the Asian Wine Association of America, where she works to elevate Asian American voices and dismantle barriers across the industry.

Her path into wine began simply, with personal curiosity and a single course. By investing in her education, she found not just a career, but a platform. Today her work spans wine judging, conference speaking, research, and bespoke music-and-wine experiences for organizations including the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Ballet, and Google. Her writing and research have been featured in Decanter, Food & Wine, and Robb Report, among others.

Susan’s story is a powerful reminder of why we do what we do. Education doesn’t just change individual trajectories. It changes industries.

05/11/2026

✨ We’re proud to share the Glancy Wine Education Foundation’s 2026 Impact Report. ✨

Since 2020, GWEF has awarded 303 scholarships and distributed more than $405,000 in grants to underrepresented wine professionals, with just 9% overhead. More than a third of our recipients have been promoted after earning their certification. The report tells the story of why that matters: for careers, for families, and for an industry that still has a long way to go to reflect the country it serves.

🔗Click on the link in our bio to read the full report.

05/08/2026

Our spring newsletter is here. 🌸

Budbreak in the vineyard. New faces in our community. A refreshed look. And a scholarship named for a woman whose love of Champagne and wine education left a lasting mark on everyone around her.

There’s a lot blooming at GWEF this season. Tap the link in bio to read all of it.

Address

Lodi, CA

Telephone

+17077388540

Website

https://www.glancywineeducationfoundation.org/

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