Ep. 2459 Jessica Dupuy interviews Dilek Caner MW of Dallas Wine Education Center | TEXSOM 2025

We would like to be able to help people educate themselves based on their goals, especially my part on education comes down to clear and analytical thinking determining what your goals are learning in a way that prioritizes the information you need first and then understanding the processes rather than just learning names and regions, which is inevitable studying why you will have to learn regions and names and such, but it really won't stick around very much that information in your mind sitting down and thinking if this then what, understanding the cause and effect Then you have all this knowledge in your head, but how do you talk to a person who came to your restaurant as a diner? So you can't just go like, you know, this one is clear pale lemon green with a medium plus acidity, you know, intensive aromatics of primary characteristics of blah blah blah. You have to, like, synthesize it. Shall y'all? I'm Jessica Dupui. Guest host for a special Texom series on the Italian wine podcast. Covering the twenty twenty five Texong Conference in Dallas, Texas. Join me in the heart of the lone star state as we dive into conversations with key speakers and attendees, exploring career paths, challenges, and the latest trend shaping the wine industry today. This series is proudly sponsored by the Texas Department of Agriculture' Uncourt Texas wines program, which celebrates Texas wine culture by promoting local wineries and grape growers, both in state and around the world, building a vibrant community around the Texas made wine. Be sure to subscribe and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts. And don't miss our Texas wine tidbit in every episode. A fun little fact insight or story that highlights the people and places behind this exciting wine scene. Alright. Welcome, Gillette Kainer. I am so glad to be able to have you on the Italian wine podcast. I have known you for years, but it's kind of fun to do this in a more formal setting. I wonder if you could kind of start by telling us a little bit about who you are and your background, how you got to wine, especially knowing that you have a PhD in economics Maybe give us a little bit of context there. Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you so much, Jessica, for including me. It's a great pleasure to be here. Yeah. My background, I do have a PhD in economics, and towards the end of that, I got interested in mine, and I thought maybe I should take a wine class. I took a WST class, and then one thing led to another. I took a solo year class. Before I knew it, I had a summer new job that I thought, okay. I can't say no to that. I mean, that's a great experience. And then I got an offer from restaurant Alegend Lucas, and I was thinking, I can't say no to that. And then I was introduced to the Wine spirits magazine crowd and there was an opportunity there. And I said, I can't just let that go by. So just one thing led to another, and I found myself in wine But the funny thing is once I was in a cab in New York City and we were just talking the driver and I. And he said, so what do you have to study to get into wine? I said, well, I studied economics at first. And he goes, while the economic situation made you an alcoholic. So that was that was his take on it. I take from the New York taxicab. I love it. So where are you originally from? Are you from Turkey? I'm from Turkey. Yep. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I I drank wine as a kid as well, you know, they would just water it down a little bit, give it to me at the table. Yeah. So you make your way to the US fascinating that you became a sommelier, worked at Ellen Decasse, not a big deal, and have done studies too. So you did the Court of Master Salallier's in WSTT, but you were also a master of wine. When did you receive Master of wine? I received it in two thousand thirteen. Okay. That was shortly, I moved to Dallas. In New York after wine and spirits magazine, I opened a school. I didn't do WACC classes. I did some certification classes, but they were proprietary. We did some tastings. Just didn't feel right to open a WACC school right across the corner from my mentors and instructors. So I didn't want to open it in New York. When my husband got a job in Dallas and when we moved to Dallas, there wasn't a WACT school, so I opened it here. And shortly after I received the master. Yeah. Okay. Wonderful. So obviously, Dallas and Texom are connected because of location, etcetera. But kind of what was your story of kind of getting involved with tech sum, meeting James and kind of how it all came together there. So when I came to Dallas, everybody was talking about tech song and, like, what is tech song? So my first time I bought a ticket and joined as an audience. And I was hooked at that time. The quality of the seminars, it's very hard to see that kind of content even in conferences like that. So I was very excited I met James as well. And then the year after, I think, or maybe the next year when I received the BMW title that James invited me as a speaker, and I was sort of like, absolutely. You know, I'll be there with bells on. And I went and I have been joining every year. It is the place where you go and everybody puts kind of any kind of conflict or competition aside and I know that when I go to tech sum, I will learn something and I will help people learn something. Yeah. It's true. And it's, you know, I like to remind people it's kind of like this family reunion every year because once you've gone, you continue to go, it's like, oh, I get to see these people at least once a year because we're all from different places, whether that's Texas, New York, West Coast, and then, you know, a lot of people come from Europe, Asia. It's a really exciting time. This year, in particular, you're gonna be speaking on two seminars. So let's talk about one of them, which I'm personally excited about, and that's the wines of Turkey, and also the culture, which I love that that was an added piece of the title of the seminar because it's not just that we're gonna just be sipping and spitting wines, but you're gonna help give us some context. Can you tell me a little bit about how you plan to approach that? Yes. There are a few unique things about Turkey and Turkish wines. So we are known as a predominantly Muslim country, which is true, but there is a segment in the country, not non Muslims. I mean, Muslims and non Muslims, and, you know, everybody, but there's a segment of the country that is very, very involved in wine. So they have online groups, they have tasting groups. They very seriously get together and taste benchmark world's benchmark wines. And for Turkey, I mean, yes, I want to stress the fact that it is a secular country. It is secular. So buying alcohol, consuming alcohol, it is not illegal. But the administration that we have right now is more conservative. So there are punitive taxes, especially over wine and beer. Not so much raku, maybe our, you know, national alcoholic drink, the distilled spirit, but with wine, there are those punitive taxes and even then people go to Europe. They fly with wines in their suitcases. They bring that for their group members. They sit down and taste So for Turkish wine, they get together and visit vineyards. There are so many people who are well versed in Turkish wine. So, and that community is very excited about wine in general and Turkish wine as well. So this I think is really quite unique, and that gives such dynamism to Turkish wine and the audience that drinks it. Another aspect is that the people who are getting into winemaking, some of those people are already very good wine drinkers. I mean, they have WSTT is very important in Turkey. Many people are trying to get those qualifications at least level three, maybe even diploma at some point. The people who get into it, they are quite familiar with the world's mind scene and what kind of wines are available, which I sometimes find is lacking in some areas where winemakers know only t