May Matta-Aliah DWS, CWE, FWS

May Matta-Aliah is a New-York based wine educator, and the President of In the Grape, an organization dedicated to making wine and spirits education accessible to everyone from the curious appreciator to the wine trade professional.
 

May is a wine educator and consultant advising established industry firms as well as support organizations such as public relation, branding, and design firms. She is an instructor at the prestigious International Wine Center, where she has been educating and inspiring since 2001. She has designed and taught custom courses imparting the tools of the trade to new firms and to those expanding their portfolio of skills. May was also a guest wine instructor at the Schiller International University, a culinary school in Switzerland.
 

In her teachings May leverages her extensive oenological knowledge, as well as her direct experience gained from her time at Astor Wines & Spirits, New York City’s largest retail store, as well as first-hand wine-making experience at Lenz Winery, on the North Fork of Long Island.
 

As of April 2009, May has been the Armagnac Ambassador to New York and has been training retailers, restaurant wait-staff and bartenders on the diverse pleasures of France’s oldest spirit.
 

Prior to her involvement in the wine world, May was a creative director with over 15 years of experience in the field of design and promotions aimed primarily at the wine trade. In February 2005, she created Red Dot Solutions, a full service boutique agency catering primarily to the wines, spirits and luxury goods markets.
 

In 2010, looking to create a more formal separation between the education and design entities that were supported by Red Dot Solutions, May created In the Grape, a company dedicated to bringing the joy and sensory appreciation of all the wonderfull results that get their start in the humble grape.
 

May is constantly updating and increasing her knowledge base. The latest addition, earned in October 2011, was the Sherry Certified Educator by the Consejo Regolador in Jerez, Spain. In January 2011, May passed the Center for Wine Origins Wine Location Specialist Certificate Program with Distinction. In 2010 she added the French Wine Scholar (FWS) to her credentials, which she earned through the French Wine Society. In 2008 May earned the title of Spanish Wine Educator through The Wine Academy of Spain. The previous year, May earned the International Bordeaux Tutor title, through the Bordeaux Wine School USA. May also holds the Wine and Spirit Education Trust Advanced Certificate (with distinction) and the WSET Diploma, which she earned in 2000 through the International Wine Center in New York. She is certified through the American Sommelier Association (ASA), and is a Certified Wine Educator from the Society of Wine Educators, for which she was also the Banfi Award Recipient for 2001.