Sommelier and Consulting Firm Partner Michael Juergens on Wine Mistakes and More

<p>Episode page: <a href="https://www.markgraban.com/mistake135">https://www.markgraban.com/mistake135</a></p> <p>My guest for Episode #135 of the <a href="http://myfavoritemistakepodcast.com/">My Favorite Mistake podcas</a>t is <a href="https://www.drinkingandknowingthings.com/who-am-i">Michael Juergens</a>. He is a senior partner with a Big Four consulting firm, where he runs the Winery Solutions practice, overseeing the portfolio of services the firm provides to wineries.</p> <p>He is also a certified specialist of wine, a certified sommelier, and a Stage 2 candidate to become the 59th American to qualify as a Master of Wine, if he can “pass the damn exam” as he says on his <a href="https://www.drinkingandknowingthings.com/">website</a>.</p> <p>Michael is also the author of <a href="https://amzn.to/3g0NNIT">two books in the “Drinking &amp; Knowing Things” series</a> (under his pen name, Michael Amon).</p> <p>He is the founder of the <a href="http://www.bhutanwine.com/">Bhutan Wine Company</a>, and is leading the development of the wine industry in this magical Himalayan country.</p> <p>He owns the award winning <a href="https://socalrum.com/">SoCal Rum Company</a>, which was recently awarded the highest point score in history for any silver rum (95 points).</p> <p>Michael also is a <a href="https://merage.uci.edu/research-faculty/faculty-directory/Michael-Juergens.html">professor</a> at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California Irvine. He's a punk rock drummer and an adventure race addict</p> <p>In today's episode, Michael answers the “what is your favorite mistake?” question a little differently. He draws a bit on Buddhism to question whether anything is really a mistake, if whatever happens was meant to be. That said, he thinks that drinking certain wines is a huge mistake. So we talk about that in a wide-ranging and fun conversation.</p> <p>We talk about questions and topics including:</p> <ul> <li>You failed the tasting portion of the Master of Wine exam four years in a row, would