Danielle Chandler

Danielle Chandler is a lawyer turned strategic human resources consultant turned passionate wine professional. Throughout her working life, she has always had a love for good food, great company and amazing wine. After burnishing her skills as a gourmet home chef, devoted supper club member, and self-taught sommelier resource for friends and relatives, it was time to turn what was a hobby into a profession. She has completed her WSET Level 3 Award in Wine and Spirits and she also carries the Italian, Spanish and French Wine Scholar designations, receiving high honours in each specialty.

Danielle works as an independent wine consultant and educator where she facilitates wine tasting events for companies, professional firms and private parties. She also is an experienced adult educator and facilitator and is regularly asked to facilitate corporate team building programs. Danielle’s philosophy about wine and wine education is that it should be an enjoyable and approachable experience. Wine is not all about high price and pretense. It can be about learning what’s new and interesting and having an open mind to what all the wide world of wine has to offer.

Teaching approach:

I love sharing my passion for wine and learning about wine with my students. My goal is to try and make a personal connection with my students and learn what makes them excited about the study of wine. I try to find interesting ways for students to learn and work with the material trying to bring it to life and make it relevant to their lives. In each of my classes, I try to look for opportunities to apply and/or review the material through engaging activities and/or quizzes. It allows students to have the opportunity to apply what they have been studying.

I believe that connecting with other students really helps to make the learning relevant as you are all in the learning experience together. I am thrilled that students are currently able to experience tasting in-person again as they can learn a lot from other students in the class.

Study tips:

In terms of studying, I recommend trying to keep on top of the reading and the material so that you do not fall behind. When I am studying wine, I prefer to make notes on the material which helps me to remember it. I like adding my personal comments to maps, creating detailed tables, and summarizing the material on cue cards using a question and answer format.  Every student has to find what works best for them as we each have unique learning styles.