Wine educator Li Chenguang is somewhat of a trail blazer in China as he relies on his quick wit, blunt honestly and sense of humor to help his students learn how to appreciate fine wines.

His penchant for cracking jokes during class keeps his students comfortable and relaxed.

“I had one student who just wasn’t sensitive to the acidity in wine, even in Chablis (Burgundy white). So, I joked, ‘Are you from Shanxi Province (a famous vinegar-producing area)?’”

Aside from his sense of humor, the 35-year-old Shandong Province native boasts strong credentials. He is the first UK-trained Chinese wine educator. He is also one of the few in China with a certificate from the London-based wine school Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET), who’s qualified to teach level 3. Li, a WSET diploma holder (known as WSET level 4), is only one step away from Master of Wine, the highest title in the industry.

His style and enthusiasm for teaching outside the textbook makes him one of the most respected and influential wine educators in China. He has taught around 1,500 students in the past four years.

Chinese wine educators are mainly based in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Since students come from all over the country, the wine courses are often intense — three to five days packed with information and tastings.

Li says this puts a lot of pressure on wine educators.

“I have to stand up in front of the class for eight hours each day,” says Li, who’s now based in Shanghai.

Li now teaches WSET course; he used to teach ISG (International Sommelier Guide) as well. The WSET courses teach wine theory. The ISG courses are more practical, focusing on things like how to serve wine properly. Each class usually has around 15 students.

A three-day, WSET-2 course costs about 5,000 yuan (US$813) while a five-day, WSET-3 course will set you back about 10,000 yuan.

Li’s reputation has grown in the past three years while working for Beijing-based Ease Scent Wine and Culture, widely regarded as the country’s biggest wine education provider.

However, wine insiders say Li shocked the industry last July when he resigned at Ease Scent over the company’s future direction.

Li quotes a Confucius saying to explain his decision: There’s little common ground for understanding people with differing principles.

Ease Scent is transforming itself from an education provider to a center combining wine education, sales, media and IT.

Li admits he clashed with his partner because he refused to alter the wines used for teaching.

“Wine used for teaching is distinctive. It has to be expressive, typically reflecting the character of a wine region and grape, which is often the opposite of market demand,” he says.

For example, Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre, Loire Valley, in east France is unoaked while Chinese wine companies prefer importing oaked wines to suit Chinese customers.

After quitting, Li says he experienced a difficult two months before establishing his own company, Stephen Wine (Stephen is his English name).

“This period was the most miserable part of my life,” Li says. “Nothing is holy when an educator loses his podium. I felt lost and I was so confused about my future.”

A wine insider who asked not to be named says Li’s resignation left Ease Scent’s future in doubt.

“For some time after Li left Ease Scent, the training center could not launch any WSET-3 courses since he was the only educator there qualified to teach it,” the source says. “Ease Scent may no longer be the industry leader.”

Li’s teaching idol is Yu Minhong, founder and CEO of New Oriental Education Group, an English language-training center.

“My philosophy is to create a complete wine experience, from enrolling lesson, classroom teaching, after-class tutoring to attending the final world unified exam,” he says.

“Li’s professional teaching is complemented by his distinctive sense of humor,” says Lu Mengxi, marketing and PR manager of California Wine Institute, who attended one of Li’s classes.

Li has a shy, reserved personality and has an old-fashioned haircut parted down the middle.

“When he throws a punch line, it is in sharp contrast with his timid personality and the whole class bursts out laughing,” says Li Fei, a wine tutor who once worked for Ease Scent.

Li Chenguang says a good wine educator should be as appealing as an emcee, otherwise students will fall asleep since wine theory can be dull.

He adds that one of his focuses in class is building confidence among students, which leads them to a sense of achievement.

Student’s profile

“Chinese students have less confidence in wine due to the lack of a wine drinking tradition here,” Li says.

He prepares thoroughly, reading every student’s profile before class in order to understand everyone’s wine base and possible palate.

If most students in a class have little wine knowledge, he will adjust the level of difficulty. For example, he may change open-ended questions on tests to multiple choice and true-or-false questions.

Li believes the area a student grows up in to a large extent influences their palate and ability to identify wine aromas and flavors.

“It’s impossible to ask students from northern China to identify guava, a fruit grown in the south, in wine,” he says.

He also spends plenty of time sourcing videos and photos to explain abstract and complicated viticulture. For example, he uses a photo of a half-peeled grape to explain the color of wine. He also tries hard to answer questions only Chinese students ask, for example, how to spot a fake wine.

He says fake wines have an obvious artificial flavor and a chemical taste.

In one class, fresh raspberries and black currants are placed on each student’s desk so they can smell and taste them to identify these flavors in wine.

“Most Chinese have never eaten such fruits,” says the educator.

Li distinguishes himself from other wine educators by giving his students plenty of blind taste tests rather than just reciting tasting notes.

“This is the best way to develop a student’s skill in wine tasting. It also raises their confidence and sense of achievement, which is the key to appreciating wine,” he explains. “My class is not about passing an exam but about improving my students’ wine experience over the long haul.”

He begins by teaching easily identified flavors such as sweetness and ripeness and then asks students to gradually identify subtler and more diverse characters in wine.

Li says he gives special attention to those with a naturally insensitive nose and palate.

“It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake. Practice makes perfect. In the last resort, I can arrange a one-to-one class until you taste right,” Li says.

He’s warm and caring but also straightforward and tough.

Some of his students take his course because they want to work in the wine industry as a sommelier or sales manager since some education marketers equate a WSET certificate with a high-paid job.

“I reveal the truth about the wine industry: If you are not wealthy enough or have high expectation of making money from wine, don’t get involved. Fine wines are expensive and such marketing slogans are just bull poop,” Li says.

Walking into a trap

During the recent two months, many of his students, especially those learning WSET-4 — the highest level — confided how difficult it is.

One student says learning about wine is like walking into a trap. It’s too difficult to pass and go forward. And he cannot afford the time in order to pass the course or the money for the best wines.

Li empathizes with such students as it brings back memories of his start in the wine world in the UK.

In 2004, after graduating from Shandong University majoring in English and working as a middle school English teacher for two years, Li says he moved to Manchester to begin a new life.

On his first weekend in the UK, Li remembers shopping for beer and finding that a bottle of wine cost only 45 yuan, just 15 yuan more than a can of beer. Surprised by how cheap the wine was, he says he decided to try it.

This single decision created a passion for wine.

Li says he loved sweet white wines for a long time, tasting about 10 Bordeaux reds and not being impressed.

“Red wine for me was not tasty, it was sour and bitter until I tried a bottle of Rioja from Spain,” he recalls.

One night in 2006, he opened a Rioja at home and drank it while watching the film “The Myth (2005)” starring Jackie Chan.

“That red wine is in the New World style, fruity,” he recalls. “The film was so good that I kept drinking without thinking about it. It was the first time I drank a whole bottle on my own.”

In 2007, Li became a sommelier at Morton’s Club in London in part because he wanted to have access to better wines.

“Being a sommelier has helped me be a better teacher,” he says. “When I demonstrate such skills, my students admire and trust me more. My food and wine pairing is also much more professional.”

Starting from 2008, he spent two years getting his WSET diploma.

“That was difficult,” Li says. “I had tasted thousands of wines but still couldn’t do well in blind taste tests.”

He persisted though, recalling how he listened to motivational songs like “Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies” by Hong Kong rock band Beyond and filling up his days with studying and numerous tastings.

Li is now working on becoming a Master of Wine although he admits it is his greatest challenge.

“If my way to a Master of Wine is an unfathomable abyss, I am slowly building up my ladder,” he says.

“It doesn’t matter if I don’t reach the final destination as long as I can see it in the distance,” he adds.

Q & A

Q: What’s your most embarrassing moment in class?

A: When my students taste a wine that I think is enjoyable and they say “undrinkable.”

Q: What is the most impressive class you’ve taught?

A: One time I knew there was a wine columnist attending my class. I prepared well to avoid making any mistake. Finally, he says “you are different than others.”

Q: Where does your sense of achievement come from?

A: Definitely blind tasting. I love being able to name the vintage and chateau of a bottle.

Q: What’s your favorite wine?

A: Chateau Mouton 2004, elegant and balanced, enjoyable.