Tim Hanni MW
HOMETim Hanni MW
Master of Wine, Certified Wine Educator
Wine Industry Faculty, Sonoma State University
Tim Hanni is an internationally renowned ‘flavor maven.’ A professionally-trained chef, he is one of the first two resident Americans to successfully complete the examination and earn the title Master of Wine. He is a Certified Wine Educator accredited by the Society of Wine Educators. He has been involved with wine- and food-related businesses, education and research for over thirty-five years. Hanni has a unique perspective on food and wine, providing a modern and innovative approach to the subject.
His techniques for creating easy to use wine lists and retail wine programs are combined with tried and tested culinary philosophies on "balancing" food and wine flavors. These techniques are employed by thousands of restaurants and hotel outlets around the world and have provided the foundation for Napa Seasoning Company's unique new product Vignon™, the first Flavor Balancing Seasoning designed to simplify food preparation. Hanni is recognized for introducing the concept of the "umami" taste phenomenon to the wine and food community. He has lectured in over 27 countries around the world on the topics of flavor balancing, sensory sciences, wine and culinary history.
Understanding Our Personal Wine Preferences
The key to confidently and consistintly finding the wines you will love.
My passion is in learning and sharing new ways to make wine more enjoyable to more people. My mission is to help the wine industry learn to embrace and cultivate ALL wine consumers. This means I am constantly exploring new ways to help get people to the wines they love without the intimidation or guilt that is often unintentionally generated by even the most well intentioned wine experts and critics. The research, seminars and education programs I conduct revolve around forwarding a greater understanding of the physiology and neurology of sensations:
- Our individual, physiological sensory sensitivity can vary dramatically:
We experience sensations differently.
- Our individual life experiences shape our personal preferences and sense of value:
Two people can react in opposite ways to an identical sensation.
At a personal level it provides people with a more personalized means for finding recommendations and information about wines they will love from like-minded consumers and experts with similar sensory sensitivities. At a business level this introduces new ways to understand and strategically segment the wine consumer market.
