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Wine Experts Never Think They Know All, Haughty Amateurs Bring Arrogance to Wines Says Paul Wagner: Wine expert Paul Wagner, based in Napa Valley, hosted an AmaWaterways Wine River Cruise along the Rhine River, from Amsterdam to Zurich, and had a fantastic time in every sense of enjoying a semi-working vacation. Each AmaWaterways Wine River Cruise host, mostly winemakers but also experts like Wagner, arranges for wines from their local region, gives wine seminars with tastings and food pairings, helps conduct tours of local European vineyards which also involve tastings and mingle with passengers who are eager to learn more about wine and food. During this segment of an interview with Paul Lasley, host of syndicated On Travel Radio Show, Paul Wagner talks about the nature of being a wine expert and never getting too caught in one's vast knowledge. Wagner believes that "no true wine expert ever thinks they know it all," it is only haughty amateurs with an attitude who make it harder for those seeking to gain their foothold in the vast world of wines from around the world. The wine industry has exploded and good wines are created all over the world. One of the big key concepts that wine experts and winemakers constantly hit upon is that local wines must be consumed with local foods, this because they evolved over hundreds if not thousands of years in the same regions. Paul Wagner is a renowned wine educator based in Napa Valley who was thrilled about the prospect of hosting an AmaWaterways Luxury Wine River Cruise in Europe. Read Paul Wagner's Wine Blog, Through the Bunghole, at www.throughthebunghole.com. For more about AmaWaterways go to www.AmaWaterways.com. About Paul Wagner: Paul Wagner studied sociology and education at U. C. Santa Cruz and classical guitar and public performance at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Seville, Spain. After several positions in Public Relations and Marketing in the wine industry in Napa Valley, Mr. Wagner formed Balzac Communications & Marketing on April 1, 1991. Clients include a broad range of national and international companies and organizations, with primary focus in the food and beverage industries. Current clients include Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, Don Sebastiani and Sons, Trinchero Family Estates, Simply Italian, Consorzio di Chianti Classico, Franciacorta DOCG, D.O. Navarra, Buena Vista Winery, and a host of other wine and food specialists. He has been an instructor for Napa Valley College's Viticulture and Enology department for the past seventeen years. In addition he teaches at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, and is a guest lecturer at universities throughout the world on wine business, communications, public affairs, wine and wine marketing. With Liz Thach and Janeen Olsen, he authored a book: Wine Marketing & Sales, Strategies for a Saturated Market by The Wine Appreciation Guild, which won the Gourmand International Award in 2008 for the best wine book of the year for professionals. A second edition of that work was published in 2011. He is a regular columnist for Vineyards & Winery Management Magazine, a member of the board of directors of the Society of Wine Educators and contributes to Allexperts.com in the field of wine and food. Paul Wagner has judged many national and international wine competitions, is a founding member of the Academy of Wine Communications, a member of the nominations committee of the Culinary Institute of America’s Vintner’s Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Spadarini della Castellania di Soave in 2005. In 2009 he was honored with a “Life Dedicated to Wine” award at the Feria Nacional del Vino (FENAVIN) in Spain.