On June 18, Master Sommelier Richard Betts MS announced his resignation as MS and his withdrawal from the Master Sommelier Association (CMSA).
Richard Betts was the head sommelier at The Little Nell Hotel in Colorado and one of the partners of Betts Scholl, the Australian Wine Academy. The reasons cited in his email resigning from MS were twofold: the CMSA"s lack of compassion for minority people of color and his dissatisfaction with the nullification of the unfair results of the 2018 Master Sommelier exam.
This is despite the expressed desire of some Master Sommeliers to keep CMSA neutral and away from politics. However, the opening part of Richard Betts' email still mentions: The recent global outcry for racial equality and social justice has been growing, and it strikes me as a complete lack of compassion on the part of CMSA. For me, this was the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Immediately afterwards, Brian McClintic also announced his departure from CMSA. Is it really worthy of the name of a master to kidnap a wine organization by implicating personal tendencies?
