Taste and Compare Academy of Wine, Spirits and Food
Your Place for Wine and Spirits Education in Portland and Eugene
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Maxine Borcherding

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After  over 23 years in catering, restaurant management, and consulting to the hospitality industry, Chef Maxine Borcherding  changed her focus to hospitality education, where she has been teaching professional and consumer classes for the past 16 years.

“The journey that led me into a serious study of wine was a teaching assignment. A class included three lectures on growing grapes, making wine, and pairing wine with food. I’d been drinking and enjoying wine for about 40 years- but there’s a huge gulf between liking to drink wine and having the knowledge and credibility to teach it. So, in self defense, I took a class; and a funny thing happened. I fell in love with wine, and with everything about wine. I had to learn more.”

Since that first class, Chef Borcherding has graduated from the International Sommelier Guild Sommelier Diploma Program, has become a French Wine Scholar through the Wine Scholar Guild,  a Spanish Wine Educator through the Wine Academy of Spain,   a Wine Location Specialist with distinction from the Center for Wine Origins, and  is currently completing her certification as a Master Instructor for the Rhone region through the Wine Scholar Guild.

Chef Borcherding is a co-founder of Taste and Compare Academy of Wine, Spirits and Food; and is a Lead Chef Instructor at the Oregon Culinary Institute where she teaches wine and hospitality business classes.


Hoke Harden

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An enthusiastic lover of wine and spirits, Hoke Harden has experienced every possible facet of the world of wine and spirits as a retailer, restaurateur, bartender, buyer, wholesaler, supplier, marketer, critic, writer, competition judge and educator over a 35 year career. He is currently the principle of Elixir Vitae Wine & Spirits Consultants, holds a CSW and CSS from the Society of Wine Educators, is the Portland Spirits Examiner and National French Wine Examiner for Examiner.Com, Managing Editor for the Oregon Spirits Digest magazine, Wine & Spirits Instructor at Mt. Hood Community College, a Master Instructor with the Wine Scholar Guild, and a B.N.I.C Certified Cognac Educator.  

​Visit Hoke at ​​http://www.hokeharden.com/