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In the beginning, there was darkness...
McGill students had nowhere to turn for sophisticated wine experiences...
These were dark times...
Then, one day...
Chapter I
Genesis
2014-2016
The banner of the official 2014-2016 McGill Wine Society Facebook page.
"This period is effectively the dark ages of our society, as its details are somewhat muddled by time. As far as we know, the club was founded by a girl named Josephine, who ran the club for a few years. It was an SSMU club and they operated over a Facebook group, peaking at 890 members. They notably ran a “winepartment crawl,” the photos of which survive today. Sadly, the group died with Josephine and lost its official status as an active club."
- Graham Colquhoun, 2023-2026 President
The profile picture of the official 2014-2016 McGill Wine Society Facebook page.
A graphic advertising a Bring Your Own Wine event from the official 2014-2016 McGIll Wine Society FaceBook page.
An assortment of images posted to the official 2014-2016 McGill Wine Society Facebook page. They depict various events.
Chapter II
Revitalization
2018-2021
A screenshot of a text conversation in 2019 between 2019-2022 president Noah Gundermann (blue) and ca. 2014-2016 president Josephine (gray).
An animation of the 2020-2022 McGill Wine Society logo. It was the first ever post on the McGill Wine Society Instagram page.
"Zach and Noah are considered the founders of our club in its current legal capacity, as they were responsible for drafting the new SSMU constitution to ratify our society, legitimizing us again within the SSMU framework. The story goes: the two were sitting together in Noah’s apartment browsing the McGill club directory and came upon the McGill Student’s Wine Society listing, only to find that it was considered an inactive club by SSMU. As a joke, Noah suggests to Zach that they should re-found the club. They reached out to the McGill entering class of 2018 Facebook group and were met with an overwhelming amount of interest. The joke is no longer quite a joke. On the day of the 2019 climate rally, Zach and Noah sat down on the porch of the old DKE house on 526 milton and drafted a constitution with “questionable provisions.” They also began to meet with SSMU executives to learn the ropes about administering a real club. The first constitution was rejected, but after some amendments the first revision was approved and the club received interim club status in January of 2020. They begin to plan out a hiring wave."
- Graham Colquhoun, 2023-2026 President
A screenshot of a 2019 Facebook post by Noah Gundermann expressing interest in revitalizing the McGill Wine Society.
"COVID-19 throws a massive wrench in the plans for a new club. A shift towards virtual events is made, and many successful zoom MWS events occur with over 70 people in the call. Hannah, Maxime, Elizabeth, and Finn are added to the team. Fun fact: Maxime also founded the McGill Fight Club. Online events include a mulled wine event, a cooking event where an exec was sent to a restaurant to stream a chef cooking risotto while a sommelier presented on wine, and a collaboration with the SUS FYC with wine-based cocktails. LBBC reaches out for the first time for McGill to attend the only virtual wine competition they’ve ever hosted. They thought the email was a mistake, but after a quick introductory call with the organizers found out it was not. They compete virtually, and win. McGill is now on the competitive map. Zach and Noah’s last event is an open mic at Turbohaus."
- Graham Colquhoun, 2023-2026 President
Screenshots of four posts from the MWS Instagram page in September 2020. They show the four original executive board members: Co-presidents Noah Gundermann and Zachary Goldenberg, VP Finance Matheu Villiers, and VP Sponsorship Bruno Provencher.
Noah Gundermann and two unidentified competitors celebrating after qualifying for the 2021 Left Bank Bordeaux Cup finals.
Screenshots of a series of posts from the MWS Instagram page from October 2020 to October 2021.
Chapter III
The Modern Era
2022-Present
This logo was designed by our first Director of Communications, Yasmeen El-Irani. It was used from 2022 until 2025 when VP External Philippe Crawley designed our current logo.
MWS "re-founders" Zachary Goldenberg (left) and Noah Gundermann (right) on their last night as co-presidents.
"Our Memorandum of Agreement is re-drafted to give us special privileges in serving wine on campus. McEnroe, Graham, Davis, Nicole, Charlotte, and Nolan are onboarded. The roles of VP Oenology and Director of Communications is [sic] created to handle our ever-growing knowledge base of wines and competitions overseas. We begin to host larger events, starting with the wedding of Davis Timko (not a real wedding) in 2024. We receive more invitations, and compete in five different international competitions by 2024. Hannah, Maxime, and David Sorokine win the NA qualifiers at LBBC 2023 and attend the finals."
- Graham Colquhoun, 2023-2026 President
Since then, the McGill Wine Society has made so many memories...
Let's cheers to even more memories and experiences!
