Congratulations to Gianmarco De Martino, FWS, for passing the French Wine Scholar with highest honors!
About Marco:
I grew up in Italy and moved to Australia in 2014. I started reading about wine and organizing tastings with friends in Brisbane, while working in hospitality. Wine quickly became a huge passion of mine, that lead me to move to the Barossa Valley in South Australia, in 2018. I wanted to work with wine, and I started from a cellar door / tasting room job, here at Tscharke. A few weeks in I was helping in the vineyards, winery and in the cellar. After my first vintage as
cellar hand in 2019, I was offered the position of winemaker. I don’t have a winemaking degree, or any qualification, so I’ve learnt by doing it, with the help of Damien Tscharke, owner of Tscharke Wines, viticulturalist and winemaker. Here I am 3 vintages later, making wine and attending the vines, while expanding my wine knowledge through the Wine Scholar Guild programs.
During the 2021 vintage, a workmate and friend of mine enrolled in the FWS course and pushed me to do the same. Trying to fit my studies around the busy winery life, I took 9 months to prepare for the exam, that I took and passed in January 2022. A couple of months later, again in the middle of vintage, I’ve decided to enroll in the IWS course. I am currently studying the wines of Northern Italy, hoping to complete the first unit by the end of the year, to then complete the
IWS program with Unit 2 next year.
Studying the wines and the wine regions of France, I’ve learnt so much about the vineyard and winemaking traditions of those regions. This acquired knowledge inspires me and helps me in my everyday job, when making wine here in the Barossa. Beside being able to use this knowledge at work, I am also enjoying being able to talk about specific wine styles or appellations, while tasting French wine with friends. I love sharing what I’ve learnt with my
wine-friends at our tastings.
