Congratulations to Maxime Dubois, SWS, for achieving highest honors in the Spanish Wine Scholar exam!
About Maxime:
After studying Restaurant Management & wine in France, I have been part of the opening team of a Wine Bar & Restaurant in Dublin, Ireland. There, with access to fantastic wines from all over the World, I quickly realized that I needed to learn more about the other countries of the Wine World. While I found global information and great learning methods in programs such as WSET & the Court of Master Sommeliers, I was delighted to be able to specialize and dig deeper into the wines of Spain with this program (and FWS last year)!
I am now based in Vietnam for the past 3 years, where I work both as a Marketing Manager for Red Apron, a retailer specialized in fine wines with over 2,500 on the portfolio and as Wine Educator (WSET, FWS and private programs) at our Wine School.
I have already studied the below programs:
- Sommelier Certificate of the Irish Guild of Sommeliers (ASI member)
- WSET Level 3 (with Distinction) – I work as a WSET Educator for levels 1 and 2
- Court of Master Sommeliers: Introductory & Certified levels
- French Wine Scholar (Highest Honours)
- Spanish Wine Scholar (Highest Honours)
I found the SWS & FWS to be fantastic programs for students wishing to get a comprehensive knowledge of wine regions both Internationally acclaimed & others more obscure. The level of information is very high and detailed. I am currently thinking about taking my Diploma WSET when borders allow for International travel again, and I truly think the WSG programs will help a lot in my studies.
In my opinion, Spain will (and should) become the first producer in volume Worldwide, within the next few years.
Although the focus was on “good value”, simpler styles, in the past, there is a clear trend for the fine wines of Spain on many markets. Not only from traditional quality regions such as Rioja DOCa, but also the new classification systems in Priorat DOQ or Bierzo DO, and the big improvements around Cava and other quality sparkling wines in the Penedes region for example.
I believe the SWS gives the necessary knowledge to understand these upcoming regions and prepare, professionally, in order to bring our clients the very best from these appellations. On top of being very comprehensive in terms of knowledge, it’s also a fun program to take!
