A New Adventure Officially Begins...
August 2021, the official date of the beginning of a new adventure…
I just started the WSET Level 3 course, and I'm not only excited because it’s the beginning of it, but also because it has a deeper meaning for me.
As you all know, I've been a wine lover since I was allowed to drink, but I never studied wine. On January, my husband enrolled me in the WSET Level 2 course as a birthday present, it was the best birthday gift!. I've been meaning to get formal education in wines for years, but never pulled the trigger, there was always something else going on, and now thanks to my husband I was fulfilling that goal.
When I looked into the different wine certifications and levels, WSET was the one that caught my attention and felt more suitable for me, and to be honest I only planned on doing Level 2 since I don't work in the wine business. If you are curious about which certifications I looked into, I’ll explain a little bit about them below after I finish my story, so keep reading.
The day after I presented my exam, we went to Napa for a week. I want to share with you one of the most special moments of my life! It's part of my top 5 - I'm a mom so you can imagine how special it is if it's in the same list with the moment I hold my baby for the first time - We were walking around the hotel while Oliver (our son) was napping in the stroller and my husband says:
"Ok, so we just made one of my dreams come true (he had just started working on his dream job), it's your turn now, what is your dream? Let's make it happen”
I took me by surprise, and not to mention that it has been one of the most romantic things anyone has tell me ever!.
Now it was time to answer that question, what is my dream?…
I've always known I want to have my own business, it didn't matter what. We started talking about the different things I like, the different ideas I've had over the year, possibilities, etc. and I ended up deciding on wine, which by the way never crossed my mind until that moment. The thing is, I fell more in love with wines after doing this course, it's hard to put into words, but it was now clear that this is one of my biggest passions.
This photo was that day at the Vino Bello Resort, right after we finished the conversation and Oliver woke up from his nap.
Us the next day between vines. Thank you my love for helping me choose a path and follow my dreams.
I'm dreaming big and I have a vision in different steps that I know will take years. That day we agreed that the first step was to do WSET Level 3.
It also happens that on the same week of the start of this course, I also had my first business consulting session to start shaping the “Her Wine His Whisky” business idea and start taking action. Thanks to my business consultant Daniela Morante, I have structure and a plan with specific steps I have to do to reach my short, medium and long term business goals.
So, there you have it! It's more than the beginning of a course, it is truly a new and exciting adventure!
I found my passion, I’m following my dreams, transforming this blog into a business and doing things that not only will change this blog, but also my life and future.
Thank you for reading my story. As promised, now I will talk a little about how and why I chose the WSET certification for those who are interested in this.
With the level 2 and 3 books. By the way, I was super happy when I received my level 2 exam results, I couldn't believe I got 90%!
My face when I received my book for the new level and saw it’s 3 times thicker than the other one. Level 3 is no joke!
When I started searching for wine certifications I found that currently there are 4 major entities: the Court of Master Sommeliers, the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), Institute of the Masters of Wine and the Society of Wine Educators.
The Court of Master Sommeliers: This distinguished organization is the only organization that can award the official title of “Sommelier”. There are a lot of different understandings about what a Sommelier does, but the technical definition is: a wine professional who curates, tends to and serves a collection of wines in a fine dining setting.
With this definition in mind, The Court of Master Sommeliers guides its education standards with a sharp focus on wine service and customer interaction.
There are 4 levels. The last level is the Master Sommelier Diploma, right now only 269 people have ever passed the Master Sommelier exams.
In my case, my interest wasn’t to work in the wine business, but to get more knowledge about wine in general. At The Court of Master Sommeliers they cover that too, but I didn’t need the service aspect of it and they concentrate more on that area.
The Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET): This is a London based organization that focus on providing professional education to those in all tiers of the wine industry, not solely service.
It is an academic program were you’ll learn more about wine theory, history, viticulture, winemaking, etc. They explain a little bit about the service aspect, but it’s very basic.
There are 4 WSET levels and the highest diploma is like a Masters degree. The first 2 levels are designed for those who want to start learning the basics of wine. You don’t have to start at level 1, most people who know a little about wine would start at level 2, which was my case.
Institute of the Masters of Wine: Like the WSET, this is an academic title and there is no “Sommelier” aspect to it. WSET is like a bachelor’s program and Masters of Wine is like a PhD.
It requires a minimum of 3 years, but it takes about 5 years for most people to pass, and it encompasses every facet of wine: viticulture, winemaking, marketing & sales, global wine trends, and everything else you can imagine related to wine.
There are only 389 professionals worldwide who have attained the Master of Wine title. If you want to earn your doctorate in drinking in order to write about it and do research about wine and its market, this is the way for you.
The Society of Wine Educators: As the name of the institution says, this program gives wine professionals the credentials of “Educator”. Candidates need to demonstrate their knowledge about wine and also the ability to impart that knowledge to others, through engaging and well organized classes.
It is entirely an independent study program of continued education, and you have to pass an exam. You’ll receive the tools to be an instructor, so If teaching others is your goal, this is the certification for you.
If you want to know more in detail about any of this certifications, or hear more about my journey with WSET, please leave me a comment below so I can get into writing more posts about this.
