Congratulations to Sarah Lewis, FWS, for achieving highest honors in the French Wine Scholar exam with The Wine House, Los Angeles.
About Sarah:
The genesis of my interest in wine came from living in France for about 20 years, and I wish I knew then even half as much as I know now! Even so, one of the wonderful things about wine is that it offers the opportunity to be a lifelong learner. My professional career is in the financial services industry which involves an education component in working with clients. My goal is to pivot that teaching experience to become a wine educator in some capacity.
I recently completed the WSET Diploma. What a journey! I thought I’d never take another wine studies course again until the Wine Scholar Guild programs came onto my radar. The French Wine Scholar program is excellent and would be a valuable complement to advanced wine studies like the WSET Diploma or to those who appreciate French wine and want an engaging deeper dive.
As mentioned, the FWS program was excellent. The written materials are clear and engaging, and the quizzes reinforced the content and tested comprehension. I really appreciated the videos, and the drone shots of the regions are unique and super helpful to connect more abstract descriptions with dynamic images of an area. My intention is to take the SWS program next.
In my view, the FWS program is unique in its genre as it draws on complementary teaching methods: oral presentations from a live, experienced professional educator, written materials, videos, quizzes, tastings, etc. – everything designed to enhance learning and understanding of the French wine industry while being thoroughly enjoyable.
From my perspective, the program is a benchmark for advanced levels of education in the wine industry, and I’d look to it as a reference as I consider how I might want to contribute to the field as an educator.
