Congratulations to Carlos Kam Shan Wong, FWS, for passing the French Wine Scholar exam with highest honors!
About Carlos:
I am the manager and sommelier at Nocturne, a wine and whisky bar in Hong Kong. My first contact with the wine trade took place in 2009, when I was working as a food runner for Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's in London. At that time, the head sommelier there was looking for a Commis Sommelier for the team and I was offered the opportunity. “A sommelier is like an entertainer!” my head Sommelier used to say all the time, a motto which I still bear in mind. So I sometimes make jokes to my customers while serving them. I never drink when I am moody, because I love the idea that drinking, no matter with who, should be delightful, as the world is tough enough already.
I have completed the WSET Level 3 Award in wine and spirits and the advanced Sake Sommelier course at the Sake Sommelier Association. Afterward, I was occupied with restaurant and bar operations, and literally spent most of my waking hours on the web pages of Wine-Searcher rather than on further wine education. Thanks to AWSEC (Asia Wine Service & Education Centre) which introduced me to the FWS program and brought back the passion for wine study to me. I still remember the time when I used to check out numerous vineyards around the world via Google Map. The guidebook of FWS is fascinating: the information and graphics are so precise, and the stories about each wine region of France are just proper and enjoyable.
My knowledge about French wine is greatly enriched through the FWS program, and I am sharing what I have learned with my customers. Now maybe it is time to make my customers drink more Italian wine, as I just came across the introduction of IWS (Italian Wine Scholar) program!
