Congratulations to Dominic Hewett, FWS, for passing the French Wine Scholar exam with highest honors!
About Dominic:
Like the many American rootstocks that have become the foundation of vines around the world I am currently a bit of a hybrid! My principle full time job is as a Finance Business Partner for a large power transmission utility company. In my spare time I indulge my passion for wine socially and enjoy regular blind tastings with a small group of close friends but I have also started to get involved with some more professional wine endeavors. I just love communicating to people about wine and have been incredibly lucky to become part of the team at Birmingham Wine School where I host evening wine tasting events. Then more recently I have started ‘CorksofEvesham’ Wine Events which is my own venture offering fun wine tastings in my local area. I have also started writing occasional wine articles and regularly review wines on my Instagram account that has a growing following.
In terms of my aspirations, I hope to continue developing my professional wine endeavors with the time I have available. Then maybe one day I might make the jump and join the wine industry. I am quite open minded on what I would do but would love wine education to be part of it. Indeed, one day, I’d love to teach WSG qualifications! I also aspire to travel more extensively than I have been able to thus far and have a long bucket list of wine regions that I would love to visit. I want to see, smell and feel the real world of wine, meet the people behind the wines and hear their stories.
My passion for wine has developed over a period of many years but approximately 4 years ago I decided I wanted to start my wine education journey proper. I decided to start with WSET, enjoyed working my way through levels 1-3 and completed level 3 in early 2020. During my WSET 3 studies I became aware of the Wine Scholar Guild, and as I have a particular passion for French wines, I immediately set my sights on completing FWS. The ability to study flexibly and online was a particularly attractive feature as I do not live close to a program provider.
The excellent French Wine Scholar course has already significantly deepened my knowledge and appreciation of France and its wines. It was an incredibly interesting immersion that has further intensified my thirst for wine knowledge.
I have now enrolled on the WSET Level 4 Diploma and have already noticed the benefit of my WSG learning. I think it will be especially helpful when I come to the D3 module of which a third of the content is on France. Whilst I may need a breather after the Diploma I fully intend to return to the WSG curriculum to complete IWS and SWS. Given my love for French wines I am also saving hard to join one of the future WSG Bordeaux immersion trips and complete the Bordeaux master level.
