Congratulations to Doug Homoky, FWS, for passing the French Wine Scholar exam with highest honors!
About Doug:
I am currently a Gastroenterologist but my passion for tasting and learning about wine has been steadily growing for the past 20yrs. The study of wine is similar to that of medicine in that the more you learn, the less you realize you know. Wine is also similar to medicine by being a fascinating mix of art and science. You can spend your whole life studying both and every day can still present you with something new and exciting.
So far, I've done WSET 2, Champagne MOOC, Rioja Wine Diploma, Spanish Wine Scholar and lastly, the French Wine Scholar. The WSET gave some general wine knowledge but was so regimented that it took some of the fun out of tasting. When I found the Wine Scholar Guild, I enrolled first in SWS because I knew nothing about Spain. I loved it and learned a ton. I thought I knew quite a bit about French Wine already from experience. The FWS course taught me how little I really did know. With France being home to most of the "classics," I now feel much better prepared to be able to branch out and understand other areas.
Taking a little break for now but will likely ask for the Italian Wine Scholar course as a birthday gift. Knowing how to study and the amount of work required to learn the FWS info will keep me on track for what I hear is another difficult course.
My passion now is finding the recommended wines in the course from all the different regions of France. I plan on traveling to France by glass to continue to enjoy their regional art and cultures and to cement much of the knowledge learned in the FWS program. Maybe someday when I give up the GI gig, I'll be an educator and pass some of this knowledge and fun on to others.
