Erik Casterud FWS

  • The FWS program has given me the opportunity to solely study the French regions and its wines. Thanks to its up-to-date and often accurate study manual and materials, it has helped me filling various blanks of mine, useful for my WSET Level 4 Diploma studies.
  • Director of Education for the Scandinavian Wine Academy in Sweden
  • WSET Level 3
Erik Casterud FWS

Congratulations to Erik Casterud FWS, Education Director at the Scandinavian Wine Academy in Sweden,  for passing the French Wine Scholar exam with highest honors!

Actually, not one but three instructors from the Scandinavian Wine Academy have passed the French Wine Scholar exam with highest honors: Pontus Jennerholm FWS (pictured to the right), Dick Samuelsson FWS and Erik Casterud FWS (pictured left)!

Scandinavian Wine Academy will soon be offering the French Wine Scholar program in Sweden!

About Erik Casterud FWS:

"My first encounter to wine, in a more professional sense, was during my first year as an employee for the state owned Swedish wine monopoly. That was ten years ago. Thanks to a skillful and passionate colleague of mine, my interest for wine started to grow. As time went by, I started to work my way up in this business, leaving the monopoly for a fine dining restaurant in Stockholm, Restaurant GQ (Grossmans), as responsible for their wine bar. Eager to learn even more, I moved down to Gothenburg to study geology & oenology. When I came back to Stockholm I started to work for the Scandinavian Wine Academy, as the Director of Education.

I got my certification through the Scandinavian Wine Academy 2010 and has since then complemented it with the WSET Level 3 Award in Wine & Spirits and is now currently studying the WSET Level 4 Diploma. The FWS program has given me the opportunity to solely study the French regions and its wines. Thanks to its up-to-date and often accurate study manual and materials, it has helped me filling various blanks of mine, useful for my WSET Level 4 Diploma studies.

As an approved instructor of FWS, this will give our students at the Scandinavian Wine Academy the ability to reach a complementary knowledge in French wines, at the same time guiding them towards an international market and to help them succeed in the world of wine!"

Julien Camus

Founder & President @ Wine Scholar Guild

Julien worked as Trade Attaché for wines and spirits at the French Embassy in Washington DC (2004-2006). In this role, he recognized the need for French wine education as a means to spur consumer demand and interest in his country’s wines.

To that end, he founded the Wine Scholar Guild in August of 2005,an organization dedicated to the promotion of French wine and culture through education. Julien invited national importers of French wine to join the organization as Industry Members and 25 key French wine importers did so immediately.

After leaving the embassy, he has devoted his energies to developing the Wine Scholar Guild and its network of program providers around the globe. Julien holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration with a major in International Marketing from the Strasbourg Management School.

In 2019, Julien was one of the "Future 50" award winners, an award created by WSET and IWSC to acknowledge professionals under 40 who have made a significant contribution to the industry.

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