Congratulations to Jamie Evans, FWS, for passing the French Wine Scholar with highest honors with the San Francisco Wine School!
About Jamie:
My name is Jamie Evans and I’m the founder of The Herb Somm, a cannabis blog and lifestyle brand that focuses on the gourmet side of the industry. I’m probably best known for my wine and cannabis educational events in California, but I am also the author of two published books, The Ultimate Guide to CBD and Cannabis Drinks releasing in April 2021.
Alongside my work in the cannabis industry, I’m a Certified Specialist of Wine (and most recently a French Wine Scholar!) with over a decade of wine industry experience. Throughout my wine career, I’ve been very lucky to work with some of the world’s top winemaking families and companies including Folio Fine Wine Partners, Jackson Family Wines, JAX Vineyards, and the Napa Valley Grapegrowers. I also had the opportunity to work in many diverse roles in the wine industry, which has contributed to the work that I am doing today as an entrepreneur.
As a thought leader, I was named as one of Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 Tastemakers in 2018 and as a 2018 Innovator by SevenFifty Daily. Since launching my business, I continue to look for ways to collaborate in both the wine and cannabis space and help bridge the gap between the two industries.
My passion for wine began at the young age of 18 while studying Wine & Viticulture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. This 4-year Bachelor degree program provided me with an in-depth understanding of the wine industry, sensory evaluation, viticulture, and winemaking. In addition, during my sophomore and junior year, I was selected to study wine abroad in Australia, Italy, France, and Switzerland to gain international wine experience. After returning, I graduated with a Wine Business degree and quickly began working full-time in the industry.
The amazing thing about wine is there is so much to learn! To continue my studies, I decided to pursue the Certified Specialist of Wine Program at the San Francisco Wine School. I was excited to learn more about the international wine world, particularly France, Italy, and Spain since I grew very fond of these wine-producing regions while studying abroad. After I passed the CSW exam in April 2019, I wanted to continue learning, which led me to the French Wine Scholar program.
With a love for French wines, I decided to pursue this exciting program in the fall of 2020 with the San Francisco Wine School. Due to the covid-19 pandemic, my entire program was hosted online, but I was very impressed with how the course was conducted virtually. My instructors were incredibly knowledgeable and the wines that were selected for each session helped bring each French wine region and terroir to life.
In the future, I plan to take additional Wine Scholar Guild programs and perhaps explore the Master-Level sessions that are offered for France since it’s my favorite wine region.
I truly loved taking the FWS course. It was a fantastic way to refresh my knowledge about French wine as well as deepen my appreciation and love for each of the special French winemaking regions. While my trip to France this year has been postponed due to covid-19, I am planning a wine excursion in 2022, which will compliment everything that I’ve learned in this course. This program has also given me the knowledge to navigate any wine list featuring French wines and I can happily order or recommend these wines with confidence. Santé!
