Tristan Colenso, FWS

  • Having completed the French Wine Scholar (FWS), the depth in which this program goes into, really helped a lot when sitting the WSET exams particularly in the French Wine Sections.
  • Bartender & Wine Geek at The Golden Dawn Tavern of Power, Auckland, New Zealand
  • WSET Level 3
Tristan Colenso, FWS

Congratulations to Tristan Colenso, FWS, for passing the French Wine Scholar exam with highest honors with New Zealand School of Food and Wine!

 

About Tristan:

Yes, I am most definitely a Wine Enthusiast but isn’t anyone pursuing a career and or working in the wine industry a wine enthusiast? My passion for Wine was sparked about 5 years ago when I started working at this little wine and cocktail tavern called The Golden Dawn Tavern of Power. The wine list at the time was very different to anything in the city (but now that’s changed) predominantly Natural, Certified Organic and Biodynamic Wines from all parts of the world.  Being exposed to all this wine I naturally became fascinated and wanted to learn more so in my spare time I would read about wine, watch documentaries/web videos about wine, listen to podcasts about wine and obviously this goes without saying drink wine.
  With the recent closure of The Golden Dawn Tavern of Power in March 2018 I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in the wine industry, I acquired my WSET Levels 1-3 alongside with The French Wine Scholar Diploma. Now I am searching for or possibly creating the ideal job for myself. In a perfect world I would love to be an educator to current hospitality establishments and hospitality service staff who don’t feel comfortable talking about and have minimal knowledge of the product they are selling (This is quite common in my tiny little country, in the corner of the Southern Hemisphere) To be honest there are so many things I would love to do in this industry the opportunities are endless but if there is one thing I want to aspire to…It is to never stop learning. The wine world is continuously evolving, there will always be something to learn and you will never know everything.

I have also completed my WSET Levels 1- 3.  Having completed the French Wine Scholar (FWS), the depth in which this program goes into, really helped a lot when sitting the WSET exams particularly in the French Wine Sections.

I am currently not enrolled in any other program at this point in time but I am quite fond of Spain and maybe considering The Spanish Wine Scholar program and also the WSET Diploma in 2018. After completing the French Wine Scholar program, I feel this has supplied me with a solid foundation of knowledge on Wine as a whole i.e. The French have set the benchmark for Wine & the culture that surrounds it world wide. So if you can get your head around France, then it really does make understanding about the rest of the wine world a lot easier.


Though a relatively new program in New Zealand the program is going to add a real point of difference to my Resume and stand out to future employers, which it has already started to. As mentioned in the previous answer this program has given me a wealth of core knowledge and relative not just to France but also to other wine regions of the world. After completing the French Wine Scholar Program, I now know more about the history of France than my own country; I can also confidently and happily answer any question/s people might ask me about French Wine. 




Nathalie Sibille

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