Congratulations to Wi(lle)m Philippe, FWS, for passing the French Wine Scholar exam with highest honors with WineWise, Antwerp, Belgium.
About Wi(lle)m:
I’m an independent wine consultant and educator (teacher). I do this job as secondary occupation (I’m a banker), but of course with at least the same dedication and passion. It grew organically by being a wine enthusiast already for many years, organizing and accompanying wine tastings in clubs as well. In 2016 I took the initiative to go for more structural and in-depth wine studies for personal satisfaction and to be able to provide wine services in a more professional way.
I started my own wine business under the name WineXplained, but I’m also linked as a wine educator to WijnInZicht (Dutch term and nice word play, something like Wine Insight). I’m board member of a few wine clubs and vinologist for the wine club of the University of Leuven (KU Leuven). And I support some wine merchants as freelance advisor or for servicing wine courses and tastings.
In 2018 I was graduated with the WSET Level 3 Award in Wines. I started in 2019 the WSET Diploma level 4 studies, where I have successfully passed 3 of the 6 modules. Due to the corona pandemic situation, the remaining live courses and tasting sessions are frequently postponed. I hope to continue. But in the meantime it seemed interesting to follow the online Wine Scholar Guild program to acquire more in-depth knowledge about (part of) the 3 main “old” European wine countries France, Italy and Spain. I did as well via WineWise, the best placed Approved Program Provider for WSET in Belgium & The Netherlands and now also APP for WSG.
I was impressed by the excellent WSG study manuals. So, I decided to go for the French Wine Scholar online program in the fall of 2020. I really appreciated the interactive e-learning modules as well, and I liked very much the live review webinars with excellent content and style of teaching.
I waited not long for taking the exam, and it is of course a great pleasure to have passed the FWS with highest honors (exam in January 2021).
I immediately subscribed for the IWS Prep. I followed the online course in January-February 2021, and I will take the exam in the very near future. So I have a good refresh of my Italian wine knowledge and a good basis to go for the more comprehensive Italian WSG program and for the next WSET level 4 modules.
On the one hand FWS (and other) WSG modules help me in acquiring more in-depth knowledge which supports me in the WSET level 4 program. On the other hand it is also in itself a very valuable program which supports me intensively in my professional wine activities. Because all wine aspects (region, history, geography, climate, topography, soils, grape varieties, law, PGI and PDO, production methods, wine styles,….) are dealt with in a systematic, didactic and very attractive way, it really provides the necessary in-depth knowledge and insights to be able to perform my wine activities at a professional level. Because I want to tell the whole story behind the wine.
