Congratulations to Rene Reed, IWS, for passing the Italian Wine Scholar exam with highest honors!
About Rene:
I started taking classes so that I could communicate better with our Wine Sales Reps. I sometimes felt they would sell our Italian restaurant whatever their wine of the week might be. I started taking classes and realized “The more I know about Wine, the more I realize I don’t know much.” This led to more classroom work and wine tasting groups. It also led to a greater appreciation of viticulture, terroir, organic and biodynamic wines, the supply chain — it is all pretty fascinating!!
The North American Sommelier Association, Italian Wine Specialist was my first foray into wine academics and tasting. That was when I realized there was so much more to know and likely stuff that I would never know. After that, I had some local mentorship and I continued on with Wine & Spirits Education Trust, Level 3 and Certified Specialist of Wine certifications. I passed the Level 1 -Court of Masters.
I loved the detail of the IWS program. I travel to Italy and the knowledge has deeply enriched my hunt for and enjoyment of some of the lesser known grapes of Italy. For our business, the knowledge has helped me to procure great Italian wines at good value pricing.
IWS has given me more in-depth knowledge of my favorite wine producing country! I have confidence to purchase and recommend a wide variety of Italian wines to my customers and friends. Their enjoyment of wines from my curated list is my biggest reward.
