Congratulations to Ricardo Luis Santiago, IWS, for passing the Italian Wine Scholar exam with highest honors!
About Ricardo:
I am a wine enthusiast constantly searching to expand my knowledge about wine. I value any opportunity for tasting new wines and visiting wine producing regions. It is always an intellectual, spiritual, cultural, and pleasurable voyage. My passion is to work with wine and food pairing to enhance the dining experience and to share wine with friends.
I started my studies in wine taking courses in The Culinary Institute of America, Santa Helena, California (2002-2003). Then I became a member of the Society of Wine Educators and participated in almost all the Annual Conferences of the Society since 2002.
In France I have taken courses at L’École du Vin de Bordeaux (2005-2007) in Bordeaux and L’École des Vins de Bourgogne (2005-2007) in Beaune. In 2012, I participated in the program Wine Educators, Academy of the Napa Valley Vintners.
I am a Certified Specialist in Wine, CSW (2002) and a Certified Specialist in Spirits, CSS (2009), Society of Wine Educators. I am also a Spanish Wine Educator (2007), The Wine Academy of Spain.
I have passed the French Wine Scholar (2018), the Spanish Wine Scholar (2020), and the Italian Wine Scholar (2021) exams with the highest honors, Wine Scholar Guild. I also hold a WSET Level 3 Award in Wines having passed the exams with merit in 2020.
I enrolled in the IWS program with the objective to enrich my knowledge of Italian wines. The program provides an in depth understanding of Italian wines: you learn about wine from all regions of Italy with emphasis in history, the sense of place, and the native grapes. After finishing the course there is no doubt that you will be fascinated by the native grapes, the traditions of the local people, the social context, and the amazing diversity of wines produced in Italy.
