Congratulations to Yonatan Alberto Rivera Ordoñez, IWS for passing the Italian Wine Scholar exam with highest honors!
About Alberto:
Due to the covid-19 outbreak, I began to study as a wine enthusiast, but then I started to take a formal step into wine knowledge. I fell in love with Italian culture almost nine years ago when I lived in Italy as a senior-high-school student exchange at Cagliari, Sardegna's capital. Italian cuisine and wine have been in my life since then. That's why I focused on Italian wine, the DOC/G complex system, and enrolled myself in the Italian Wine Scholar program with Wine Scholar Guild to comprehend the Italian wine world deeply.
I hold the Wine and Spirits Education Trust Level 2 Award in Wines, the Certified Sherry Wine Specialist, and now the Italian Wine Scholar credentials. As a student of the IWS program, I understand how Italian wine culture has developed from Roman times to modern winemaking, the history, and even interpreting the DOC/G system that is challenging and overwhelming for everyone.
I am also studying for the French Wine Scholar, the Certified Specialist of Wine, and thinking of getting the Level 3 Award in Wines next year. I also look forward to getting accepted for the Italian Wine Ambassador program in Verona next year! And I hope my IWS knowledge helps me to get in and pass the exam. So wish me luck or in bocca al luppo!
I now look at my future in a certain way I never thought of, mainly because I never imagined to be a wine lover or sommelier at all. I have taken some wine tastings, lectures, and podcast invitations to promote Italian wine in my hometown and Mexico City, so the program provided me with several skills to be in an excellent position to do so. I even started thinking about working in Italy's wine industry.
