Congratulations to Andrew Belcher for passing the Rhône Master Level exam with highest honors!
About Andrew:
I am a wine enthusiast. The UK being such a vibrant market from a wine perspective does provide me access to a vast array of styles and varieties from multiple countries. I regularly attend tastings in London whether with wine schools or those set-up by regional bodies. I have travelled to a number of wine regions not only in Europe, but also in Australia and USA. Looking to visit New Zealand in the next couple of years.
I passed the WSET Diploma is 2016 and this year at the West London Wine School took the Level 1 Sake course. Since getting the Diploma, I have taken both the French and Italian Wine Scholar courses at West London Wine School and later this year will be taking the Spanish course with them. I have also taken the Champagne and Bordeaux Master Level courses. Post the Spanish course, I am considering the new Level 3 WSET Spirits course.
The Wine Scholar courses complement the WSET courses as they allow more focus on a particular country or region such as Bordeaux. The Wine Scholar courses delve into parts of France that the WSET courses by their nature do not have the time to explore.
The wine tasting suggestions within the Master-Level program do help with understanding the differences in the specific regions and also encourage you to go out and try different producers and styles of wines. Having visited the Rhone Valley does allow for a better context of the area, walking up the Hermitage Hill is clearly a highlight. The historical references are also very useful in putting everything in perspective.
