Congratulations to Alessandro Ago, SWS, for achieving highest honors in the Spanish Wine Scholar exam with The Wine House, Los Angeles.
About Alessandro:
I’m a life-long wine enthusiast (but not a wine professional), who has spent many years traveling back and forth between my two home countries of Italy and the US. Living in California, I’ve had ample opportunity to enjoy and explore the diversity and excellence of winemaking on the West Coast. In Italy, I travel often to visit my father in Umbria – and no trip is complete without a side trip to wine country, whether something local, like Montefalco, or just across the border in Tuscany – most recently to Montalcino. No meal is complete in Italy without a glass of wine, so with the pandemic expanding access to online courses, I felt like it was time to dive deeper into the theory and history of wine from around the world. I started with Spain, which has incredible wines but is less a part of my wine-drinking experience. My brother-in-law is Galician, and I really enjoyed showing off my expertise to him over the holidays!
SWS was my first certification program, but I also took the WSG’s CSWS course with Lustau and passed with highest honors as well. I’m currently finishing the IWS Prep and taking my WSET L2 exam at the end of this month. I’ve also passed the American Wine Expert course offered online through the Napa Valley Wine Academy, as well as their Argentina Wine Specialist program.
I’m currently enrolled in the French Wine Scholar course through the Wine House, which begins in February, and the Bourgogne Master-Level program through the WSG. I also plan to enroll in the IWS courses when the Wine House offers them later this year. The SWS was instrumental to my understanding of wine production and the relationship between culture, history, and wine production styles.
It has inspired me to dedicate a lot of time to learning about other regions of the world that produce wine, taste every kind of Spanish wine, visit the famous wine regions of Spain, and introduce my friends and family to these amazing wines whenever I get the chance!
