Congratulations to Leon Lau, SWS, for passing the Spanish Wine Scholar exam with highest honors with AWSEC.
About Leon:
I became interested in wine about 2 years ago (2019). At family and relatives dinners, they usually bring along wine. At that time, I was not able to differentiate wine when I was told this is a good quality wine, besides I was not even able to read and understand the wine label. That was kind of my first encounter with wine and that intrigued me to know more about wine. By coincidence, I had a friend who just happened to have completed a wine course, so I started studying WSET courses on my friend's recommendation. Thanks to my level 2 and 3 tutors for their immense passion for wine and superb teaching, as well as sharing with me their interesting experiences in different wineries. My passion for wine grew considerably stronger which motivated me to continue learning in order to understand this subject further.
I have completed WSET level 2 and level 3 programs. I have also completed the French Wine Scholar course. The SWS program offers much more in-depth knowledge of the wines from Spain, showing the diversity and exceptional quality that Spanish wines could give. I thoroughly enjoyed studying the SWS program because it not only allowed me to explore new wine regions and indigenous grape varieties that I have never heard of before, but it also integrated the wine knowledge with the history and culture of this colorful, passionate and lively country, which made the course even more interesting.
I have joined the Italian Wine Scholar program recently. I believe that the SWS program will provide me with a solid foundation of learning the new territories, grape varieties, winemaking methods, and viticulture for the wines produced in Italy.
The comprehensive and approachable SWS program has allowed me to study and taste wines from all winemaking regions in Spain. Studying it was like taking me on a wine tour in each wine region in Spain, especially since we cannot travel around during the pandemic. After exploring and tasting more Spanish wines in the program, I have learned to appreciate more Spanish wines than before and I also feel that I am more confident to talk about and share the wines from Spain with my friends and other people that they may not have considered before.
