All our students benefit from exclusive discounts on products from Riedel, Coravin and more, plus discount on subsequent WCB WSET course bookings! / Todos nuestros estudiantes reciben descuentos exclusivos en productos de Riedel, Coravin y más, además de descuentos en las siguientes reservas de cursos WSET con WCB!

Wine Courses
Barcelona WSET
Students of the Year 2018/19

Published: 04/10/2019

The 2018/19 academic year was a hugely exciting one for Wine Courses Barcelona. We started offering the WSET Level 3 course, saw plenty of familiar faces back in the classroom, welcomed Melissa to the team and celebrated one 100% pass rate after another! As always, I was made incredibly proud by the enthusiasm, efforts and dedication of our students, giving up free time, holidays and weekends to achieve such excellent results. Every class has made me smile, laugh and love what I do all the more and so an enormous THANK YOU is due to you every one of you.

For the first time, I have the pleasure to announce Wine Courses Barcelona’s WSET Students of the Year. These are individuals who deserve to be shouted about, due to outstanding class contribution, commitment and seriously impressive grades, one across two Levels. They all receive a prize and a giant round of applause from the team. Bravo!

WCB’S WSET Level 1 Student of the Year 2018/19: Clare Dalton

Clare is originally from the Gold Coast of Australia but packed her bags and started work on super yachts as a stewardess three and a half years ago. She completed the WSET Level 1 in Wines in June. In a first at WCB, she scored 100% in her exam! While claiming to have no prior knowledge when she joined the class, her inquisitive approach and eagerness to contribute put her on the road to success. I look forward to seeing her back for Level 2, in which I’m sure she’ll continue her winning streak. Clare is the lucky recipient of a Vacu Vin Twister Corkscrew and a voucher toward her future studies.

“I decided to participate in a WSET course as I really enjoyed trying the varieties of wines through my stewardess experience. I wanted to find out more about the knowledge I had gained and see how much I had learnt. This was a fantastic course, and turns out I had learnt a lot! Thanks so much and bring on Level 2!”

WCB’S WSET Level 2 Student of the Year 2018/19: Job Hogendoorn

Soon starting on the general manager training scheme at Barcelona’s Soho House, Job knows how to keep his customers happy. And now he’ll be wowing them with wine recommendations too. He completed the WSET Level 2 in April, achieving a superb Distinction, and jumped straight onto the Level 3 course in May, also achieving Distinction. Always prepared and brimming with enthusiasm to learn, you can read more about Job’s motivations and time with WCB in his interview on our blog. In his testimonial, Job wrote that “(Sharon) is this teacher you want to show your best to” and he’s definitely done that! His prize is a bottle of Domaine de Pallus Chinon 2012, an appellation he fell in love with following his Level 3 studies. 

“The WSET courses have been a wonderful experience. I even wish that I had followed them earlier in my life. Receiving this award is giving me even more motivation to continue tasting wines, developing myself and learning about this amazing beverage.”

WCB’S WSET Level 3 Student of the Year 2018/19: Andrea Izzo

Andrea is a certified sommelier from the town of Pavia, near Milan. He moved to Tarragona in April this year and completed his WSET Level 3 in June. He was an absolute pleasure to have in class, with his drier-than-Chablis sense of humour, the correct answer always at the ready and a thorough approach to exam preparation. His hard work paid off as he achieved Distinctions in both theory and tasting exams and, of course, an overall Distinction certificate. In his words…

I decided to move to Spain because I love the way of life of Spanish people and the culture of this country, but mainly cause is an open minded multicultural place where everyone can be who they want to be. I chose Tarragona cause it’s a small city in the middle of some of the most important and beautiful wine regions of Spain.

After the Level 2 in Italy, I was so full of curiosity about this world and what I liked was the international point of view of the WSET approach. I was so excited about doing the (Level 3) course in this beautiful, cosmopolitan city. The surprise was to meet a really fine, patient, prepared and helpful person like Sharon who helped me to understand everything as easy as possible, by making me prepared to pass the exam in the best way. I’m really happy for winning the award of student of the year and I hope that I may continue my WSET path with the Diploma, maybe with Sharon!”

With Level 3 under his belt and the Diploma in his sights, Andrea is now looking for work in the industry in Catalunya. Best of luck to Andrea; any employer would be lucky to have him! Here he is with his prize, a bottle of Roger Coulon Brut Heri-Hodie Premier Cru Champagne.

Have these guys got you inspired to grab a glass and get involved? Do you think you could be the next Student of the Year? Then register for one of our upcoming WSET Level 1, 2 or 3 wine courses and start your own wine education journey. More details can be found here and registration is via our Online Booking page. Salud!

More articles from our blog

WCB’s WSET Students of the Year 2019/20

WSET Student Experiences: ElixSea Wines

WCB provides professional certification, bespoke training packages and wine events for wine lovers from the world over.
Become a certified wine expert! Register today.

Follow

Get in touch

Get in touch via the contact form, via email, sharon@winecoursesbcn.com or give us a call +34 661 443 242

Grab a glass, get involved!

Wine Courses Barcelona © 2025