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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 2023/24
Published: 06/09/2024 Versión en castellano aquí
While we’re already launching into the first classes of 2024-25 (where did summer go?), it’s time to congratulate our Students of the Year 2023-24! These six candidates have beaten the rest to be crowned our SoY’s, and we’re so very proud of their achievements. Is it all blood, sweat and tears to get those amazing results? No! These are successes borne from enthusiasm, excitement, and passion for wine, and that’s a great thing to see. Because for us, learning about wine should be fun, engaging, and leave you hungry for more. It’s a topic about which there will always be more to learn, and therein lies a huge part of the appeal. When you love wine, learning about it will always (mostly) be a joy.
We loved meeting every one of our 200+ students in the last academic year, and, as always, our classes were filled with plenty of laughter and smiles. So, we’d like to say well done and thank you to every single one of our wonderful students. It’s been a pleasure!
But now, it’s prize-giving time for our Students of the Year! Let’s hear all about them, and their amazing prizes from our friends and partners at Bodeboca, Gramona, Coravin and Tinc Set.
WCB’S WSET Level 1 Students of the Year 2023/24: Roser Termes Serra, Víctor Turrado Rodríguez & Ignasi Elias
We have three Level 1 winners this year, all of whom scored a perfect 100%, but two of them are in fact a husband/wife team! Roser and Víctor attended the course with us in September last year, and were delighted to discover they are both Students of the Year. Roser, from Martorell, is a surgeon and explained that while she’d always enjoyed wine and its part in the culture here, she felt she had very little knowledge of it. However, together they began attending tastings and visited many wineries in the area, which helped to deepen her understanding.
“So finally, I decided to I wanted to start to ‘formalise’ my knowledge by joining the course. I so enjoyed the first level and I’m really excited to sign up for Level 2.”
Roser and Víctor received two special bottles to make their own comparative tasting: Rioja vs. Priorat! They’ll be putting Terroir al Límit Coreografía Priorat 2021 and Pujanza La Paul 2019 head-to-head. They also receive a 10% discount on their WSET Level 2 course with Wine Courses Barcelona. We can’t wait to have them back in class!
Barcelona native Ignasi joined us for our final WSET Level 1 in Spanish of 2023-24 in April and came out top of the class with another 100% score. He currently works in growth and strategy for a start-up. Will he turn his skills to the wine business in the future? We hope so! Indeed, learning about wine was a return to Ignasi’s familial roots:
“I decided to do the course as my family work in the wine business. My grandfather started a small winery in Penedès, and my father and his siblings have continued it to this day. Since I was small, I’ve had access to this world, and it’s made me see wine as one more food on the table… The experience was really positive, and Gaby did an amazing job.”
Ignasi received a bottle of Terroir al Límit Coreografía Priorat 2021, and also benefits from a 10% discount on his WSET Level 2 course with Wine Courses Barcelona. See you soon, Ignasi!
WCB’S WSET Level 2 Students of the Year 2023/24: Tetyana Barbosa & José Angel Nieto
Another dream team take the Level 2 crowns, though this time they are classmates! Tetyana and José Angel were in the same Level 2 and Level 3 courses with us this year, and came out with top marks for the Level 2 exam.
Tetyana, originally from the Ukraine, has now lived in Catalunya for many years. She began her impressive career as a university lecturer, then joined the corporate world as an HR executive, and now runs her own business in the cocktail sector here in Barcelona. She joined us for Levels 1, 2 and 3 in 2023-24, attending classes in both English and Spanish.
“I’ve always been excited about the wine world, because it’s a great way to share and to travel. I began to get more interested when I worked for a company producing glass bottles for wine. This passion has kept growing, and today my plan is to move professionally into the wine industry. But, to do that you have to learn and train yourself, and WSET courses have the best reputation for that.”
On her Level 2 and 3 teacher, she said: “Gaby has shown me what helping your students really means: great availability, no question unanswered, and discipline. The whole group made a great team. I recommend it 100%.”
José Angel, originally from Tarragona, is on a whirlwind adventure professionally, and we are delighted to have played a part. His career so far has been in the audiovisual industry on the technical side, though he decided last year to begin studying to be a sommelier, and is excited to see (though unsure) where he’ll end up next! He was encouraged by his sommelier lecturer to enrol for WSET courses to upon completion of his studies, and says they have been invaluable in increasing his confidence, knowledge and understanding of the wine world.
“When I finished my work experience for my sommelier studies and had my certification, I signed up for Level 2 with WCB. Once I’d passed it, I knew that level 3 was going to be a big challenge and a big step forward… I signed up without thinking twice after the first experience! Honestly, I found the courses addictive! I noticed once I’d finished them that there was a void after such intense weeks with so much time dedicated to studying, and the sense of progress in my knowledge and tasting skills was so evident. Gaby had a huge importance in this process, both for her amazing knowledge and for her support within and between classes. The atmosphere was relaxed and demanding at the same time, with plenty of interaction between classmates. The whole experience and what I have gained has made me very happy.”
They each win a visit to our friends at Gramona. They’ll get to experience the Universo Gramona, with a visit to the biodynamically grown vineyards and farm, a tasting at the farm itself, a full visit of the cellars, and a tasting of four aged sparkling wines with a gastronomic apéritif. We hope they enjoy their time there!
WCB’S WSET Level 3 Student of the Year 2023/24: Jordi Borràs I Panosa
We were honoured to welcome Jordi to class three times in 2023-24: starting with Level 1 in October and ending with Level 3 in June this year. 100% in his Level 1 exam, a superb Distinction at Level 2, and a double Distinction (tasting and theory exams) for Level 3 saw him crowned our WSET Level 3 Student of the Year and we can’t imagine a more deserving candidate. It’s been a total joy to get to know Jordi over this academic year, and we can’t wait to see what he does next. Jordi told us he’d always enjoyed wine, but that he was intimidated to join a class. Fortunately and fortuitously, he was gifted Level 1 by his partner last year, and so began his journey. After one day in class, he’d was surprised at how much we’d covered, and found himself eager to learn more.
“Level 3 has been an amazing experience. Everyone in the class is so knowledgeable already, with each student bringing in different backgrounds and areas of expertise. The classes are fast-paced and dynamic, and everyone is invested and having fun. It was very fulfilling to spend two months on something I love, outside of work, and to get to know all these amazing people.
Sharon is an outstanding teacher and the main reason all three courses were so enjoyable. She’s passionate about the material and is available inside and outside of class to help with any questions you have about the lessons, the industry, the job market.
Being named Student of the Year sounds ridiculous considering how much more there is to learn and how talented everyone in the class was! I do hope it will give me a bit more confidence next time I order a bottle for the table.”
Jordi wins a Coravin Timeless 6+ set, including gas capsules, screwcap attachments, aerator and travel case. As he’s in the process of moving away from Barcelona to Rotterdam, we’ve also organised a celebratory bottle to be collected from our friends at Tinc Set. We hope his prizes will keep him learning, and that a bottle of something Catalan and bubbly will stave off his homesickness. Come back and see us soon, Jordi!
A final round of applause for all our fantastic winners! We couldn’t be prouder of them, and can’t wait to see who’ll be in their places next year. Will it be you? If you’ve been inspired to jump into wine education, read all about WSET certification here, check out upcoming WSET dates on our online booking page, or get in touch with sharon@winecoursesbcn.com for more information. Sharing a passion for wine and seeing that passion grow in others is what makes our job such a joy. We say: grab a glass, get involved! See you there…
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