02.03.2023
Scholarship awarded to Johanna Veldhuis from the Netherlands
Johanna Veldhuis convinces the jury
Those aiming to obtain the title of “Master of Wine” (MW), internationally recognised as the highest degree of training in the wine industry, must first pass either the Wine Academics’ Diploma or the WSET Level 4 Diploma. Johanna Veldhuis opted for the latter and, with a solid CV and letter of application, in 2022 was able to win the scholarship of €1,000 provided by the Alto Adige Wine Consortium. As part of the courses offered in Alto Adige, she will follow a training programme during which a number of the region’s wine producers will be visited over the course of one day. The symbolic awarding of the scholarship will therefore also be celebrated by the Alto Adige Wine Consortium.
Johanna Veldhuis, a native of the Netherlands, has taken a major step forward in her professional development as a wine expert. Her ambitions are not merely professional in nature: there is also a deep personal drive underlying them, as she emphasises in her application: “The more you think you know about wine, the more you realise how little you actually know”. As a salesperson in a spirits shop in her homeland, she is eager to set up her own wine department and to advise her customers competently and comprehensively about her new product range.
The Alto Adige Wine Consortium has been working together for many years with the Rust Wine Academy, which organises the training programme for the WSET Level 4 Diploma. Since 2008, a series of courses leading to the Schweizer Weinakademiker Diploma (Swiss Wine Academics’ Diploma) have been held at Novacella Abbey, which since 2019 has also been a WSET Level 4 course component. As part of the training, scholarships are awarded by various partners of the Rust Wine Academy. In addition to Alto Adige, organisations such as Austria Wine and Burgenland Wine also grant annual scholarships to trainees.
Information about WSET
The Austrian Wine Academy works closely with the world’s largest wine education institution, the London-based Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET), and now also offers the WSET Level 4 Diploma in English. Most of the courses take place at the campus in the Austrian town of Rust. Leading wine organisations from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Alto Adige support the training courses with study trips to their winegrowing regions.
Johanna Veldhuis, a native of the Netherlands, has taken a major step forward in her professional development as a wine expert. Her ambitions are not merely professional in nature: there is also a deep personal drive underlying them, as she emphasises in her application: “The more you think you know about wine, the more you realise how little you actually know”. As a salesperson in a spirits shop in her homeland, she is eager to set up her own wine department and to advise her customers competently and comprehensively about her new product range.
The Alto Adige Wine Consortium has been working together for many years with the Rust Wine Academy, which organises the training programme for the WSET Level 4 Diploma. Since 2008, a series of courses leading to the Schweizer Weinakademiker Diploma (Swiss Wine Academics’ Diploma) have been held at Novacella Abbey, which since 2019 has also been a WSET Level 4 course component. As part of the training, scholarships are awarded by various partners of the Rust Wine Academy. In addition to Alto Adige, organisations such as Austria Wine and Burgenland Wine also grant annual scholarships to trainees.
Information about WSET
The Austrian Wine Academy works closely with the world’s largest wine education institution, the London-based Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET), and now also offers the WSET Level 4 Diploma in English. Most of the courses take place at the campus in the Austrian town of Rust. Leading wine organisations from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Alto Adige support the training courses with study trips to their winegrowing regions.
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