Amsterdam Wine Academy

WSET Approved Program Provider

WSET

WSET stands for the Wine and Spirits Education Trust. This is the largest and most trusted provider of wine education in the world, having it’s base in London. We believe that WSET at Amsterdam Wine Academy provides the best available tuition program for our students. Our wine educators are all schooled themselves through the WSET program and therefore very familiar with what WSET is expecting our students to learn.

In Holland there are two major providers of wine education of which WSET is one. The other program that many people will encounter when orienting for a wine course is the SDEN program. This is a Dutch qualification, also with four different qualification levels. At WSET the last and highest level you can do is the level 4 WSET Diploma course and at the SDEN pathway you can achieve the postnominal ‘vinoloog’ after completion of the fourth level.

Why we choose WSET

There are two main reasons that we decided to become a WSET approved program provider: Firstly we think that it is in the best interest of our students to engage in an international wine education program. The finished WSET qualifications will look good on any resume and they are internationally recognized as the golden standard. The SDEN certification will not guarantee any wine knowledge to anybody across our borders.

Also, there are significant differences in the way wines are being described during tasting sessions. At the SDEN program the focus is at determining what the wine is. The WSET focusses solely on the the analyses of aroma’s, flavours and structural compounds of the wine. This is done without asking the students to take a guess on what the wine is. For us the latter makes more sense: as soon as you think you know what the wine is you will only be looking to confirm yourself by smelling and tasting what you are expecting from that variety or region. This is the power of perception.

If this does not answers all your questions about WSET at Amsterdam Wine Academy and it’s qualifications then feel free to throw us a line at info@amsterdamwineacademy.com or by phone at +31681430165 (Wouter)