The International Wine Education Centre (IWEC), Africa’s leading provider of the internationally-recognised Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) wine courses is celebrating as 8 graduates bask in the glory of completing their WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines qualification. The graduation ceremony took place on Thursday 23rd November at Auslese in Cape Town.
WSET Diploma Graduates 2023 – L-R back row Stefan Reinmuth, Graham Cohen, Deidre Taylor, Amy Grobbelaar, Elzbeth du Plooy. In front Olive Hamilton Russell, Jeanne-Marie de Villiers. Absent – Inika Minnie.
The WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines is the flagship qualification for WSET and is widely considered to be the entry requirement for the world’s toughest wine exams – the Master of Wine. Over the past two years students have studied modules covering viticulture and vinification, fortified wines, sparkling wines and still wines of the world. In order to better prepare graduates for leading roles within the wine industry, there is also a strong focus on wine business with not only an entire unit dedicated to production and selling of wine around the world, but also a 3,000 word independent research paper analysing key topics of importance to global wine business. Students must pass each unit, including winetasting elements, in order to achieve their Diploma in Wines, with global pass rates notoriously low.
Owner of the IWEC, Cathy Marston, says “Once again I am in awe of people who complete their WSET Level 4 Diploma. It is without a doubt one of the most taxing & demanding qualifications in the world, requiring students to sacrifice so much, to spend hours and days in study, pitting their knowledge and palates against some of the finest in the world.” She went on to say “It has been an absolute privilege and a pleasure to be able to share their WSET journey and I am so happy to see their success. Both I and my entire lecturing team wish them all the very best for a bright and bubbly future wherever that may lie.”
Deidre Taylor, winner of the Spier Award for Outstanding Achievement in D3 Tasting (Wines of the World) with Frans Smit MD of Spier. Deidre also won the WCellar Award for Outstanding Achievement in D2 (Business of Wine) and the Reciprocal Award for Outstanding Achievement in D5 (Fortified Wines).
The 2023 WSET Diploma Graduation Ceremony is presented by WCellar and would not be possible without their generous support. WCellar has further invested in wine education recently by sponsoring an online WSET Level 1 in Wines for their customers who have clearly relished the opportunity, achieving a 100% pass rate.
In addition to WCellar, prizes and wines for the graduation ceremony have been donated by leading import partners Wine Cellar, Great Domaines, Premier Cru Wines and Reciprocal Wine Company as well as Spier Wine Farm, which has hosted the IWEC’s lectures and classes over the last 3 years. The top student in each unit was rewarded for their efforts with overall honours going to Graham Cohen. Graham also won the international prize for top performance in the D1 (Wine Production) paper.
Full list of 2023 WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines Graduates via the IWEC.
- Amy Grobbelaar
- Deidre Taylor
- Elzbeth du Plooy
- Graham Cohen
- Inika Minnie
- Jeanne-Marie de Villiers
- Olive Hamilton Russell
- Stefan Reinmuth
