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THESE PROFESSIONNELLE
WINE EDUCATION IN THE WINE COUNTRY
WITH COMPARISONS TO THE WINE EDUCATION SYSTEMS IN
PUBLIC
HOSPITALITY SCHOOLS, IN AUSTRALIA, USA, UK AND SPAIN.
GILDAS L'HOSTIS
PROMOTION 2011
GILDAS L'HOSTIS
SPECIALIZED MASTER'S DEGREE IN INTERNATIONAL WINE AND
SPIRIT TRADE
PROMOTION 2011
Burgundy School of Business
WINE EDUCATION IN THE WINE COUNTRY
WITH COMPARISONS TO THE WINE EDUCATION SYSTEMS IN
PUBLIC
HOSPITALITY SCHOOLS, IN AUSTRALIA, UK, USA AND SPAIN.
MAI 2011
WINE EDUCATION IN THE WINE
COUNTRY.
Gildas L'HOSTIS
Burgundy School of Business
ABSTRACT
France's history is intimately related to wine history and as
a wine producing country, wine education has always played an important social
part. Being a «connoisseur» has often been a way to express a strong
social position and mastering a complex wine semantic, a way to prove that you
are knowledgeable, wine tasting belonging more to art than science.
Nowadays wine is at the heart of an economic issue and wine
sales in restaurants generate high revenues. It is therefore crucial to
demystify this beverage and help the consumers to better understand it. Giving
understandable clues to wine drinkers can avoid a social risk for customers
when ordering wine. Therefore, a good wine education background is an important
step for vocational students to reach the clients' aspirations and it also
helps to increase wine revenue in restaurants.
The main goal of this study was to compare the French wine
educational system (public programmes taught in hospitality schools) with some
other countries around the world (US, UK, Spain and Australia). This research
also tried to find out whether it was possible or not to derive some positive
aspects from those others countries and include them in the French system.
A quick summary of the different levels of vocational diplomas
and sommelier programs in France including wine education in their programme
has been carried out.
In France the public education system relies on a strong
curriculum also giving standards for wine education and offering a lot of
different streams for vocational education.
Study has shown that France probably offers the best type of
wine education through different vocational programmes. Students can either
undertake a sommelier syllabus or learn about wine through different
hospitality programmes. In Foreign countries such as UK and USA students rely
more on private courses for wine education and public systems rarely include
wine courses in their hospitality programmes. These private programmes achieve
great
success in their countries and are internationally recognized;
meanwhile France does not offer an internationally based syllabus.
Even if wine studies are important in France, they are not yet
sufficient and not in proportion to restaurant wine sales (except for sommelier
syllabus). Moreover students following hospitality programmes still face
difficulties in learning, as wine courses are sometimes diluted in numerous
academic courses. Compared to other countries such as Australia, curricula are
sometimes rigid and lack flexibility.
Some positive aspects have been extracted from a survey (Blois
hospitality school) given to hospitality students in 2011. Most of them are
really concerned about wine and consider that it is important to have great
core knowledge when entering the workforce.
Continuing education also has an important role to play. When
restaurant owners place emphasis on wine training, staffs are more motivated
and that also helps to enhance their career. As a matter of fact, it has been
shown that a well-trained waiter gives a good return on investment for the
restaurateur as wine sales increase at the same time.
The study has been mainly conducted through quantitative and
qualitative research: communication with professionals linked to the wine
education sector in both France and foreign countries; literature search(es);
web data.
Some poor studies have been conducted on this topic previously.
This professional thesis is only a snapshot of wine education in France and in
four different countries and does not cover all aspects of wine education. It
mainly focuses on public educational systems. Further studies need to be
carried out to assess the impact and the relevance of private wine education on
the development of sommelier jobs.
Conclusions reflect a personal analysis done on the topic with
information gathered during the research. As a result, outcomes can't be
considered as a consensus around wine education and does not necessarily
express professionals' point of views.
Key words: wine education, wine curriculum, wine syllabus,
sommelier, sommellerie, hospitality, hospitality school, waiting jobs
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