Contents
INTRODUCTION 1
1. Changes in consumption patterns 3
2. Wine tasting and the expert role 4
3. Wine in France : a quick history of sommellerie and wine
education 6
3.1. A quick sommelier history 6
3.2. Wine education and consumers 7
4. Wine training an important issue 9
To develop revenue 9
5. A snapshot of wine education through 5 different countries
(public educational system. Vocational diplomas) 12
5.1. Australia 15
5.2. USA 16
5.3. England 17
5.4. Spain 17
5.5. Focus on the French wine educational system 20
5.5.1. Sommelier courses 22
5.5.2. Non sommelier courses, hospitality 24
5.6. Outcomes 28
6. Students in hospitality school and wine consumption 33
6.1. Young people and wine consumption 33
6.2. Hospitality students and wine consumption 35
7. Importance of continuing education 40
CONCLUSION 42
LIST OF REFERENCES 44
INTRODUCTION
Wine has always played an important social role in France and
with more than two thousand years of wine history, the beverage has always been
at the core of French culture. «French wines express a whole range of
social relations that refer to a complex and dynamic set of meanings and
value» (Demoissier 2005). French people think of wine as something which
can't be separated from their own culture. Roland Barthes in
«Mythologies» wrote that «The French nation considers wine as a
possession and as a totem drink». Wine and fine dining have always been
inseparable parents, French gastronomy having been the reference in the world
for a long time.
French people have always seen wine as a crucial drink and not
only a beverage which quenches one's thirst. Wine is tightly linked to religion
and also medicine. In the nineteen century doctors considered wine as good for
health (Wolikow 2011), a consensus far from the classic debates which fuel
controversy today in France.
The wine market as wine history is not static and constantly
evolves. Development should also be the case for wine education and should meet
customers and professionals' expectations. Wine sales in restaurants have
increased constantly in the recent past and customers tend to have a better
knowledge about wine.
A lot of countries now produce outstanding wines and France has
to compete with very dynamic foreign markets, where French wines are not
necessarily considered as the best. Therefore education should be a way to
highlight a wine producing country and should be as important as the wine
culture in that country.
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 these others countries and include them in the French system.
Does France place enough emphasis on wine education? What place
do foreign countries give to wine education?
Another important aspect of this study was to find out if French
hospitality schools give enough room to wine education in France considering
the revenue generated by the beverage's sales in restaurants. Also highlighted
were the hospitality students' concerns about wine courses
Recommendations are given at the end of the study. What can be
improved in our wine education system?
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.
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