Winebook: WSET certified course provider - interview with Liviu Gheorghe
The beginning of the year is a good time to make plans, including learning new things. As the wine industry is a very diverse and complex one, there is always an opportunity to learn something new.
For this reason, I spoke with Liviu Gheorghe, DipWSET and trainer at WINEBOOK, about the WSET - Wine and Spirits Education Trust certified courses he teaches in Romania at Winebook school. Below you can find Liviu's answers to my questions.
Carmina Nițescu: Hi Liviu! We are starting the year with new learning plans in the world of wine so please tell me something about Winebook, a school dedicated to wine that organizes WSET (Wine & Spirits Education Trust) Certified courses in Romania.
Liviu Gheorghe: Hi Carmina, thank you for the invitation to talk about WINEBOOK. The idea for WINEBOOK came about at the end of 2020 when, together with Teodor Breazu, with whom I was a colleague at the WSET Diploma courses in Austria, we decided to share our passion and knowledge about wine with others. We both work in high-tech fields (me in telecom and Teodor at a software company in Brașov) and we thought that a wine school would be a great opportunity to keep all the acquired knowledge “fresh”. We already had the name registered and used on a mobile wine evaluation application, so things went naturally. An authorization process followed with WSET London, a “train the trainer” program we took in London and in the fall of 2021 we became authorized providers of WSET courses in Romania. The first course took place on December 4th 2021 in Bucharest and was fully booked. At this point, over 250 students have passed through our “hands”.
Carmina: Winebook operates in two cities: Bucharest and Brașov. Please tell me something about the trainers of this school.
Liviu: At the moment only Teodor and I are trainers. If the level of activity requires it, we will definitely expand our team. As for me, I graduated with WSET Diploma in January 2020 at the Weinakademie Rust in Austria, being the first in Romania to hold the title of Weinakademiker. Well, these studies were also preceded by a “Romanian” Master’s Degree, so to speak, in viticulture and winemaking obtained in 2017 at the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest…..So, the passion for wines went hand in hand with academic study, because from my point of view, these two cannot exist separately, especially when you give opinions about wines, judge or even more importantly, when you teach. Apart from my activity as an educator, I have participated and am participating this year as a juror in several editions of national and international competitions, both in the country and abroad, of which I recall a few: VINARIUM International Wine Contest, Frankfurt International Wine Trophy, Concours International de Lyon, London Tasting Awards, Vinul.ro Excellence Awards, National Rose Wine Competition, Bag in Box Wine Competition. I am an active member of the Winelover community in Romania where in 2022 and 2024 as team captain I won 1st and 2nd place with the Winelover Romania team, in the respective editions of Marea Degustare de la Iași, you know well what a beautiful result we achieved together, as teammates in 2024. Since last year I have been making some wine shorts on Aleph News television under the title “Winecentziatul”: https://alephnews.ro/emisiune/winecentziatul/. So if you don't "catch" me on TV, you can watch them at the link mentioned above.
Teodor Breazu is a WSET Diploma Student, on the last few steps towards obtaining his diploma and an example of how he combined his passion for IT systems in his daily work with that for wine, materialized by creating web and mobile software applications dedicated to viticulture and tasting events. He organizes wine tasting events and is tempted with the import and online marketing of wine brands.
Carmina: How does Winebook differ from other WSET course providers?
Liviu: First of all, through the quality of the courses, regardless of the level. When we were specially “trained” so to speak to teach, we saw the meaning of the quality of a course and of teaching. The courses are held according to a clear schedule, only in English and the wines tasted during the course comply in every detail with the requirements of the course as required by the parent company, the accreditor. That is, if during the course we have to characterize a certain grape variety or a certain wine recommended by them as being from the “very good” or “outstanding” range, then we buy this wine and analyze it with the students, we do not discount the quality. At the same time, the students who started level 1 with us and wanted to continue with the following levels, also chose us. We have students who, although they are not in the field, but have graduated from level 1, wanted to follow the next levels, just because they liked the courses, their quality, the information and the way they acquired it, we awakened their curiosity to know more and more about this field. And I repeat, there are people who are not in the field, they do not need accreditations, they are simply amateurs, passionate about wine. We have also had students who came to us because they received a level 1 course as a gift and who were so attracted to the course that they followed the other levels, including level 3, the last one that is done in our country.
Now I hope we will have the same success in the future, with….beer courses. Yes, we are in the process of getting authorization for this type of course as well, given the growing demand for this drink.
I can say that since we started teaching we have realized that we really like to teach people, to pass on our knowledge, to be “teachers” and I think that this is transmitted very well in the courses we hold. Maybe it is our “grace” discovered later….Never say never!
Carmina: To who is each level of WSET courses aimed at, how is each course conducted and what certification is obtained at the end?
Liviu: WSET is one of the most highly regarded schools in the world that provides courses in the field of alcoholic beverages. Since 1969, it has been providing courses in the field of wines, spirits, sake and, since 2024, also for beer. WSET diplomas are internationally recognized and are one of the most coveted accreditations. For each specialty of alcoholic beverages, the courses are structured into modules/levels. Level 1 is addressed to beginners or those taking their first steps in the field. Level 2 is considered an intermediate one intended for those who want to broaden their knowledge in the respective specialty. Level 3 is for advanced and the knowledge acquired is at a detailed level. Level 4, which exists only for wines, is considered “expert” with no more than 11,000 people in the world with this certification. This last level is not yet available in Romania.
We as WINEBOOK provide courses only in physical format (with the presence in the class) considering that the tasting experience and the interaction between the student and the educator cannot be achieved in an online format. When you drink a glass of wine and sit down to a story, it feels like you are drinking it with someone face to face, not with a figure from a computer. That is, we combine academics with pleasure/passion. Courses and exams are exclusively in English. Passing the exam also involves the awarding of an internationally recognized diploma and badge corresponding to the respective level.
For this reason, I spoke with Liviu Gheorghe, DipWSET and trainer at WINEBOOK, about the WSET - Wine and Spirits Education Trust certified courses he teaches in Romania at Winebook school. Below you can find Liviu's answers to my questions.
Carmina Nițescu: Hi Liviu! We are starting the year with new learning plans in the world of wine so please tell me something about Winebook, a school dedicated to wine that organizes WSET (Wine & Spirits Education Trust) Certified courses in Romania.
Liviu Gheorghe: Hi Carmina, thank you for the invitation to talk about WINEBOOK. The idea for WINEBOOK came about at the end of 2020 when, together with Teodor Breazu, with whom I was a colleague at the WSET Diploma courses in Austria, we decided to share our passion and knowledge about wine with others. We both work in high-tech fields (me in telecom and Teodor at a software company in Brașov) and we thought that a wine school would be a great opportunity to keep all the acquired knowledge “fresh”. We already had the name registered and used on a mobile wine evaluation application, so things went naturally. An authorization process followed with WSET London, a “train the trainer” program we took in London and in the fall of 2021 we became authorized providers of WSET courses in Romania. The first course took place on December 4th 2021 in Bucharest and was fully booked. At this point, over 250 students have passed through our “hands”.
Carmina: Winebook operates in two cities: Bucharest and Brașov. Please tell me something about the trainers of this school.
Liviu: At the moment only Teodor and I are trainers. If the level of activity requires it, we will definitely expand our team. As for me, I graduated with WSET Diploma in January 2020 at the Weinakademie Rust in Austria, being the first in Romania to hold the title of Weinakademiker. Well, these studies were also preceded by a “Romanian” Master’s Degree, so to speak, in viticulture and winemaking obtained in 2017 at the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest…..So, the passion for wines went hand in hand with academic study, because from my point of view, these two cannot exist separately, especially when you give opinions about wines, judge or even more importantly, when you teach. Apart from my activity as an educator, I have participated and am participating this year as a juror in several editions of national and international competitions, both in the country and abroad, of which I recall a few: VINARIUM International Wine Contest, Frankfurt International Wine Trophy, Concours International de Lyon, London Tasting Awards, Vinul.ro Excellence Awards, National Rose Wine Competition, Bag in Box Wine Competition. I am an active member of the Winelover community in Romania where in 2022 and 2024 as team captain I won 1st and 2nd place with the Winelover Romania team, in the respective editions of Marea Degustare de la Iași, you know well what a beautiful result we achieved together, as teammates in 2024. Since last year I have been making some wine shorts on Aleph News television under the title “Winecentziatul”: https://alephnews.ro/emisiune/winecentziatul/. So if you don't "catch" me on TV, you can watch them at the link mentioned above.
Teodor Breazu is a WSET Diploma Student, on the last few steps towards obtaining his diploma and an example of how he combined his passion for IT systems in his daily work with that for wine, materialized by creating web and mobile software applications dedicated to viticulture and tasting events. He organizes wine tasting events and is tempted with the import and online marketing of wine brands.
Carmina: How does Winebook differ from other WSET course providers?
Liviu: First of all, through the quality of the courses, regardless of the level. When we were specially “trained” so to speak to teach, we saw the meaning of the quality of a course and of teaching. The courses are held according to a clear schedule, only in English and the wines tasted during the course comply in every detail with the requirements of the course as required by the parent company, the accreditor. That is, if during the course we have to characterize a certain grape variety or a certain wine recommended by them as being from the “very good” or “outstanding” range, then we buy this wine and analyze it with the students, we do not discount the quality. At the same time, the students who started level 1 with us and wanted to continue with the following levels, also chose us. We have students who, although they are not in the field, but have graduated from level 1, wanted to follow the next levels, just because they liked the courses, their quality, the information and the way they acquired it, we awakened their curiosity to know more and more about this field. And I repeat, there are people who are not in the field, they do not need accreditations, they are simply amateurs, passionate about wine. We have also had students who came to us because they received a level 1 course as a gift and who were so attracted to the course that they followed the other levels, including level 3, the last one that is done in our country.
Now I hope we will have the same success in the future, with….beer courses. Yes, we are in the process of getting authorization for this type of course as well, given the growing demand for this drink.
I can say that since we started teaching we have realized that we really like to teach people, to pass on our knowledge, to be “teachers” and I think that this is transmitted very well in the courses we hold. Maybe it is our “grace” discovered later….Never say never!
Carmina: To who is each level of WSET courses aimed at, how is each course conducted and what certification is obtained at the end?
Liviu: WSET is one of the most highly regarded schools in the world that provides courses in the field of alcoholic beverages. Since 1969, it has been providing courses in the field of wines, spirits, sake and, since 2024, also for beer. WSET diplomas are internationally recognized and are one of the most coveted accreditations. For each specialty of alcoholic beverages, the courses are structured into modules/levels. Level 1 is addressed to beginners or those taking their first steps in the field. Level 2 is considered an intermediate one intended for those who want to broaden their knowledge in the respective specialty. Level 3 is for advanced and the knowledge acquired is at a detailed level. Level 4, which exists only for wines, is considered “expert” with no more than 11,000 people in the world with this certification. This last level is not yet available in Romania.
We as WINEBOOK provide courses only in physical format (with the presence in the class) considering that the tasting experience and the interaction between the student and the educator cannot be achieved in an online format. When you drink a glass of wine and sit down to a story, it feels like you are drinking it with someone face to face, not with a figure from a computer. That is, we combine academics with pleasure/passion. Courses and exams are exclusively in English. Passing the exam also involves the awarding of an internationally recognized diploma and badge corresponding to the respective level.
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Carmina: Do you recommend these courses to those who want to work in the field or to those who are curious about wine?
Liviu: The courses are aimed at both those who want to work in the field, whether they are just starting out or want to broaden their knowledge (this is also because a WSET certification has “weight”) and those who are curious about wine. From experience so far, the proportion is somewhat equal between the 2 categories.
Carmina: I saw that you have already announced the course schedule for the first part of 2025: you announced Level 1 on March 15 in Bucharest and on April 19 in Brașov, Level 2 on March 14-16 and May 23 - 26 in Brașov, Level 3 on July 9-13 in Bucharest. Please tell me about the registration process and if there are still available places.
Liviu: For all the courses you mentioned, the registration/reservation formalities are active. We have some reservations made but there are still places available for all the courses. The effervescence of registrations occurs about 3 - 4 weeks before the date of each course. Once registered, we contact each potential student individually for the contract and payment formalities. It is a simple and fast process.
Carmina: If there is interest in organizing WSET courses in other cities besides Bucharest and Brașov, could Winebook organize one? What are the conditions for organizing a course in other cities?
Liviu: We are completely open to organizing courses in other cities on a timely basis, provided that we have a minimum number of students so that we can cover the travel costs. Also, if, for example, wineries or hospitality companies want to offer their employees courses in the WSET format, we travel and offer courses in those locations.
Also, outside of the courses, we organize tastings as “team building” for companies, private tastings, either with a specific theme, the so-called “vertical” or “horizontal” or in general, depending on requirements/tastes. We also provide consultancy in choosing wines for various events.
Carmina: Liviu, thank you for answering the questions and I hope that the users of the Winesday App will have a clearer image of the WSET courses as well as of Winebook, the wine school that you represent and that does these courses with such dedication. Let’s keep in touch in the future!
Liviu: Thank you too for giving me the opportunity to introduce myself to the users of the Winesday App and as you said… Let’s keep in touch in the future!
Carmina Nitescu
Winesday.ro & Winesday App
Liviu: The courses are aimed at both those who want to work in the field, whether they are just starting out or want to broaden their knowledge (this is also because a WSET certification has “weight”) and those who are curious about wine. From experience so far, the proportion is somewhat equal between the 2 categories.
Carmina: I saw that you have already announced the course schedule for the first part of 2025: you announced Level 1 on March 15 in Bucharest and on April 19 in Brașov, Level 2 on March 14-16 and May 23 - 26 in Brașov, Level 3 on July 9-13 in Bucharest. Please tell me about the registration process and if there are still available places.
Liviu: For all the courses you mentioned, the registration/reservation formalities are active. We have some reservations made but there are still places available for all the courses. The effervescence of registrations occurs about 3 - 4 weeks before the date of each course. Once registered, we contact each potential student individually for the contract and payment formalities. It is a simple and fast process.
Carmina: If there is interest in organizing WSET courses in other cities besides Bucharest and Brașov, could Winebook organize one? What are the conditions for organizing a course in other cities?
Liviu: We are completely open to organizing courses in other cities on a timely basis, provided that we have a minimum number of students so that we can cover the travel costs. Also, if, for example, wineries or hospitality companies want to offer their employees courses in the WSET format, we travel and offer courses in those locations.
Also, outside of the courses, we organize tastings as “team building” for companies, private tastings, either with a specific theme, the so-called “vertical” or “horizontal” or in general, depending on requirements/tastes. We also provide consultancy in choosing wines for various events.
Carmina: Liviu, thank you for answering the questions and I hope that the users of the Winesday App will have a clearer image of the WSET courses as well as of Winebook, the wine school that you represent and that does these courses with such dedication. Let’s keep in touch in the future!
Liviu: Thank you too for giving me the opportunity to introduce myself to the users of the Winesday App and as you said… Let’s keep in touch in the future!
Carmina Nitescu
Winesday.ro & Winesday App