AXA Millésimes awards MW student scholarships

Five students currently on the Master of Wine course have been granted scholarships by AXA Millésimes, with the company saying the standard was so high they could easily have awarded 10.

Château Pichon Baron

The five scholars, Jacqueline Cole-Blisson (Canada), Daphne Feng (US), Julian Kirk (UK), Regine Lee (UK) and Yoko Obara (Japan), will also be offered the opportunity to visit AXA’s key properties in Bordeaux, the Douro and Tokaj, including a stay at Pichon Baron..

The scholarship was offered to all students currently in the Stage 2 part of the MW studies and entrants were asked to write an essay on the following subject: “Communication with consumers is a key element in building a wine brand. Social media is rapidly transforming the way in which such communication can take place. Using existing examples of wineries successfully exploiting social media, and comparing with more traditional communications strategies, suggest ways in which wineries might work to build their brand using social media.”

Christian Seely, managing director of AXA Millésimes, said: “The general standard was extremely high, and it would have been easy to have ten winners, rather than just five. Our criteria were clarity of analysis; good use of examples; and quality of practical recommendations.’
“Our thanks to everyone who entered, and my congratulations to our five eventual scholars. We look forward to welcoming them at Pichon Baron in April.”

Penny Richards, the Institute’s executive director, added: “It’s not a surprise that so many students attempted to win the AXA scholarship this year. It’s known to be a wonderful opportunity for any successful candidate, and we are delighted that five MW candidates can learn so much with the different teams in France, Portugal and Hungary.”