The Italian Wine Scholar study and certification program, modeled after the industry-acclaimed French Wine Scholar program (launched in 2009), celebrates the enrollment of its 1000th student since the program's launch in 2016. WSG has broken down the course into two manageable chunks: Unit 1 - Wines of Northern Italy & Unit 2: Wines of Central & Southern Italy. Each Italian wine region is covered with regards to history, geography, climate, topography, soils, grapes and appellations.

A composite score of 75% on Unit 1 and Unit 2 exams is required for candidates to earn the Italian Wine Scholar title and IWS post-nominal. The program is available both in distance-learning and classroom format. Classes are held at one of the 50+ WSG approved program providers located in 20+ countries on 5 continents.