French Wine Scholar Course

I think I mentioned before that I am a certification slut. Earlier this month I attempted the Wine Location Specialist exam from the Center for Wine Origins. Today i received notification that I passed the detailed exam testing knowledge of both Champagne and Port wine production. (yea).

I just signed up for a new one.

I now am scheduled to take the French Wine Scholar exam in the middle of August. This one might be a bear. I am not sure. They have a well-done study guide that is about 250 pages of what seems, at first glance, to be pretty detailed subject matter. It covers, in 12 chapters, each of the major wine producing regions of France.

Each chapter goes into a) The History of the region, b) The location and Climate c) the Geology and Soils d) The Grapes and Wine styles, e) the Production methods, f) The Appellations and their laws ( with sections for sub appellations) g) Food pairing for these wines. There are also lots of great maps, diagrams, and pictures that help make a book like this readable.

As I said, it is a detailed piece of work. I am excited to be studying for this test, although I haven't actually started yet, because I am still prepping for WSET - Fortified Wines test in 2 weeks, but I am both excited and overwhelmed by the volume of information available.

I have allocated June and July to learn this manual. ( 1 to 2 regions a week?) I am helping myself a little by attending a 1 day review on the topics, and also using the (optional) on-line study modules that the French Wine Society provides candidates who want to take the test by self study. The test is on August 13th, so i know what i will be doing this summer.

Also, i think some of my past classes can help. I had to learn about French wines at NVC, and also in my CSW and WSET-Advanced classes. ANY wine course is, of course, going to present a section on French wines. So i don't think I will need to learn many new terms, or general information about the regions. I should be able to concentrate on just the facts that I need to take things that one level deeper that i would need to specialize in a particular region.

In the end, I am hoping I can tie all of these sources of information together ( i.e. Napa Valley College, SWE, WSET, French Wine Society, Port & Champagne Location specialist ) and come out of this adventure a possibly confused but well-educated wine professional.

Meanwhile I can't possibly describe how much fun I am having doing it. Homework consists of nightly discussions and wine tasting on the patio with my wife, trying new wines every week, and attending tastings and classes whenever I can. I would recommend it to anyone who has the time, a working spouse, a sense of adventure and a willingness to study hard and a desire to learn about wine.

Speaking of Tasting wines .... Tomorrow ( as a newly pinned Wine Location Specialist ), I am attending the Champagne Grand Wine Tasting in San Francisco as a guest of the Center for Wine Origins and the Comite' Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne). About 30 producers will be pouring their best Champagnes and I am looking forward to "tasting the stars" ( traditionally attributed to Dom Perignon when he tasted Champagne). I will write about it later this week.

Cheers !

john