Wine quality is a somewhat tenuous topic. In many cases it comes off as just being subjective. "I like this wine ... therefore it is a good/excellent/great wine".
Some people think that aged wines mean quality. A 40 year old zinfandel MUST be better than a 10 year old one ... right ? Some go by price, figuring that the more expensive wines must be better. Market forces can be an indicator, but sometimes fads or perceived scarcity or speculation can turn an average wine into a very expensive one. Napa Valley "Cult" wines and often first growth Bordeaux rely on high prices to help turn good wines into "great" wines.
Point systems also have their place in judging quality if they have an objective basis ( more about this in a minute) and are not just based on ... "well I gave that wine 88 points and I like this one better so it must be a 92". Point systems that were based on specific attributes such as the UC Davis system, both (vaguely) described a wine AND gave an idea of its quality. You got an idea of how close the wine matched its standard in terms of Color, Aromas, Tastes, Sweetness, Body, Acidity, Length and overall "Quality". You could also get an idea, if you saw the point breakdown, where the wine excelled or was deficient in relation to the judge's internal standard.
The ideas around quality presented below are based from my experiences of being in the WSET ( Wine and Spirits Educational Trust ) system, but I think are applicable to any formal or informal wine evaluation.
Often, but not always, on a WSET tasting exam, Quality is one of the topics by which we are to evaluate a wine. A coherent evaluation of the quality of a wine can be worth as much as 10% on our tasting exams. Newer candidates often go by their opinion of how much they like a wine as being a measure of its quality. Sometimes this is because they don't understand that there is a more objective and documented way to judge this wine.
As part of the WSET "Systematic Approach to Tasting" we are expected to first describe a wine in terms of its Intensity of Colors, Aromas and Flavors. We list all of the aromas and flavors that we perceive. We describe the Sweetness, Acidity, Tannin and Alcohol levels to give an overall idea of a wines Balance. We evaluate the length of the finish of the wine. We may guess the grape and the region based on specific aroma/flavor markers or the lack of them. Then what happens is that a student is asked to evaluate the quality of the wine and they don't realize that they have already done all the work necessary to describe quality, and they mistakenly fall back on "It tasted good/really good, it was fruit-forward and I liked it, so quality was ...."
Quality can be more objective, should be more objective and is expected to be more objective, integrated and coherent on a WSET tasting sheet. Here is one way, and I think the best way, to do this. I use the Acronym "CIBLIT". The letters stand for Complexity, Intensity, Balance, Length, Integration, Typicity.
Complexity: We have already made a judgement on this. We perceived and described aromas and flavors. Were they simple (fruit and oak) or were there layers and interesting notes that surprised us. How many descriptors did we use ? Were they all similar (red berry) or was there more going on.
Intensity: We have already evaluated the intensity of Aromas and Flavors as part of our description. Bring these opinions over into the Quality evaluation
Balance: Again, this has already been spoken to. We described the Acidity, Sweetness, Tannin, and Alcohol. Did any one of them stand out so much as to hinder the enjoyment of this wine? If not, it was in balance.
Length: We indicated whether the finish was short, medium or long.
Integration: Similar to Balance but on a larger scale. Whereas balance is specific to the taste components of Sweetness, Acidity, Tannin (dryness, bitterness), and Alcohol, Integration looks more at how the whole wine holds together. It is like bonus points for having the above 4 topics at optimal levels. For example too much flavor intensity (for example the pure, intense, raisin flavor of a well made Pedro Ximenez) can rate high on intensity, but loose a point on integration because the flavor itself is distracting.
Typicity: While a Chardonnay for example is considered a winemaker's wine because the grape is so flexible to support many particular styles, nevertheless one SHOULD be able to recognize it as a Chardonnay. It doesn't need a lot of (or any) oak or malolactic butteriness to be a Chardonnay, but one should be able to recognize some citrus and apple flavors. And one should have already described them in the notes above.
If you can't get any recognizable flavors from the wine, it has probably also already failed the Intensity test. If, however, one gets predominantly Stemmy, Grassy flavors for a Chardonnay, no matter how powerful, it also fails the Typicity test.
This is why I say that Quality should be an easy answer, and not a guess or simply an opinion. A coherent tasting note has already provided all the decision points for this attribute. One just needs to pull them together and issue their opinion!
It sometimes drives me crazy to hear people describe a faultless wine with a dozen flavors, medium+ length and describe it only as good. Or vice versa - a fruity wine and has a ton of oak that is the only element that carries over to the finish, and gets described as great, (because the fruit and oak are in your face intense, but there is no complexity).
The Price of a wine ( in an informed and reasonable market ) should reflect the Quality of the wine, but generally also accounts for exceptional production costs such as hand harvesting on mountainsides or having to go through the vineyard several times to pick only the botrytized grapes. If asked on a WSET quiz, one should be able to state a price range for a particular wine based on Quality, Market Demand, and Production costs. You may not be correct, but telling a coherent story can sway the evaluator to giving you a passing score on the exam.
So ... thus I contend that Quality and to an extent Price are objective factors that can be deduced from attributes already described on a tasting sheet. I think this is the way the Systematic Approach is supposed to work. It just doesn't always get taught that way.
john
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
2012 - Current Plans
It is embarrassing not to have written since mid-November but not much has happened in my wine world and in family life I had grandson's birthday, a large Thanksgiving party, Christmas, etc. So here I am in early January and here is what's happening.
I have been helping and observing at a WSET Advanced class in western San Francisco (1.5 hour commute each way) since early November. The 16 week course continues through February and I am using it to keep current on Wines of the World (WSET-Unit 3) type information and to further calibrate my palate. For example, a constant theme that I hear Adam Chase make is that "One needs to prove that a white wine is not 'youthful. and a red wine is not 'developing'.". Now maybe this is focused mainly at advanced level students but probably holds for wine descriptions in general.
I have only tried 2 bottles of aged Savennieres Chenin blanc in my life and they have both been corked.
There is a tasting group in eastern San Francisco (1 hr commute each way ) that i attended 1 tasting with and would like to attend more but I just need to find something closer. i think I just need to get the word out and wait and a group can grow here in the East Bay. At least i hope so.
As part of my AWS - Wine Judge Certification training, I need to act in some capacity in 2 wine competitions each year. Fortunately there are a fair number here in Northern California, I just have to work to get my name on a list of associate / trainee / non-scoring judges for all the events that I can think of and see how things fall into place. So I have started making a pest of myself with all the competitions and coordinators that I can find.
So here are my 2012 plans at least for the first 6 months:
1) I think I passed my WSET-Unit 6 fortified wines exam. So now I am starting Unit 4 - Spirits / hard liquor. Exam is in June. The text book is David Brooms "Distilling Knowledge" which is actually a pretty good read.
2) I am quite sure I passed my WSET Unit-1 Research Work Paper. I did good research and am reasonably articulate when I put my mind to it. So in mid-February I will start research for the closed book Case Study exam which means writing another paper in formal exam conditions. This happens in March.
3) I am presenting a class on Fortified Wines to my AWS Chapter. Condensing 6 months of research and tasting into a 2 hour powerpoint session. Doesn't seem right. But on the other hand it is my rookie attempt at becoming a "wine educator". I bought a projector (really nice Epson EX3210 on sale at Staples. Saved $100) and built up a slide deck on Fortifieds that I assume I will use and revise over time.
4) I am still working on a way to start teaching "French Wine Scholar". It is a good course and I need to pull the logistics together to make this work.
5) In August the Society of Wine Educators (SWE) is holding their National Conference near San Jose California. Wahoo ! Only about an hour away. Don't need to fly anywhere. I will attempt my Certified Wine Educator exam at that time, but really need to focus on Italian wines for next 6 months to get solid on them. Feel OK about France, but Italy is in ways much more complex or at least unknown to me.
6) May attempt SWE - Certified Specialist in Spirits exam since I am already studying spirits for WSET and figure that the two tests can't be that far apart. Problem is that it is probably another $300-$400 cost to take the test and since I am living on savings and retirement pension and still too young for Social Security, I have to at least consider where the money is going. Wifey beginning to make remarks about me getting another job because I complain of how poor we are when stock market declines.
7) I met with California Alcohol Beverage Control to see what it takes to be legal to serve wine whilst running a wine school. That deserves a whole blog in its own right. Stay tuned.
8) While I was back in New York for the AWS conference and WJCP exam, it became VERY obvious to me that there were many Native North American and French Hybrid wines that I had never tasted or heard of. I know I will need to get more familiar with them if i hope to pass my Year 2 / 3 WJCP exams. I spent a day traveling the Finger Lakes region of New York to taste as many as I could. I need to find more and to keep this up.
All this on top of tasting Whisk(e)ys, gins, tequilas, rums, vodkas, etc for Unit 4 and Italian wines for CWE exam.
So this is where my efforts and future blogs will be focused. I hope they are interesting.
john
I have been helping and observing at a WSET Advanced class in western San Francisco (1.5 hour commute each way) since early November. The 16 week course continues through February and I am using it to keep current on Wines of the World (WSET-Unit 3) type information and to further calibrate my palate. For example, a constant theme that I hear Adam Chase make is that "One needs to prove that a white wine is not 'youthful. and a red wine is not 'developing'.". Now maybe this is focused mainly at advanced level students but probably holds for wine descriptions in general.
I have only tried 2 bottles of aged Savennieres Chenin blanc in my life and they have both been corked.
There is a tasting group in eastern San Francisco (1 hr commute each way ) that i attended 1 tasting with and would like to attend more but I just need to find something closer. i think I just need to get the word out and wait and a group can grow here in the East Bay. At least i hope so.
As part of my AWS - Wine Judge Certification training, I need to act in some capacity in 2 wine competitions each year. Fortunately there are a fair number here in Northern California, I just have to work to get my name on a list of associate / trainee / non-scoring judges for all the events that I can think of and see how things fall into place. So I have started making a pest of myself with all the competitions and coordinators that I can find.
So here are my 2012 plans at least for the first 6 months:
1) I think I passed my WSET-Unit 6 fortified wines exam. So now I am starting Unit 4 - Spirits / hard liquor. Exam is in June. The text book is David Brooms "Distilling Knowledge" which is actually a pretty good read.
2) I am quite sure I passed my WSET Unit-1 Research Work Paper. I did good research and am reasonably articulate when I put my mind to it. So in mid-February I will start research for the closed book Case Study exam which means writing another paper in formal exam conditions. This happens in March.
3) I am presenting a class on Fortified Wines to my AWS Chapter. Condensing 6 months of research and tasting into a 2 hour powerpoint session. Doesn't seem right. But on the other hand it is my rookie attempt at becoming a "wine educator". I bought a projector (really nice Epson EX3210 on sale at Staples. Saved $100) and built up a slide deck on Fortifieds that I assume I will use and revise over time.
4) I am still working on a way to start teaching "French Wine Scholar". It is a good course and I need to pull the logistics together to make this work.
5) In August the Society of Wine Educators (SWE) is holding their National Conference near San Jose California. Wahoo ! Only about an hour away. Don't need to fly anywhere. I will attempt my Certified Wine Educator exam at that time, but really need to focus on Italian wines for next 6 months to get solid on them. Feel OK about France, but Italy is in ways much more complex or at least unknown to me.
6) May attempt SWE - Certified Specialist in Spirits exam since I am already studying spirits for WSET and figure that the two tests can't be that far apart. Problem is that it is probably another $300-$400 cost to take the test and since I am living on savings and retirement pension and still too young for Social Security, I have to at least consider where the money is going. Wifey beginning to make remarks about me getting another job because I complain of how poor we are when stock market declines.
7) I met with California Alcohol Beverage Control to see what it takes to be legal to serve wine whilst running a wine school. That deserves a whole blog in its own right. Stay tuned.
8) While I was back in New York for the AWS conference and WJCP exam, it became VERY obvious to me that there were many Native North American and French Hybrid wines that I had never tasted or heard of. I know I will need to get more familiar with them if i hope to pass my Year 2 / 3 WJCP exams. I spent a day traveling the Finger Lakes region of New York to taste as many as I could. I need to find more and to keep this up.
All this on top of tasting Whisk(e)ys, gins, tequilas, rums, vodkas, etc for Unit 4 and Italian wines for CWE exam.
So this is where my efforts and future blogs will be focused. I hope they are interesting.
john
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Wine Judging Certification - Year 1 exam.
Last week we had our American Wine Society - Year 1 - Wine judge Certification class and exam.
The exam is only held at the National Conference and this year it was in Rochester New York. I flew back to attend the conference and to take the exam.
The exam is in 3 parts. One part is theory and we had a series of books and papersthat were required reading in preparation for the exam. Most of the topics were basic sensory analysis with some additional emphasis on Wine faults.
I wouldn't guarantee it, but I think one could be successful just reading Alan Young's book "Making Sense of Wine" and also Marian Baldy's "University Wine Course". these books also give you wine tasting exercises to perform such as judging between 3 wines of various sweetness. They give you the formulae and ingredients to create valid tasting samples.
The 2nd part is, for most students, the hardest, and that is: you are given 10 wines. In our case 6 had aroma faults and 4 flavor faults. There were about 25 possibilities of what could be the cause of the fault. We had to assign the correct fault to each of the glasses. I had tested and tasted and practiced this part of the exam several times over the summer and fall, and we also reviewed it again on test day, but when you have to pull out the correct aroma from a full red wine during test conditions, it gets a lot trickier.
This is something I will have to practice and practice again and again.
The final part of the exam is to judge 4 wines and write up your tasting notes and assign a score to the wine.
The wines were 1) A strawberry fruit wine, 2) A white hybrid 3) A chambourcin (native american red grape) 4) a red vinifera.
I had never had a Chambourcin before and I though it somewhat harsh and vegetal. I thought they must have adulterated it, and I described what I tasted and because I knew they wanted us to avoid scoring everything mid-range ( i.e. 14-16 points : a 'good' wine), I gave this a 12.5 out of 20. A commercially acceptable but nothing special wine. The judges who had tasted Chambourcin before, thought this a very good example of one and graded it 17 out of 20 points, though I did note that at least one also thought it vegetal.
The rest of the wines I came close on, and overall I was good enough to get a pass.
What a relief ! I wasn't sure of the results. I don't think any of us were and I wouldn't have been surprised if I hadn't passed and still had 2 more days of a conference to get through. I was beginning to think that maybe they should tell us the results at the end of the conference so at least we could all have a good time before we got the news.
After getting through the first year, I now have a much better idea of what to expect and I can plan and practice for it. Several of my class mates had fellow AWS members who had been through the class before and were able to give them some good advice. My recommendation is that if you do intend to attempt the program, that you search out anybody who has taken it before and talk to them about what to expect.
Having found out Friday morning that I had passed the exam, the next two days of the Conference were a real gas. I will write on it later.
john
The exam is only held at the National Conference and this year it was in Rochester New York. I flew back to attend the conference and to take the exam.
The exam is in 3 parts. One part is theory and we had a series of books and papersthat were required reading in preparation for the exam. Most of the topics were basic sensory analysis with some additional emphasis on Wine faults.
I wouldn't guarantee it, but I think one could be successful just reading Alan Young's book "Making Sense of Wine" and also Marian Baldy's "University Wine Course". these books also give you wine tasting exercises to perform such as judging between 3 wines of various sweetness. They give you the formulae and ingredients to create valid tasting samples.
The 2nd part is, for most students, the hardest, and that is: you are given 10 wines. In our case 6 had aroma faults and 4 flavor faults. There were about 25 possibilities of what could be the cause of the fault. We had to assign the correct fault to each of the glasses. I had tested and tasted and practiced this part of the exam several times over the summer and fall, and we also reviewed it again on test day, but when you have to pull out the correct aroma from a full red wine during test conditions, it gets a lot trickier.
This is something I will have to practice and practice again and again.
The final part of the exam is to judge 4 wines and write up your tasting notes and assign a score to the wine.
The wines were 1) A strawberry fruit wine, 2) A white hybrid 3) A chambourcin (native american red grape) 4) a red vinifera.
I had never had a Chambourcin before and I though it somewhat harsh and vegetal. I thought they must have adulterated it, and I described what I tasted and because I knew they wanted us to avoid scoring everything mid-range ( i.e. 14-16 points : a 'good' wine), I gave this a 12.5 out of 20. A commercially acceptable but nothing special wine. The judges who had tasted Chambourcin before, thought this a very good example of one and graded it 17 out of 20 points, though I did note that at least one also thought it vegetal.
The rest of the wines I came close on, and overall I was good enough to get a pass.
What a relief ! I wasn't sure of the results. I don't think any of us were and I wouldn't have been surprised if I hadn't passed and still had 2 more days of a conference to get through. I was beginning to think that maybe they should tell us the results at the end of the conference so at least we could all have a good time before we got the news.
After getting through the first year, I now have a much better idea of what to expect and I can plan and practice for it. Several of my class mates had fellow AWS members who had been through the class before and were able to give them some good advice. My recommendation is that if you do intend to attempt the program, that you search out anybody who has taken it before and talk to them about what to expect.
Having found out Friday morning that I had passed the exam, the next two days of the Conference were a real gas. I will write on it later.
john
WSET Unit 6 - 2nd attempt
I had my WSET Unit 6 exam on Nov 3rd. I think I passed, but it could still be close.
I was fortunate in that this time, my hands, while tired and cramping before I finished writing nevertheless didn't start shaking as they did the first time. Of course I think the caffeine had something to play during that affair.
I have learned a couple of things.
. If, like me, you spend a lot of time on the computer, don't hand-write letters or papers that much, then you need to practice your hand-writing. Hand write out all the topics you might encounter. Build up your hand writing skills.
. I usually write in pen. Last time I took this test, I also used a pen and when I made mistakes or wanted to add in a few words, it got very sloppy. I had a lot of cross outs. But I hate pencils, with their hexagram sides and points that are made to grip the pencil but just dig into my finger. I also hate how the point wears down and affects my writing style. 2 months ago I went to the store and bought 6 types of mechanical pencil. I tried all of them and found the one that felt best in my hand. Even better, is that it erases easily, and the point is always sharp and fresh. I will only use these from now on.
. Read the small print at the top of your tasting page: It could say "These wines are all from the same region or country". This saved me when I thought I smelled acetaldehyde and was thinking Sherry when the wine was really an aged Sercial. I knew my 2nd wines was a Madeira and therefore went back to re-look at the first wine and re-evaluated it correctly. The examiners review notes mention time and again that people lose points because they fail to read / apply this hint.
. Be aware of sub-topics within a larger one. I have seen this twice now. On this exam there was a question about VOS, and VORS Sherry. There is no specific topic in the Oxford Companion about this. It is buried deep down in the topic on Sherry itself. If you just look at the larger topic, (Sherry) you can miss some detail that is actually large enough to be a topic on its own.
. Don't forget your Who, What, When, Where, Why, and Hows. One question on my test was "Write a paragraph on Languedoc". While keeping to the context of Fortified Wines, you still have to put down as much as you can about the topic. So first tell what and where it is. Talk about the climate. Talk about the terrain.
I mentioned 3 of the 4 VDN DOCs that I could remember. I mentioned that Arnaldus de Villenova (not part of the syllabus, but interesting nevertheless) invented the mutage process at the University of Montpelier in Languedoc. Your job is to tie together as many facts as you can as long as you stay on topic.
. Regarding tasting. I used to follow the WSET - SAT in order of items on the taste part. i.e. I would check sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body, intensity, flavors, length. I found myself having to take several sips to pull together my thoughts on each of these items. This took a lot of time. After I took a review tasting session with (MW Candidate) Maureen Downey, she pointed out that I really needed to speed this up. AND she said that I should figure out an order that worked for me. Now I just do two sips. Sweetness, body, (slurp) alcohol. (Spit) Acidity and Tannin develop slower and I judge these after spitting. (Next sip.) Intensity, flavors, and length. Also some flavors might develop during the first sip, But the mouth is now prepared to taste.
. Your mouth does wake up. Maureen mentioned that some of the MW students wash their mouths with Champagne before entering the testing room. It wakes the mouth up and saves a couple of minutes during the tasting session.
. Smell all your wines before tasting any of them. One may be very high alcohol, for example, that you really should taste last. Do your tasting in an order that works for you. The wines are not necessarily set out in a good tasting order. Just don't mix up your notes.
. My current goal is to write a complete tasting note in7-8 minutes or less. On a normal WSET exam that will leave 35-40 minutes to write the 3 topic questions that they will give us. By a complete note, I mean one with all the options. Normally 20 points are given for the basic notes and 5 points for the optional areas of : Variety, Quality, Price, Region, Country. You never know what combination of these last sections they will give you to make up the 5 points. So always practice by writing them all.
If anybody reads this blog and wants my notes, I have 36 pages of notes that I took from the Oxford Companion and various other sources and compiled them all in one place to make studying them easier.
Send me an e-mail and I will send you my notes.
john
I was fortunate in that this time, my hands, while tired and cramping before I finished writing nevertheless didn't start shaking as they did the first time. Of course I think the caffeine had something to play during that affair.
I have learned a couple of things.
. If, like me, you spend a lot of time on the computer, don't hand-write letters or papers that much, then you need to practice your hand-writing. Hand write out all the topics you might encounter. Build up your hand writing skills.
. I usually write in pen. Last time I took this test, I also used a pen and when I made mistakes or wanted to add in a few words, it got very sloppy. I had a lot of cross outs. But I hate pencils, with their hexagram sides and points that are made to grip the pencil but just dig into my finger. I also hate how the point wears down and affects my writing style. 2 months ago I went to the store and bought 6 types of mechanical pencil. I tried all of them and found the one that felt best in my hand. Even better, is that it erases easily, and the point is always sharp and fresh. I will only use these from now on.
. Read the small print at the top of your tasting page: It could say "These wines are all from the same region or country". This saved me when I thought I smelled acetaldehyde and was thinking Sherry when the wine was really an aged Sercial. I knew my 2nd wines was a Madeira and therefore went back to re-look at the first wine and re-evaluated it correctly. The examiners review notes mention time and again that people lose points because they fail to read / apply this hint.
. Be aware of sub-topics within a larger one. I have seen this twice now. On this exam there was a question about VOS, and VORS Sherry. There is no specific topic in the Oxford Companion about this. It is buried deep down in the topic on Sherry itself. If you just look at the larger topic, (Sherry) you can miss some detail that is actually large enough to be a topic on its own.
. Don't forget your Who, What, When, Where, Why, and Hows. One question on my test was "Write a paragraph on Languedoc". While keeping to the context of Fortified Wines, you still have to put down as much as you can about the topic. So first tell what and where it is. Talk about the climate. Talk about the terrain.
I mentioned 3 of the 4 VDN DOCs that I could remember. I mentioned that Arnaldus de Villenova (not part of the syllabus, but interesting nevertheless) invented the mutage process at the University of Montpelier in Languedoc. Your job is to tie together as many facts as you can as long as you stay on topic.
. Regarding tasting. I used to follow the WSET - SAT in order of items on the taste part. i.e. I would check sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body, intensity, flavors, length. I found myself having to take several sips to pull together my thoughts on each of these items. This took a lot of time. After I took a review tasting session with (MW Candidate) Maureen Downey, she pointed out that I really needed to speed this up. AND she said that I should figure out an order that worked for me. Now I just do two sips. Sweetness, body, (slurp) alcohol. (Spit) Acidity and Tannin develop slower and I judge these after spitting. (Next sip.) Intensity, flavors, and length. Also some flavors might develop during the first sip, But the mouth is now prepared to taste.
. Your mouth does wake up. Maureen mentioned that some of the MW students wash their mouths with Champagne before entering the testing room. It wakes the mouth up and saves a couple of minutes during the tasting session.
. Smell all your wines before tasting any of them. One may be very high alcohol, for example, that you really should taste last. Do your tasting in an order that works for you. The wines are not necessarily set out in a good tasting order. Just don't mix up your notes.
. My current goal is to write a complete tasting note in7-8 minutes or less. On a normal WSET exam that will leave 35-40 minutes to write the 3 topic questions that they will give us. By a complete note, I mean one with all the options. Normally 20 points are given for the basic notes and 5 points for the optional areas of : Variety, Quality, Price, Region, Country. You never know what combination of these last sections they will give you to make up the 5 points. So always practice by writing them all.
If anybody reads this blog and wants my notes, I have 36 pages of notes that I took from the Oxford Companion and various other sources and compiled them all in one place to make studying them easier.
Send me an e-mail and I will send you my notes.
john
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Simply Italian US Tour 2011
I feel like I am becoming "somebody".
Through the fortunes of having friends in the business, living near a key winemaking area, and close to a cosmopolitan and internationally famous city (San Francisco) and probably specifically by volunteering at every wine event that I can, my name is starting to get "out there" and I am actually starting to get invitations to attend events instead of having to volunteer at them to get in the door.
This time I got an invitation through the Society of Wine Educators (SWE) (http://www.societyofwineeducators.org)
an organization in which I am a member and through which I got my Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) certification and where I intend to attempt the Certified Wine Educator next August 2012. However, I also have to thank Balzac Communications who organized the event and Paul Wagner, its president who is a board member of SWE and probably opened up the tasting to their members.
There are 20 wine regions in Italy, many more DOC and DOCG appellations, and hundreds if not thousands of grapes that have been growing there for thousands of years. Learning Italian wines is intimidating and a scary but extraordinarily rewarding experience. There are so many grapes, regions, and styles that you can always find something that you will like. And then you will be surprised by yet another wine after that.
The Simply Italian Tour had about 15 regions and 60 producers represented. It was busy but not overly crowded which is a real pleasure at a wine tasting. The room was divided a couple of different ways. On one wall were the sparkling wines, Franciacorta and Prosessco. One one wall, the Friuli producers were pouring.
In the center of the room were the Premium Brands from the Institute of Fine Italian Wines. Another wall focused on wines from the Veneto. Finally scattered throughout were single wineries representing many of the other regions.
Unlike some other events, there was not a huge crowd just around the premium brands. These attendees were spread throughout the room and were seriously interested in considering all the wines presented. My kind of crowd.
It is always hard to take notes in a walk around tasting like this. Pen in one hand, tasting notes in the other and glass in your third hand, so I don't have a lot of great notes, (I do have to find a system) but here is what I pulled from the notes that I did take.
First of all my primary goal is to taste grapes that I know nothing about. (And of course, an Italian Wine Tasting is a remarkable place to do this.) I am likely to pass up the world's most popular and most expensive Super-Tuscan to learn about Sagratino, the native grape of Umbria. I am probably not going to be found in front of a table of Barolos (The wine of kings and the king of wines) looking for the best one, but will be off in the corner trying a Lagrein so that I can learn that grape and trying to lock it in my memory.
So, having said that, here are some wines I liked:
There are so many examples of both classic, rare, and innovative wine-making that you will always find something interesting.
john
Through the fortunes of having friends in the business, living near a key winemaking area, and close to a cosmopolitan and internationally famous city (San Francisco) and probably specifically by volunteering at every wine event that I can, my name is starting to get "out there" and I am actually starting to get invitations to attend events instead of having to volunteer at them to get in the door.
This time I got an invitation through the Society of Wine Educators (SWE) (http://www.societyofwineeducators.org)
an organization in which I am a member and through which I got my Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) certification and where I intend to attempt the Certified Wine Educator next August 2012. However, I also have to thank Balzac Communications who organized the event and Paul Wagner, its president who is a board member of SWE and probably opened up the tasting to their members.
There are 20 wine regions in Italy, many more DOC and DOCG appellations, and hundreds if not thousands of grapes that have been growing there for thousands of years. Learning Italian wines is intimidating and a scary but extraordinarily rewarding experience. There are so many grapes, regions, and styles that you can always find something that you will like. And then you will be surprised by yet another wine after that.
The Simply Italian Tour had about 15 regions and 60 producers represented. It was busy but not overly crowded which is a real pleasure at a wine tasting. The room was divided a couple of different ways. On one wall were the sparkling wines, Franciacorta and Prosessco. One one wall, the Friuli producers were pouring.
In the center of the room were the Premium Brands from the Institute of Fine Italian Wines. Another wall focused on wines from the Veneto. Finally scattered throughout were single wineries representing many of the other regions.
Unlike some other events, there was not a huge crowd just around the premium brands. These attendees were spread throughout the room and were seriously interested in considering all the wines presented. My kind of crowd.
It is always hard to take notes in a walk around tasting like this. Pen in one hand, tasting notes in the other and glass in your third hand, so I don't have a lot of great notes, (I do have to find a system) but here is what I pulled from the notes that I did take.
First of all my primary goal is to taste grapes that I know nothing about. (And of course, an Italian Wine Tasting is a remarkable place to do this.) I am likely to pass up the world's most popular and most expensive Super-Tuscan to learn about Sagratino, the native grape of Umbria. I am probably not going to be found in front of a table of Barolos (The wine of kings and the king of wines) looking for the best one, but will be off in the corner trying a Lagrein so that I can learn that grape and trying to lock it in my memory.
So, having said that, here are some wines I liked:
- I tried several of the Franciacortas. To me, these sparkling wines don't have the same acidity as those of Champagne. A couple were off dry and the vintage ones didn't have as much of a over-ripe apple to them as you sometimes get in France. They seemed slightly fresher. Of note was the Rose Millesimato (2007) from Le Marchesine. This winery also won Gambero Rosso's "Sparkling Wine of the Year" for one of their other sparkling wines.
- Masi Agricola : 2008 Campofiorin (flower fields) : Rosso del Veronese. Very smooth blend 70% Corvino. Just an overall nice wine.
- Pio Cesare: 2006 Barolo Ornato. This wine had a lot of barrel spice. Clove was up front followed by cinnamon. This wine was still strongly tannic but the aromas were complex and inviting. Probably awesome in another couple years.
- Fraccaroli "Deinque" ND ( non vintage) Sparkling Malvasia. This was a full body rich spumannte style sparkler. I have not had many Malvasias before (except as Madeira Malmsey) and this one was a real treat.
- Benedetti 2005 "Croce del Gal" Amarone della Valpolicella. Very rich, very full. Intense cherry aromas, Some tannin. Maybe my favorite of the day for red wines.
- Beato Bartolomeo de Breganze: 2010 Prosecco extra dry. Very fruity, very ripe, but not overripe apples. Minimal mouse (is that prosecco style?). I marked several stars next to this one.
There are so many examples of both classic, rare, and innovative wine-making that you will always find something interesting.
john
Friday, November 18, 2011
Collio Wine Tasting
On October 26th I was privileged to pour wines for one of the wine producers of Collio Italy. The event was organized by my good friends at Balzac Communications and held in the showroom of the San Francisco Vespa dealer.
This was a small and intimate event but one that had a number of really nice wines and a couple of real surprises.
First of all: for those that are unfamiliar wit it, Collio is a DOC wine region in North east Italy - right next to the border of Slovania. I am told that the designated region actually extends across the border. Colli are hills and this region got its name for its rolling terrain. They are specially noted for their floral white wines. According to J. Robinson's Oxford Companion to Wine, Collio, in the 1970s, was the region that convinced Italians that they actually could make good white wines.
Pinot grigio, Pinot blanc, Friulano (aka Tokai, aka Sauvigonasse), Sauvignon (blanc and gris), and Ribolla Gialla are the key grapes. The first thing that I noticed was that one of my bottles was marked just "Sauvignon". Never sure when dealing with Italian grapes, I checked with the sponsors to make sure this was the same Sauvignon blanc that we all have come to know and love. Just this last week (mid November) I learned that European wine laws allowed the vintners to use the names of 7 varieties on their labels instead of just the area. "Sauvignon" is the generic for blends of Sauvignon bland and Sauvignon gris, though the wine could be 100% of either.
The key wine of Collio is (in my mind at least) Friulano. This is a light, dry, floral white wine, somewhat high in acidity, but one that makes a clean refreshing wine. Pinot grigio and Sauvignon now have more acreage than Friulano but this is the grape that made Collio famous.
As I was pouring and during a break in the traffic, one of my colleagues Connie called me over to taste one of her wines. "If you close your eyes and taste this, you will swear it is a red wine" was her challenge. I did close my eyes, I did taste, and I did swear. Ribolla gialla was the grape. The winemaker had fermented it on its skins, it had tannins, it had body, and if I had not not known better I would thought it was red. But it wasn't. Normally it is made light and delicate, but this winemaker gave it real character. And it worked.
Ribolla has a story. It was introduced into the Collio / Friuli region during the 13th century. It became so popular that the Italian poet Boccaccio specifically called out Ribolla as one of the main traits and causes of the deadly sin of Gluttony.
I didn't taste a bad wine that night. And I became a fan of Collio wines.
john
This was a small and intimate event but one that had a number of really nice wines and a couple of real surprises.
First of all: for those that are unfamiliar wit it, Collio is a DOC wine region in North east Italy - right next to the border of Slovania. I am told that the designated region actually extends across the border. Colli are hills and this region got its name for its rolling terrain. They are specially noted for their floral white wines. According to J. Robinson's Oxford Companion to Wine, Collio, in the 1970s, was the region that convinced Italians that they actually could make good white wines.
Pinot grigio, Pinot blanc, Friulano (aka Tokai, aka Sauvigonasse), Sauvignon (blanc and gris), and Ribolla Gialla are the key grapes. The first thing that I noticed was that one of my bottles was marked just "Sauvignon". Never sure when dealing with Italian grapes, I checked with the sponsors to make sure this was the same Sauvignon blanc that we all have come to know and love. Just this last week (mid November) I learned that European wine laws allowed the vintners to use the names of 7 varieties on their labels instead of just the area. "Sauvignon" is the generic for blends of Sauvignon bland and Sauvignon gris, though the wine could be 100% of either.
The key wine of Collio is (in my mind at least) Friulano. This is a light, dry, floral white wine, somewhat high in acidity, but one that makes a clean refreshing wine. Pinot grigio and Sauvignon now have more acreage than Friulano but this is the grape that made Collio famous.
As I was pouring and during a break in the traffic, one of my colleagues Connie called me over to taste one of her wines. "If you close your eyes and taste this, you will swear it is a red wine" was her challenge. I did close my eyes, I did taste, and I did swear. Ribolla gialla was the grape. The winemaker had fermented it on its skins, it had tannins, it had body, and if I had not not known better I would thought it was red. But it wasn't. Normally it is made light and delicate, but this winemaker gave it real character. And it worked.
Ribolla has a story. It was introduced into the Collio / Friuli region during the 13th century. It became so popular that the Italian poet Boccaccio specifically called out Ribolla as one of the main traits and causes of the deadly sin of Gluttony.
I didn't taste a bad wine that night. And I became a fan of Collio wines.
john
Friday, October 21, 2011
The Week Ahead.
I am fortunate in many ways. I live 30 minutes from Napa Valley to the North and I live about 40 minutes from San Francisco to the West. (East is Gold Country, Lake Tahoe and Yosemite Valley - but they are 3 hours away. South is nothing). We get occasional earthquakes - had two yesterday just on the other side of the hills in Oakland - but on the whole this is wonderful place to live.
An added benefit is that with a Napa and San Francisco nearby there is usually some sort of Wine event going on. Next week will be untypical, however illustrative of some of the opportunities.
Let me start with Last week First. Susan and I volunteered to work at the Lodi Appellation at Treasure Island event. We are on the volunteer list for several wine organizations and we trade off 2-3 hours of work against the entry fee (often $50-$60) and then spend 2-3 hours tasting wine for free.
Lodi Appellation is in the California Central Valley however it gets cool delta breezes so that it can still make some pretty nice wines. Lodi is probably best known for big, jammy Old Vine Zinfandels, although they also do a great job with a number of other grapes as well. Treasure Island was a fun venue. It sits in San Francisco Bay with the City of Oakland off the eastern shore and San Francisco off the western one. You get a great view no matter which way you look. One additional benefit was that it was San Francisco Fleet Week during which the city honors the US Navy although we also get some ships from our Canadian Friends as well. Every Year there is an awesome airshow by the Blue Angels and others, this year the Canadian Snowbirds and some aircraft, I know not what, but the sound of its engines alone and the fact that I think it broke the sound barrier a couple of times was enough to keep me astounded. At times the jets would fly low level right over the island and that is just one of the pleasures of this event.
With last week out of the way, we look at next week.
Tomorrow (Saturday) I am tasting at Jacksons a liquor store a few towns over. Always a fun event. This week it will be an Italian distributor who is leading us through a tasting of 12 Italian wines. the wines range from a Moscato and a Fiano on the white side to a Montalcino and a Nebbiolo among the reds.
Tuesday: I am pouring wines for a tasting event of the Winemakers of Collio Italy at a Vespa scooter showroom in San Francisco. Collio is located in the North East corner of Italy on the border of Slovania, this area has become noted for its excellent aromatic dry white wines. Several winemakers are flying to the US to pour their wines and represent their wineries. I will pour the wines and tell the wine story of one of the wineries that didn't make the trip. So I am studying their web site and learning about the area in general. All part of being a wine student.
Wednesday morning: I am a taster at another Italian Wine event in SF. This one is the "Simply Italian" wine tasting. It is a walk around tasting of Italian Wine producers. I was invited as a member of the Society of Wine Educators, but also (maybe, I hope) that my name is getting on various lists as somebody who should at least get an invitation to these events. This may just be my fantasy, but I did get 2 different invitations.
Wednesday night: I am joining my AWS chapter in Napa for our monthly meeting which, this month, includes a tasting of ( you guessed it ) Italian Wines. I am trying to get them interested (actually totally awesomely committed) in having me teach them the French Wine Scholar next spring.
Thursday night: I volunteer for ZAP - The Zinfandel Advocates and Producers. They have a large (7000-10,000 attendees) Zinfandel only wine tasting each year in San Francisco at the end of January. I have worked at and tasted at several of these events. This year Susan and I are team leads for one of the volunteer groups, and this is one of the organizing meetings where we are checking out a new venue and planning out duties and team structures.
Friday: I meet with Master-of-Wine candidate Maureen Downey to go over a review of tasting notes as I continue to prepare for my WSET Diploma Unit-6 Fortified Wines exam the first week of November.
And, in between all of this I am still tasting my Ports, Madeiras, Sherries, VDNs and studying on everything you could want to know about fortified wines.
The life of a wine student.
john
An added benefit is that with a Napa and San Francisco nearby there is usually some sort of Wine event going on. Next week will be untypical, however illustrative of some of the opportunities.
Let me start with Last week First. Susan and I volunteered to work at the Lodi Appellation at Treasure Island event. We are on the volunteer list for several wine organizations and we trade off 2-3 hours of work against the entry fee (often $50-$60) and then spend 2-3 hours tasting wine for free.
Lodi Appellation is in the California Central Valley however it gets cool delta breezes so that it can still make some pretty nice wines. Lodi is probably best known for big, jammy Old Vine Zinfandels, although they also do a great job with a number of other grapes as well. Treasure Island was a fun venue. It sits in San Francisco Bay with the City of Oakland off the eastern shore and San Francisco off the western one. You get a great view no matter which way you look. One additional benefit was that it was San Francisco Fleet Week during which the city honors the US Navy although we also get some ships from our Canadian Friends as well. Every Year there is an awesome airshow by the Blue Angels and others, this year the Canadian Snowbirds and some aircraft, I know not what, but the sound of its engines alone and the fact that I think it broke the sound barrier a couple of times was enough to keep me astounded. At times the jets would fly low level right over the island and that is just one of the pleasures of this event.
With last week out of the way, we look at next week.
Tomorrow (Saturday) I am tasting at Jacksons a liquor store a few towns over. Always a fun event. This week it will be an Italian distributor who is leading us through a tasting of 12 Italian wines. the wines range from a Moscato and a Fiano on the white side to a Montalcino and a Nebbiolo among the reds.
Tuesday: I am pouring wines for a tasting event of the Winemakers of Collio Italy at a Vespa scooter showroom in San Francisco. Collio is located in the North East corner of Italy on the border of Slovania, this area has become noted for its excellent aromatic dry white wines. Several winemakers are flying to the US to pour their wines and represent their wineries. I will pour the wines and tell the wine story of one of the wineries that didn't make the trip. So I am studying their web site and learning about the area in general. All part of being a wine student.
Wednesday morning: I am a taster at another Italian Wine event in SF. This one is the "Simply Italian" wine tasting. It is a walk around tasting of Italian Wine producers. I was invited as a member of the Society of Wine Educators, but also (maybe, I hope) that my name is getting on various lists as somebody who should at least get an invitation to these events. This may just be my fantasy, but I did get 2 different invitations.
Wednesday night: I am joining my AWS chapter in Napa for our monthly meeting which, this month, includes a tasting of ( you guessed it ) Italian Wines. I am trying to get them interested (actually totally awesomely committed) in having me teach them the French Wine Scholar next spring.
Thursday night: I volunteer for ZAP - The Zinfandel Advocates and Producers. They have a large (7000-10,000 attendees) Zinfandel only wine tasting each year in San Francisco at the end of January. I have worked at and tasted at several of these events. This year Susan and I are team leads for one of the volunteer groups, and this is one of the organizing meetings where we are checking out a new venue and planning out duties and team structures.
Friday: I meet with Master-of-Wine candidate Maureen Downey to go over a review of tasting notes as I continue to prepare for my WSET Diploma Unit-6 Fortified Wines exam the first week of November.
And, in between all of this I am still tasting my Ports, Madeiras, Sherries, VDNs and studying on everything you could want to know about fortified wines.
The life of a wine student.
john
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)