WSET Unit 1 - The Business of Wine

So I passed the French Wine Scholar exam "with distinction" and met the requirements to apply to teach it. So stay tuned to these pages, as I may have a new topic to write about.

Until that time however, I am turning back to my Wine and Spirits Education Trust certification. As noted before there are 6 Units or modules to the WSET Diploma course.  I don't think I ever mentioned what they were, so here they are now:

1. The Business of Wine
2. Viticulture and Winemaking
3. Light Wines of the World
4. Spirits
5. Champagne and Sparkling Wines
6. Fortified Wines

You are required to take Unit 2 before starting any other module. Other modules can be taken in any order.  The timing of my studies and when courses were offered meant that after Unit 2 I self studied for the Unit 6 course. I took that test last June and failed, not because it is especially hard, there is a lot to learn, but it is not a hard test. I failed it because of a cup of coffee. I got hyper, my hands shook, and I couldn't write.  Then my hand cramped up and it was all down hill.

So I am restudying for Unit 6.   I will retake the exam in November.   Meanwhile I will be practicing my writing.  Another thing that I am working on is to make sure that I don't take  more than 5-6 minutes to evaluate a wine and write my notes. On the last test I took 10 minutes a piece for 3 wines and in the end only had 30 minutes to think about and write my 3 essays.  I need to build that up so I get 45 minutes of the allotted hour to write essays and only 15 minutes to actually evaluate wines.

So I am back to tasting fortified wines !! :-)   I also have extensive notes - 2 or 3 versions of them from the first time I took this test.  I have time lines of events within various properties / organizations.  I have notes about each property / organization and its history.  I will probably review the source material once more ( Jancis Robinson's Oxford Companion to Wine ) but my notes have the material refined to the important facts and they are all on one document so I don't need to thumb through the OCW to find the topics all over again.

The next thing that is going on is that I am writing the "Course Work Assignment" for Unit 1.  The course work assignment is a ~2500 word research paper on a topic that WSET assigns each 6 months. The current assignment ( due in November ) is to write about "How Advances in Science and Technology have affected Winemaking over the Last 50 Years".  A sub requirement is to pick an advancement in both Viticulture and Winery Technology and write about how each of these affects the resulting wine.   The final requirement is to pick a topic that you think will affect winemaking 20 years from now and describe what its effects will be. Footnotes and Bibliography are required. Even though they don't say ( write ) it out loud, you ARE expected to have a business slant to your theme. So the advances should probably have some aspect of efficiency, quality or economics of wine making behind them.

The Course Work Assignment is one half of the Unit 1 grade.   The other half of the exam is a closed book paper that will be written under exam conditions and lasting 1 hour.  A generic brief about the topic will be posted 1 month in advance, and you have that time to research the topic.  The actual question that will be on the exam is NOT known until you actually sit for the exam. So hopefully your research is comprehensive and you can think on your feet. In this case you are not expected to cite your sources of information.

The Unit 1 exam is offered 2-3 times a year, so even though I am writing the course work assignment for this November I will not take the written exam until later because I want to finish Unit 6 and not sure if I can write for 2 hours in one afternoon without my hand cramping again.  Plus I am also studying for my American Wine Society Wine Judge Certification (Year 1) exam that is also being held in November. This is a day long exam with a written test and several tasting tests. 

So I am trying to balance my time between these 3 exercises all of which are due in the first 10 days of November.   Because of this I decided not to attempt Certified Wine Educator ( CWE ) from the Society of Wine Educators. This exam is offered in Napa several times a year, so I am comfortable putting it off for another 6 months or so. I have already passed their Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) exam and the CWE builds on the Wines of the World aspect of that, plus adds in some of the Wine Components and Wine Faults exercises that I am studying for Wine Judging.  So many of these different programs build upon a common knowledge base. Study for one and you become partially prepared for another.

I have a new goal !  I picked this one up from taking the French Wine Scholar course with several Sommeliers.  I now want to pass the Certified Sommelier exam from the Court of Master Sommeliers and I will add a new post-nominal ('CS') to my professional titles.  I think I have the information required regarding the wines, I just need to learn and practice the proper procedures for opening sparkling wine and serving a table using all the proper procedures.

More fun !!

     john

Describing a Wine

Some people just want to say "Yumm" or "Yuck" when describing a wine and leave things at that. Either you like it or you don't. Some people will go to the other extreme and use phrases like : "It captures the joy of the moment in an artisanal way without alienating those that typically veer away from the eccentric." which doesn't tell you much either.

I was even an evaluator at a Consumer Wine judging event where the ratings included: "I would take this home for dinner" and "I would recommend this to a friend". These actually were kind of helpful.

In Wine and Spirits Educational Trust, Society of Wine Educators and AWS Wine Judging Certification program, we use the more traditional / standard methods of describing a wine. Characteristics include Color, Aroma, Development, Acidity, Alcohol, Tannins, Flavors, Finish, etc. The categories are similar for each of the programs but not exactly the same. And within the categories there are levels of intensity. A color can be pale, or maybe deep. A wine may be light or full bodied. Sugar can range from Dry to Medium Sweet to Sweet to Luscious.

Many of these terms are somewhat objective and for me this has been one of the harder parts of describing a wine. Is an intensity a medium(-) a medium or a medium(+)? What constitutes a Deep or Opaque color ?

I was going through the study guide for Certified Wine Educator and I came across a set of practical guidelines that I like. Now maybe they teach you these as well in the WSET introductory programs but I jumped over those - so this has always been an issue and a question for for me.

Here are the Society of Wine Educator guidelines. ( Mostly their material with some editorializing by me. I left out some areas, and added some comments, errors and omissions are mine. Otherwise it is close. )

Clarity:
Brilliant : the color jumps out.
Clear : not brilliant, not hazy
Hazy : observable cloudiness

Intensity or Depth
pale : most whites are in this range. If a red, then darker than a rose but still light red.
medium : a well aged or botrytized white. If a red, you can read a newspaper through it when tilted.
deep : you can see the newspaper but can't read it.
opaque : you can't even see the newspaper.

Hue / Color (whites)
platinum : colorless
lemon green : light yellow with a touch of green ( think cool climate Sauvignon blanc )
lemon : pure bright lemon yellow
gold : deeper and darker. You may be wearing a gold ring. It is that color.
amber : almost cola colored with hints of gold.
brown : caramel to molasses. No gold in it.

Hue / Color (rose')
pink : not hot pink, but not quite red. The color of the traffic light you just went through in a hurry.
salmon : pink with a yellow hue. Salmon color is quite descriptive.
orange : some rose wines oxidize and give a light orange color. Grenache is known to do this.

Hue / Color (reds)
purple : a bright plum color.
ruby : deep rich red
garnet : red, but lighter and tending towards brown
tawny : light brown, light cola colored, brick colored
brown : brown is brown. Root beer color.

Other observations
gas, bubbles :
rim variation : should be a broad rim with enough variation to be significant.
many legs / few legs / no legs :

Condition
Clean / unclean : if calling a wine unclean, it must be part of style, and should be a noticeable fault.

Maturity
youthful / young : fruit aromas dominant
developing : some fruit but more tertiary flavors, oak tending to show more
fully developed : fruit is essentially gone. More oak, leather. 'Maturity' should not be confused with 'quality.'
past its prime : oxidation showing. Pruney.

Alcohol I use the "inhale" test. If I inhale with wine in my mouth and :
low : < 11% : don't notice any alcohol
medium (-) : 11-12% : can sense some alcohol
medium : 12-13% : strong alcohol - perhaps some burn.
medium (+) : 13-14% : I usually choke and can't catch my breath
high : > 14%

Acidity
low : not noticeable.
medium (-) : light tartness. Tingle on side of tongue
medium : definite saliva inducing tartness
medium (+) : tart. saliva producing. you are practically drooling
high : they say searing. I say don't confuse it with tannins, though that is easy to do.

Bitter They use the example of Gewurztraminer. To me: A sweet Muscat after taste is often very bitter.
none : they claim most wines don't show bitterness. ( to me unripe tannins are often bitter )
low : a tingle at back of throat
low to high : back of the throat sensation ruins the rest of the flavors.

Tannins (although generally described as astringent / drying. Unripe tannins are also bitter / harsh)
none : most white wines will fall in here
light : a dryness on the finish
medium (-) : some texture, powdery, drying
medium : grainy texture, drys the gums
medium (+) : sensation of texture and graininess all over mouth. ( I often notice some burn )
high : extremely drying. ( I would add harsh, painful )

Note: WSET also qualifies tannins by level of dryness and also by texture: eg 'silk', 'velvet', 'dusty', 'coarse'.
I included some of their terms above.

Sweetness
dry : no perceptible sugar
off Dry : just perceptible sweetness ( some chenin blanc, kabinett level riesling )
medium : noticeable residual sugar ( spatlese riesling, late harvest wines )
medium sweet : ( most Madeiras, Ports, Sweet Sherries )
sweet : Botrytized wines. Sweet Madeira, Pedro Jimenez.

Length ( they only define 'short" after that they say use your best judgment. So I added rest.
short : 1 to 3 seconds
medium : 5-10 seconds
long : 30 seconds or more.

Somebody totally new to wine tasting might wonder why we go all through this work.

There are a couple of reasons :

1) If you don't think about these characteristics - you often don't even notice them or enjoy them.
2) You can actually use this to describe a wine to somebody who understands the terms.
3) Many of these characteristics are "hints" towards what to expect from the wine.
4) Sommeliers combine several of these characteristics to deduce where and how a wine was made.

For example:
A "cloudy" wine may be unfiltered, or may have a yeast or bacteria bloom, leaving bad aromas.
A dark "white" wine may be well past its prime and nasty nasty nasty.
Bubbles in the wine ( assuming it is not meant to be sparkling ) can mean it is turning to vinegar.
A purple wine may be soft, low acidity, easy drinking A red red wine may be acid and require food with it.
A high acid wine is often made in a cooler climate. Riesling is a good example. Champagne is another.
A light colored red is often also a cool climate wine. Pinot noir is a good example.
A light color and high acid often go together. When they don't this tells you something.
( a hint towards the grape variety for example )

So what do you think ? Do you agree with these descriptors ?
Are there some that I missed, or examples that you think we need ?

Leave a comment, and I will include them into the post. Let's make this document useful.

john

FWS Exam Today

OK, I took my French Wine Scholar exam today. I think I did really well. ( Hope I didn't just jinx myself with that comment ). The exam could have been much harder. One of the other students, Gordana commented that she felt that there must have been trick questions, because in general they seemed so easy.

Now, Gordana is really smart and it won't surprise me to hear she got 100% on the test, and I am even thinking that i got mid 90s on it.

I have been studying - average about 2-3 hours a day, I think, on this test since early June - so about 2 months' worth of work. 120-150 total hours which makes sense for a 250 page text book. I self-studied but did buy / attend a review class ( with lunch !) from San Francisco Wine School and there I met David Glancy, MS,CWE and Maureen Downey, DWS, CWE. David taught me a trick in that he made up mnemonics for everything, and I started doing it too and it really works, even if the mnemonic is a little nutty. For example, Must John Really Make Such Bad Noodles (M,J,R,M,S,B,N) tells me the the order that wine bottles grow in size from Magnum to Nebuchadnezzar. ( It was on the test today! - A Jeroboam is 4 bottles ).

Want to learn the 10 Beaujolais Cru villages ? (North to South) Saint Julia Childs Makes Fine Coffee Mornings, Regularly Before Breakfast. (St Amour, Julienas, Chenas, Moulon-a-vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Regnie, Cote-de-Brouilly, Brouilly).

Need to learn the major Middle-Loire AOCs ? West to East (more or less) : See A Beautiful Lion Sleeping Quietly Be-Cause she is Very Tired. Savennieres, Anjou, Bonnezeau, Coteaux de Layon, Saumur, Quarts de Chaume, (Chaume), Bourgueil, (St Nicolas de Bourgueil), Chinon, Vouvray, Touraine.

It seems ridiculous, but it really works. At least for me, your mileage may vary.

David's colleague Maureen is just a doll. I think she has been studying for her Master of Wine even before she was old enough to drink legally. She gave us an extra, informal, review session on a Sunday morning. And if nothing else, she convinced me that I would do good on the test and that they weren't going to ask the really hard questions on the test. (Name the 4 French AOCs that require oak aging ). This saved a lot of panic studying. Thanks, Maureen. If you ever google yourself, I hope you find this !!

Not that panicking was out of the question, however. I was tense going into the test. Passing grade is a 75%. There are 100 questions. So it wasn't until I got past question #75 - with only a couple of questions that I wasn't sure of, before I started breathing easier. When i figured out that the questions after #85 weren't getting any harder, then I was practically cheering. I was going to do pretty good.

There were a couple of almost trick questions, but the text book had pointed out that we should not mistake Beaumes-de-Venise ( who makes red wine ) with Muscat Beaumes-de-Venise which makes a really good tasting fortified vin du natural out of the white Muscat grape. That one was on the test.

One question that I did have some trouble with, but corrected, is also a common mistake, and I almost fell for it. It regarded Gevrey-Chambertin Grand Cru AOC. ( you wine geeks already know where I am going with this ). Gevrey-Chambertin is a village in the Cotes de Nuits - Burgundy that makes some of the best Pinot Noirs. It has 9 Grand Cru vineyards in the village. And that is the problem. In Burgundy it is the Vineyard that is the AOC not the Village - at least for the Grand Crus. So Chambertin is a Grand Cru AOC. Gevrey-Chambertin is a village, and Gevrey Chambertin Grand Cru AOC is just a big mistake. And they almost had me, because they through in some name I never heard of in another answer and I went for that at first, until I thought things out. A rookie mistake. A lucky catch.

As I mentioned before, I like the French Wine Scholar program, the text has some errors but in general is very good. The on-line study aid pretty much mirrors the book, and could probably be bypassed, but I bought it in combination with the review session, the exam fees, and a free lunch, so I thought it a good deal. Plus the quizzes for each of the on-line modules are invaluable. We talked about this during the review session and decided that the quizzes on the on-line review are actually harder than the final exam. David mentioned that he did the review quizzes over and over until he got a perfect score on each of them, then he took the exam. I thought that a good idea, so I included it in my study program, and i think it works.

Like most of the tests I have taken for wine certification, this was a fair test. You can do well on it with a reasonable amount of study. It seems over-whelming at first because there is a LOT of detail. Once you realize that you don't have to know the various maximum Hectoliters / Hectare for each AOC or the specific production numbers, then the level of detail becomes tolerable. Once you break it into manageable bites it is a lot easier to digest.

Finally once you have reviewed it 3-4 times, you start to realize just what it is that matters, and what would be a fair question on a test. Then your 30 pages of notes gets whittled down to a page per region, and you begin to realize that this isn't going to be a hard test. Plus after the 2nd or 3rd review, the terms aren't new and unfamiliar any more, you begin talking like a Frenchman. ( PS - This is another thing the online course is good for. Lisa Aires, the narrator, uses French pronunciation on the various terms and you begin to say them correctly and you don't keep trying to turn them into English ) Believe it or not, once the terms become familiar ( I almost spelled that 'becaume' because it sounded French ) - once the words are familiar the facts then start to stand out and they lock in better.

So ... the test is over, we get results in about 2 weeks. I can decompress and get a few days respite, and probably need to do some chores around the house.

What next ? Too many choices. I wish there was an Italian Wine Scholar type program. ( If you know of one please leave a comment. ).

But now I have to decide .... I need to either research and write a 2500 word paper on advances in winemaking (Part 1 - due in November) for my Unit 1 WSET exam or I can study Italy and the rest of the world in order to sit for the Certified Wine Educator exam in September. I also still need to prepare for Wine Judge Certification - Year 1 test in November. Plus there is the in-person written exam (Part 2) on a currently unknown topic for WSET which will likely require 2-3 weeks of research in October (when they tell us what the general area of the topic will be) if I want to take it in November. I don't know if I can do it all.

But today I passed my test. And tonight we are going to celebrate with pizza and Champagne. BTW, in case nobody ever mentioned it, Champagne goes with just about everything, except for maybe wedding cake, which is kind of ironic when you think about when we normally drink it. I do also need to add the disclaimer here, that since I am a Certified Location Specialist regarding Champagne and Porto, that this is indeed real Champagne from Champagne France (Only from Champagne and nowhere else!) and not just sparkling wine. Although Sparkling wine probably also goes pretty good with pizza, too.

john

Smelling nasty Wines

As part of our WJCP training, and also a requirement for Certified Wine Educator, the student is expected to be able to recognize common wine faults. So I have been smelling stinky wines for the last week. And will do so again this week. And possibly again next month. (Despite popular misconception, the life of a wine student is not just all partying, .... though it isn't bad either)

WJCP advised us, that identifying wine faults is an area where candidates lose points on their first year exam and they advised us to purchase fault kits from either Vinquiry or from Le Nez du Vin. When we are tested in December, they will use the Vinquiry fault set to make up the test wines. So I bought a set.

This is not an inexpensive exercise, the kits retail for about $100 and students on the east coast found that special shipping restrictions would add another (unexpected!) $20-$40 to their costs.

You get 10 vials of chemicals, enough to add each vial to 50 ML (2 ounces or so) of wine. Or, you can use 1/2 vial with 25 ML of and run 2 sets of tests which is what I did, once with a neutral white wine (Franzia Chardonnay) and once with a neutral red (Franzia Merlot). I did these several days apart.

I filled my 11 glasses with 25 ML of wine, one of them was my standard so I could always refer back to the base wine and also use it to help clear out my nose after smelling the "off" wines. (Note: smelling your skin or armpit can also reset your sense of smell as long as you didn't just come from working out at the gym.) Then I added 1/2 vial of the defect, I put the remaining fault vial back in its box and back into the refrigerator for storage. I capped the wine glasses with a little plastic lid, left them on the kitchen counter and then smelled them several times over the next 3 days. A couple of the wines faded in smell over the 3 days but were still recognizable. Most of the wines held their aromas. Some stayed god awful stinky, smelled up the kitchen and tested the limits of my wife's love for me.

Here is what Vinquiry says about the Defects.
Kit Contains 10 Wine Defects for Aroma Evaluation Only:
(Do NOT drink these wines, they are harmful if swallowed.)

DEFECT AROMA DESCRIPTORS
1) Cork Taint Musty, Moldy, Pond Water, Basement, Dank Cellar, Wet Paper, Wet Cardboardy
2) Brettanomyces 1 Barnyard, Horse, Wet Dog, Band-Aid, Leather, Smoky, Tar
3) Oxidation Bruised Apples, Sherry, Nutty
4) VA – Acetic Acid Vinegar, Pungent
5) VA – Ethyl Acetate Fingernail Polish Remover
6) Lactic Taint (Buttery) Butter, Buttered Popcorn
7) Methoxypyrazine Green Bell Pepper, Fresh Leaves, Vegetative
8) Brettanomyces 2 Sweaty Saddle, Cheese, Rancid
9) Microbial Muddy, Earthy, Musty, Beets, Turnip
10) Hydrogen Sulfide Rotten Eggs


Here are my experiences: first with the Chardonnay and then with the Merlot

1 TCA : a little more "moldy old book" smell with white. Still there but a little better integrated with red.
2 Brett1 : still horse sweat, but *seems* to integrate better on the red wine.
3 Oxydative / Aldehyde: slightly less sherry like, moves a little towards overripe apple in the red
4 Acetic: NC - no change: vinegar in both base wines.
5 Ethyl Acetate: moved from nail polish remover to airplane glue (same but different, slightly more pungent)
6 Lactic / Butter: NC - no change: smells like movie popcorn butter.
7 Methoxy Pyrazine: I still don't get bell pepper but have decided that "dead leaves" is what I do get
8 Brett2: This one still seems like rancid cottage cheese but moves closer to #9
9 Microbial : still smells like beets - white and red.
10 Sulfur: still nasty, nasty, nasty. This one does fade over time of 2-3 days.

So. In my opinion, while I saw small changes in some of the wines in moving from white base wine to the red base wine, I don't believe it really matters whether you use red or white wine - the fault aromas are pretty consistent.

I also think that any amount of Brett1, Lactic or Sulfur is easy to get. Oxydative and Ethyl Acetate stand out but fade over time ( 2-3 days ). I also expect to have some problems with the methoxy pyrazine on the test. I can recognize it as different from the standard base wine, but it doesn't come across as a distinctive smell for me.

I also had a "brilliant" idea. After creating my 2nd set of glasses, I re-filled my fault vials with the associated faulted red wine from my glasses, capped them, and put them back in the refrigerator. Hopefully killing 2 birds with one stone ... getting every last drop of fault out of the vial, and giving me something to smell again in 1-2 months. ( Oh boy, really looking forwards to horse sweat and rotten eggs in September ).Vinquiry suggests that if you keep the vials cool and they will store for up to 6 months. I am not sure if this works once they are mixed with wine, but we will find out.

You could make up some of these smells at home. Vinegar for Acetic, Finger Nail Polish Remover for Ethyl Acetate, A burnt match for sulfur dioxide. Some classic Rhone wines will definitely have Brett aromas. And the statistic is that from 3-7% of wines will have cork taint, so you may have come across it before but not known it.

A great resource for training yourself on various sensory aspects of wines is "The University Wine Course" by Marian Baldy. In my opinion this is THE classic book for learning how to taste wine. It also has an extensive section on how to prepare wine faults, components, and just standards for common smells. You can often find it on Amazon or ABE Books at a cheap price. Currently used but good condition for less than $10.

john

Home Winemakers Awards

Last night was the awards ceremony for those California Home Winemakers who won ribbons at the state fair wine judging competition. Well, actually not a lot of ceremony, the winners were asked to collect their ribbons ad-hoc during the event and the announcements and presentations were restricted to Best of Class and Best of Show winners.

At the same time about 20 "best of" and "double gold" winners were asked to pour their wines so that other winemakers and invitees could taste the wines.

I have never had so many good wines in one place at one time. I am not exaggerating. I am so impressed with the quality of wines that were poured.

Because I was a volunteer at the judging event, I was also invited to attend the awards ceremony, although it may have been open to the public. I am told that 300 people had RSVP'd for the event and by quick count I think there were over 150 there at any one time. i am told it was the largest crowd that they had ever had for this event.

Although i was an invitee and could bring a guest, I was also asked if I could volunteer and my wife Susan and I were happy to have the opportunity. These events are always fun, and in general, you tend to meet the nicest people who are also volunteers and give of their time and passion to make things like this happen.

Speaking of passion, I can't say enough for the home winemakers themselves who were there last night. Not only did they pay to enter their wines into the competition, but some of them traveled long distances to be at the awards ceremony and they also brought their prize winning wines to pour for the rest of us. In some cases there may not have been that much wine made in the first place. And here they were sharing it with the crowd.

So back to tasting ... Susan and I tended to limit our tasting to "Best of"s and Double Golds and there were a fair share of them there. Probably about 50 wines total. Since I still had a 1 hr drive to get home i went light on my tasting, whereas Susan was able to sample a lot more.

One of our favorites was a Blueberry / Merlot fruit wine. 50% blueberries, 50% merlot grapes, fermented together. The same producer also had 5 other double golds for other fruit wines including a "tomatillo sherry". (I kid you not. A fortified wine made from little green looking tomatoes).

One of the best of the night, in my opinion was an Italian blend called "Italian Stallion" made by Chris Hamm.
It was perfectly balanced, the tannins were soft, it had lots of character. Included LaGrein, Niellucio (Sangiovese), and some other grape that i forget. A perfect wine.

After the ceremony was over, Susan and I went over to the Savemart tent because they were giving tastings of the commercial winery winners. 3 free tastings per person, so Susan and I shared and got to taste 6 wines. Guenoc had a good Sauvignon blanc from, I think, Lake County that had some New Zealand characteristics (grapefruit, aromatic, clean). We tasted 5 other Gold and Best of medal winners from the commercial wineries. They were good.

But when all was said and done, I think the Home Winemakers still won the night. Congratulations to the men and women who made such great wines and thanks for sharing them.

The BUMMER of the whole evening: after tasting a really perfect home wine maker award winning wine, you realize that you can't buy it, and you will probably never see it again. The only hope if to maybe taste a new vintage next year.

Here is the list of home wine maker winners:

john

Various updates

I haven't started anything new in last couple of months, so I want to give some updates on some of the various programs I am in.

French Wine Scholar: I have read all, and high-lighted most, of the manual. It is daunting, there is a lot of information, but when you break it down into sections, each section doesn't seem that bad. Classic divide and conquer. I have also finished the online study modules. I think this is worth the cost. The modules don't differe a lot from the manual, but they do allow a different way of integrating the information. The review quizzes are good, and I hope the final test is at about the same level. If so it will be a fair test. I have not watched very many of the webinars that are offered with the study modules. They each take an hour or so, and I have just not found the time to watch them. They are probably VERY interesting. My access to this website is good for about 9 more months, and so perhaps I can watch them after I take the exam.

I have an in-person "review day" with the local FWS provider tomorrow. It was part of the package that I selected. ( book, online modules, review day, test ). I will let you know how that turns out when I return tomorrow evening.

WJCP The AWS Wine Judging Certification Program is still moving along. So far there have been several required readings, some of them older books, but we just got a new requirement to read "Wine Faults: Causes , Effects, Cures" by John Hudelson. Many of us also bought the Vinquiry fault kit for $100 ( ouch !!) with the appropriate chemicals to create 50ml of faulted wine. Since this is one of the key parts of the WJCP 1st year test, and also part of the Certified Wine Educator test, it seemed like a good thing to get. I got my kit last week and I will spend this afternoon preparing and smelling the wines to learn those characteristics. We have been told that the base wine for these faults will be Franzia Chardonnay - so i have 5 liter box in my fridge and have been tasting it to learn the base wine.

We still have a monthly phone conference to compare tasting notes on various wines and trying to standardize our impressions. Again, this is test prep, where we will be looking to correlate our impressions with 3 certified judges. (Sort of like how it takes 3 bishops to consecrate a new one).

WSET I still have not heard back on my Unit 6 test. These things usually take 7-10 weeks and it has only been 6 weeks so far, so I am not surprised. Since I think I failed, no big hurry in finding out. Just need to work on writing exercises and find out the next time I can take it.

On the other hand, I am moving forward on Unit 1 requirements. I have started research on the 2500 word course work assignment due this November. It is a paper on advances in viticulture and winemaking over the last 50 years. I have one strong topic and one weaker one and am pulling together the research for both of them to see if I have enough for a good paper. Part of the grade is simply on structure of writing a good paper with distinct sections and annotations as well as quality of research. Need to decide in early September and register to submit the paper. Also will attempt the in-person written paper exam also in November that completes the 2nd Unit 1 requirement. We won't know the topic for this until 1 month before the exam itself. We then have 1 month to study and the exam is without notes.

CWE "Certified Wine Educator". This exam is being given locally ( in Napa ) in September. I may not be ready to take it yet, but because the requirements are relatively vague ( read a lot of books, drink a lot of wine ) I am tempted to try it never-the-less. This was one of the reasons for attempting French Wine Scholar - I have now done extensive study on 1 major producer. I think I need to do more on Italy and Spain and then might have a good chance to pass the written test. There are several parts to this exam. As well as the written test, there is the wine faults test ( similar to WJCP ). There is the wine components test ( ditto WJCP ). There is a wine description test ( similar to WSET tasting notes ). And there is the written test which builds on the CSW exam which I have already passed. When I add in my "Location Specialist" exam for Champagne and the Douro, and my WSET Unit 6 studies for Fortified Wines, I think I have a chance. Even if I fail I will have a better idea of what the requirements are and level of study. Plus I may eliminate a couple of the units even if I fail the written exam. ( i.e. I can still pass the components and wine descriptions ).

In general
I study ~ 2 hours a day for at least 4 days a week. I do feel a little fractured in that I am focusing on different exams, but at the same time, there is some synergy between all the courses, and study for one can only help the others. For example about 17% of the CWE questions involve France - so my FWS studies get me part way to a pass on that exam. Another 20-25% of the questions are on Viticulture, Enology which I am comfortable with and also researching some for Unit 1 exam. Another 5-7% is on Sensory analysis which fits in with WJCP studies. So there are some good fits. I also read that it takes on average 2 tries to get the CWE certification, so I won't feel bad to fail parts of the exam the first time.

We'll see.

john

French Wine Scholar

For the last several weeks I have been studying for French Wine Scholar Certification. I posted earlier when I had first started the course, and now that I am about 1/2 way through, I can add to my earlier comments.

There are several ways you can attempt this certification. You can buy the manual and self-study and take the test online. This is how I started it. (Cost about $250). You also have the option to purchase access to the on-line academy with its maps, on-line modules and practice quizzes. (Cost about $475 with manual and test fees). This is what i am currently doing and I recommend it - it is well worth the extra money. Finally you can take a formal course with weekly classes that cover all the material and have you taste the wines of the areas you are studying. Cost about $950. I have tasted the various wines before and am spending several thousands of $$ already on my wine education, ( I am retired and living off my savings ) so I try to select the least expensive format that will still prepare me to pass the test. I actually was able to work with the San Francisco Wine School - a French Wine Scholar provider in the SF bay Area, to combine the self study course with a 1 day in-person review course, the on-line study modules and the in-person test. I appreciate their flexibility in setting this up.

First of all, I like this course. Every interaction with the text book, the online guides, the maps, the quizes, and especially my interactions with Julien and Celine Camus, the founders of the organization and with Lisa Airey, CWE the director of Education, has been at the highest level of expectation. This is a well designed and well run program.

As mentioned before the study guide is about 250 pages with considerable detail, and can seem overwhelming at first ( and even later when you study Burgundy's appellations in detail ), but if the practice quizzes are any guide to the final exam, then the level of comprehension expected, while detailed and holistic, is nevertheless fair.

The practice quizzes are, like everything else, done well and with enough diversity to keep them interesting and also provide additional learning. Some questions are map questions, and you are expected to click on the appropriate area of a map to identify particular regions or appellations. In the case of Burgundy you are expected to order the major communes from Northern-most to Southern-most according to their geography. And, as you are advised in the introduction to the course, you should know the details of those topics that are exceptional - such as the only 100% Aligote grape appellation in the Cotes Chalonnaise (Bouzeron).

And you are expected to know the difference between Givry and Gevrey (I missed that one : spelling counts!). Note: Givry is a village in Cote Challonaise and Gevrey is a village in the Cotes de Nuits with 9 grand cru vineyards in it. For franco-philic-oenophiles (sounds nasty) who have probably not only have memorized the 33 Grand Cru climats in Burgundy but also the 600+ Premier Crus, I am sure i sound ignorant and a wine newbie ( nolo-contendere, your honor ), but when you are learning all these new sounding names, it is easy enough to lose a few vowels in your place names. The French do it all the time.

Anyhow, enough whining. I also love the maps that are provided with this course. (I am a map person) they are very detailed and best of all they have the various appellations color coded. When you see the Grand Cru of the Cotes d'Or colored in red on a map, and especially for example the Corton Hill, you realize that although there are several Grand Cru appellations, they are literally located on a single hill. The area is actually quite small. You might not realize that ( I didn't ) without a good map and the hill high-lighted.

There are 10 modules in the course. As I mentioned in the earlier post, the layout is pretty standard, so you know what to expect as each module proceeds. Usually there are 2 parts to each module, each about 1 hour long. I think they are broken up mostly from a study aspect - that you need a break after an hour of studying. The download speed and on-line performance of the course is very good. I have had no complaints using only basic DSL.

I have found that I can complete each module in about 1-2 days. Usually i take notes on each section so the 1 hour session lasts a little longer. The on-line material is just about exactly the same as what is in the book. I take the notes just because I find that it helps my retention, despite the fact that I can read it in the book as well.

So each module consists of: 1-2 study units, maps, a quiz, and generally 1 or more 1 hr videos put together by an expert or inhabitant of the region explaining more about the area and its winemaking processes. These videos provide local color and also since they generally are native speakers, provide the listener with some more practice learning how to pronounce the names of French terms. For example, it took me several trys to understand that "el-zaz" was in fact Alsace because sometimes even the final 'z' was dropped, and what I was hearing was "elza". Now at least i understand that term. the people who present these videos are generally teachers as well, so the information content in them is quite good.

If one were to listen to all the content, study the maps and take the test, each of the modules might take around 3-4 hours to study. This is in addition to reading the book.

As I mentioned, from a test content, the book and the on-line pretty much mirror each other. The book however has additional appendix and side bar material that is not in the on-line course, and so far I have not found any of this material to be on the quizzes, so I assume it it not on the final test as well.

So this is where I am today, July 2nd. I started studying just after my June 6th WSET - Unit 6 test, I have read the book through once, I have 5 of the 10 modules complete, (Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Champagne) I will have a review course on July 23rd with SF Wine School, and I take the test on August 13th. The final exam is 100 questions of various formats, and passing grade is 75%.

I still have a lot of work to do.

john