What is the WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting?

Simply put it is a logical, systematic and professional way to learn how to taste and the more you go through the WSET exams - Intermediate, Advanced and Diploma - the more detail there is you have to observe on wines (the system also applies to spirits with some slight modification).

There are the obvious main criteria of appearance, nose and palate. But within each of these there are a number of categories to assess. So in smell for example, you need to assess if the smell is clean, how intense it is and what the aroma characteristics are such as fruit, flowers, minerals etc etc..

However within each category there are descriptors so for intensity of aroma you can assess it as low, medium minus, medium, medium plus or high. It is when you get to Diploma level that you find there is so much you can observe about a wine and you find that the only way to distinguish between acidity for example being medium minus, medium or medium plus is by tasting many many wines so you have something to compare with.

For each wine you can gain points out of 25. Your observations on appearance get a maximum of 3 points, nose 7, palate 10, assessment of quality 5 and the remaining items such as ageing potential, country of origin, grape variety, approximate retail price and age of wine can gain you 8. This means if you get the grape variety wrong you are not penalised recognising the challenges of blind tasting (did anyone else see Oz Clarke in the BBC series "Oz and James" only get 4 out of the 13 grape varieties allowed in Chateauneuf du Pape correct?) and the fact that many competitions are not blind but the tasters are actually tasting within a known varietal.

In the past as I have tasted wine I have tended to rate highly the wines that I like. This has helped me focus on wines that are good. More details of the system can be found here.

Wines from Trentino

I went to a tasting at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London today. The top wines from Trentino, Italy (that's the bit of Italy at the top in the middle near Lake Garda) were being shown along with the local food. It was very well organised by the PR company (thanks to them for letting me attend). The wines included Spumantes, grappas, vin santos and a range of varietals two of which I hadn't come across before - Marzemino and Teroldego. There were also a number of wines made from varietals such as Muller Thurgau, Chardonnay and Merlot.

I wasn't blown away by these two new (new to me that is) red varieties but along with the right food I'm sure they would be a good match. There was a buffet lunch of local produce such as meats, cheeses and fruits which was excellent.

Tasting in these circumstances is a challenge. It's hard enough in the comfort of your own home to recall all the WSET criteria but with all the distractions around you at a tasting it's doubly hard. I need lots of practice. The next tasting I'm off to is next week at Chelsea Football ground, the Wines of Italy.

Decanter great French fine wine encounter

What a great day I've just had. I've been helping with the Masterclasses at the Decanter event so have been exposed to Chateaux Angelus, Pichon Longueville and Palmer and have heard the writer Andrew Jefford speak on the "new" France.

To have the opportunity to taste 34 wines from these Masterclasses, including 6 vintages of Chateau Palmer from 1999 to 1988 was quite an experience. OK, so I didn't have long to taste each one and couldn't write any notes but I'm so glad I took part. I'll certainly offer myself to help at the next Decanter event.

I was helping with the decanting and pouring amongst a friendly and like minded group of people. Some were Decanter magazine staff, some are doing courses at Plumpton and some like me working in a wine shop whilst studying for the WSET Diploma. It was extremely useful to share experiences.

Another day, another burgundy (or two)

I've opened the two other wines in the Waitrose case. The Savigny-les-Beaune is bright with a nice clean nose and a vegetative edge along with some underlying strawberries. It has a lot more spice to it than the Chorey so I'm not sure I like it quite as much. Mind you on a scale of 0 to 10 they are probably both 8.

But the Geverey has turned out to be a stunner. It's from Domaine Heresztyn (no - I can't pronouce that either) and to begin with all I could really smell were vegetative overtones. It's now been opened a few hours and it seems to have transformed itself. Silky smooth and light with a taste of strawberries and blackcurrant. Maybe I opened it too early which is why I was initially a little disappointed - but I am still learning......

My first exposure to good Burgundy

I have just bought a case from Waitrose Direct. It has three quality 2004 burgundies in it -

• Chorey-les-Beaune
• Savigny-les-Beaune
• Gevery Chambertin

So far I've tasted the Chorey. A bright almost pinkey red with strawberries on the nose and also on the palate along with some spice and enough acidity to make this wine worth keeping in the cellar (if I had one).

Anyone who has done the Diploma will know of the importance of following the Systematic Approach to Tasting and so I've been keeping notes that follow that approach. However I also put brief tasting notes up on a wine site I've found which encourages wine lovers to post the wines they like. It's a UK site called Bottletalk. I'm "Grapefan" on this site also.

The start

I'm into the second month of my 24 + months of studying for the WSET Diploma. And I think I've made it more difficult for myself by doing it distance learning. Most people turn up to classes on a day release or block weekly basis. I have not chosen this route as I'm paying for my own studying and the distance learning option is around half the cost (although I'm paying for my own tasting wine - more on that later).

I attended the one day introductory session last week at the WSET offices in London and was told that distance learning students, as opposed to the ones who turn up and have lectures, do well at the theory papers but the classroom taught ones do better with the tastings. Guess I'll just have to work hard at the tasting bit. Gareth Lawrence, the Diploma programme manager, also likened the Diploma to the first year of a University degree course. So far this feels much harder!