Diploma unit 4 and 5 results

I got my WSET Diploma units 4 and 5 results yesterday. Although I got a pass in both I'm feeling a little disappointed. I failed the unit 5 sparkling tasting paper but got a merit in the theory and I got a pass in both the tasting and theory papers for the spirits.

I know I should be pleased to have got a pass in both papers but I had set myself a high standard and was aiming for a merit overall in the sparkling. Getting a merit in the spirits just wasn't on my radar as I'm not, in common with every other Diploma student I talk to, at all interested in spirits. I'm doing my Diploma to increase my knowledge and enjoyment of wine not spirits.

Failing the sparkling paper is a bit of a puzzle as I thought I had done OK on it. But reading through my previous post on it I am sure the Vouvray let me down and I suppose my descriptors on the other 2 just weren't detailed enough.

Well done to the WSET however for getting the results out in 10 weeks instead of the 13 they quote.

Fast Track to France

I've just finished a busy wine related week. On Monday I was helping out at a Chianti Classico event which I'll write up shortly and from Tuesday to Thursday I was working on the Fast Track to France stand at the LIWSF.

The idea behind the Fast Track to France stand was to showcase 40 AOC wines which had been selected by a UK panel of professionals during a blind tasting. These were a representative selection of French AOC wines from across the country and at different price points. I had 2 favourite whites which were Skalli's 2006 Clos Poggiale from Corsica made from Vermentino and Château Mas Neuf's 2007 Compostelle from Costieres de Nimes made from Roussanne with a touch of Viognier, both unusual and very pleasant.

I had the pleasure of working with Keiko again whom I first met at the IWC, and also with Brett Jones who has his own business doing tastings and running a wine club amongst other things. They were both great company and we worked together well as a team.

The whole event was a great opportunity to meet up with old friends and to taste a wide range of wines although as I was working, tasting time was very limited. Call me biased if you like, but I thought the way Sopexa set up both the Fast Track stand and the 100 Vin de Pays medal winners stand was just ideal. You could taste without any pressure from the producer.

WSET Diploma unit 3 essays

As a distance learning Diploma student I'm encouraged to send in an essay each month which will be assessed and returned to me. This way it will be a good check on the level of detail I'm covering in my studying. It's a slightly artificial situation however as the essays are done under “open book” conditions, although the guidance does say you should not have any material actually open during the 30 minutes you are allocated to write the answer.

There are several challenges with this way of learning.

Firstly, the guidance says no more than 1,000 words and you can only take 30 minutes. I make that an absolute maximum of 33 words per minute and I certainly cannot type that fast.

Secondly, although the 30 minutes replicates exam conditions (the Unit 3 exam has 5 questions each of 30 minutes plus 30 minutes prep and review time, totalling 3 hours) in the exam it's all about how quickly you can write. In common with most people I actually handwrite very little so I need to practice this to ensure I can physically write for two and half hours without getting cramp.

The last challenge is that the answers are expected to be not only fact but opinion. I don't have a problem with that it's just a different approach that requires a bit more thought and care. Take the question I've just submitted an answer for:

“Rioja has been overtaken in quality by some emerging Spanish DO regions. Discuss whether the above statement is true illustrating your answer by reference to FIVE other DO regions.”

For the other Diploma units the question would have more likely simply been “Describe what makes Rioja Spain's number 1 quality wine region”. The trick with this would have been to get down as many facts as you could about geography, climate, soil, viticulture, vinification, maturation, producers and the marketplace and you would have been guaranteed a reasonable mark. Now I have to know enough about all the other regions in Spain and make a qualitative assessment on their quality (excuse the pun) before I can answer. Well at least I think this is what I have to do. I'll find out when I get my assessment back in the next week or so.

The next subject is due at the end of May. The question is

“What does blending other varieties with Chardonnay achieve”?”

I guess I'll be using my new tool Able Grape to help in this as I'm not really sure where to start. There will be stuff in the OCW but, unlike Rioja which has a heading in the OCW, I doubt I'll find much under the heading of “chardonnay blending”.

Cadman Fine Wines

I attended Cadman's recent tasting which was held in a wonderful private members club in the heart of Mayfair in Central London. The building was all you would expect with high ornate ceilings, grand windows and soberly dressed staff. It was a great location to showcase 41 of Cadman's wines ranging from an £8.49 Trebbiano to a £105 1996 Chateau Palmer. And it was a great tasting exercise for my WSET Diploma. 35 wines in 2 hours works out at 17 per hour. The unit 3 exam is 12 wines in one hour during which I also have to write extensive tasting notes and work out what the wine is. It's real challenge.

The tasting highlights from the event for me were a Touraine Sauvignon, a Beaune premier cru and the mature Bordeaux.

The 2006 Domaine Baron Touraine Sauvignon was, at £8.50, the second cheapest wine of the evening and showed, with its intense nose of gooseberry and nettles balanced by a refreshing acidity and good length, that the Kiwis don't have a monopoly on great sauvignon. By contrast the Will Taylor sauvignon from Adelaide Hills was disappointing but I can't see a reason to spend £13.99 on a bottle of 2005 sauvignon when the wine just begs to be drunk when it is young and vibrant.

The 2000 1er cru Beaune, Les Epenottes from Bouree at £22.49 had probably the best aromas I experienced all evening with intense fruit and undergrowth and was very well balanced fruit, acidity and tannins. It was rivalled by the Cos d'Estournel but at £99 per bottle that is way out of my league.

It pays to try the Italian wines with the labels that don't say Chianti or Brunello or Montepulciano. I loved Le Sorgenti Gaiaccia 2004, a Tuscan IGT made from sangiovese for £13.50. The nose of blackcurrants and spice was matched by good acidity and slightly drying tannins which would make this a great food wine. Speaking of Brunellos the La Serena Brunello di Montalcino 2000 at £27.50 needs a lot more time for the tannins to be subdued.

There was a 2002 Chateau L'Evangile from Pomerol, a Chateau Pontet Canet 1998, a Chateau Leoville Las Cases 1997, the 1996 Chateau Palmer and Chateau Cos d'Estournel 1996. These were all a great way to end the evening with and showed how the 2005 Bordeaux on tasting still have a long, long way to go to develop.

I was impressed with the whole organisation of the event and I can see myslef buying from them in the near future.

German and Alsace rieslings

Since studying Germany and Alsace for my WSET Diploma unit 3 I've become a real fan of their rieslings. I love the light freshness to them and, as we are coming up to the summer months, the lower alcohol content of the German ones makes them very appealing for lunchtime drinking in the garden. I've previously posted tasting notes and comments extensively on my blog and have included wines from the Nahe and Rheingau as well as the traditional home of the grape, the Mosel.

I was fortunate enough to attend a seminar run at the WSET by the oenologist for the Alsace Wine Council where they featured a number of grand cru rieslings. As well as tasting the wines the presenter talked about the influences of soil, climate and topography and the matching of Alsace wines with Asian food. You can see a broadcast of the seminar in 2 parts over at Drinks Business TV.

The one problem I have with wines from Germany however is the labeling. Take a recent tasting for example of Winzervein Hoheburg Ruppertsberger Hoheburg Riesling Kabinett or Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt Scharzofberger riesling spatlese. Unless you spend 5 minutes with your wine reference books, the labels are pretty undecipherable. It's no wonder German wines don't sell as well as they should as the labels aren't very helpful unless of course you speak German and have a degree in German geography.

This post was put up as a contribution to Wine Blogging Wednesday.

International Wine and Spirit Competition

I've just completed my first day as an Associate Judge at the International Wine and Spirits Competition and it's been a very rewarding experience. I've learned a huge amount and gained some reassurance about my palate.

The tasting was Italy with a lot of the wines from Emilia Romagna. Along with wines based on sangiovese and montepulciano we judged:

• a still red lambrusco grasparossa DOC
• Rubicone IGT – this was a blend of sangiovese and montepulciano
• Albagna di Romagna IGT – the albana grape is new to me
• Picolit DOC – a late harvest sweetie from the Veneto region
• Lacrima di Morro d'Alba DOC – the lacrima grape has a very unusual aroma somewhat like gewurtztraminer although the OCW describes it as “wild strawberries”

All these illustrate the complexity and confusion with wines from Italy. I've just started studying it as part of my Diploma unit 3 and this tasting has brought to life the 1000 different types of wine referred to in the WSET notes. I've used the book I recently reviewed to help me find out where many of the lesser known DOC's and IGT's have come from and I'm beginning to find the book more useful than I first imagined.

The reassurance about my palate has come from seeing that my scores were not that dissimilar to the other 7 judges. There were maybe 4 or 5 scores I gave to the 62 wines we tasted which were up to 10 points adrift out of the 100 point scale, but the other panel members found themselves in similar circumstances occasionally. As a distance learning Diploma student I need that check and balance every now and again as I taste on my own more than those who attend lectures.

I was very impressed with the organisation and support provided by the IWSC staff and I'm looking forward to my next judging day in August.