I skipped writing a blog about day 5 to focus on studying and getting a full night a sleep before the test, if you’re following me on Facebook I made a couple of posts there. Day 6 was about food pairing and sparkling wine production, followed by an extended lunch, and then the test.
The test consisted of a blind tasting in which we made notes for two wines, 50 multiple choice questions, and “4 short answer questions,” which was really more like 16-20 short answer questions under 4 categories.
When I walked in that morning I didn’t think I had a chance of passing. By the time it was over, I thought I might have passed. If I did, it won’t be with high marks. It’ll be 4 months before I know for sure. The tests have to be graded in England, to get them there they have to put them in a brief case and handcuff it to a secret agent’s hand, the only way for him to get a key is to deliver the case to a secluded English monastery, where it will be graded by holy virgins, and then mailed back to me. I’m assured all of these steps are necessary.
The tasting portion of the test has always been the part that gives me the most anxiety. I’m not confident in any system that pretends it can objectively measure subjective experiences. I was overthinking each tasting in class that morning and had concerns I would carry trend into the test.
The first wine was sweet, at first I thought it might be a Sauternes, but based on comments made by the instructor, I didn’t think that was possible they would select a dessert wine for the test. Under those circumstances, it had to be a late harvest Riesling, but I didn’t get some of the notes I always think I find in Riesling. The second was clearly a Cabernet Sauvignon with oak influence. I made my notes and was confident with what I had, it wasn’t necessary for me to identify each wine, but simply to make tasting notes about them and determine quality. I called both “very good,” noting they could benefit from aging.
The written test was straight-forward, I didn’t know everything, but I knew what I didn’t know. I had to guess on about 20/50 questions on the multiple choice, so I should pass that. The short answer section had one section on the Rhone, a region I am not terribly familiar with (their wines are often out of my budget). I answered to the best of my ability. If 55% is a passing grade, I think there’s a decent chance I passed. If I didn’t, there’s another test at the beginning of next year and I can reseat the test if I would like.
After class went to the bar and ordered a PBR. I was the second person to finish. As my classmates came out, some left immediately and some joined me at the bar. I learned the two wines were in fact a Sauternes and a Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon. My determinations will miss points on both glasses, not a guarantee of failure, but whether I pass or not will depend strongly on how I rated structure and flavor compared to the instructor. It seems everyone had been fooled by the Cab, and the Sauternes was a 50/50 split. One girl was so stressed she was dry heaving in the lobby. Some students were distraught that they had awarded a Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon high marks. I assured them all there’s no shame in enjoying Barefoot from time to time, as I sipped my from my can of PBR.
Regardless of whether I passed or failed the class, I think I’m done with WSET. I’m glad I took the class, it confronted me with a lot of things I had been curious about, but had not made the time to learn. If I were to take another class, that would be the reason, to take me out of my comfort zone. Moving forward, I’m very curious now about what research has been done on the neuroscience of tasting, what do we know objectively? I want to do some reading there, along with my regular reading on regions, grapes, etc.
As far as wines go, I have a greater familiarity with some of the regions that have been outside my budget for a while. I think I’m going to try to tackle some of those for the blog in the upcoming months. Also, from this post forward I’m going to change format a bit. I’ve been using the header “wine diary” for nearly every post, but moving forward I’m going to reserve that for bottles and experiences that have greater personal impact. I’ll continue making weekly wine posts, hopefully more than once a week, under a new heading. That’ll probably start this Wednesday… I’m sitting on a backlog of about 20 bottles I have photos and tastings notes on that need to be posted.
Also, I’m hoping to get into a vineyard for photos at some point this summer, maybe around Traverse City, Southern Illinois, or in Missouri.
I had a long debate about what wine I wanted to drink after the test, I thought about having Champagne and Popeye’s, or maybe just a bottle of retsina, but by the time I got home I really just wanted to get back to what I had been doing before the class started, so tonight I had a this Nomad Merlot from Aurelia Visinescu in Romania. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may remember this producer from my last blog on their Fetească Neagră.
I think this wine was maybe just past it’s prime, curiously this is older than the bottle I bought at the same store a year ago. The cork had stains running about half way up, based on that and the color, I’m thinking this has seen some oxidation, probably a bit more than it really needed. Even so, still quite drinkable.
This is their 2014, with flavors of red plum, raspberry, game, leather, and forest floor. It had mild tannin, with medium marks across the board for acid, body, intensity, and finish. I imagine this was a wine intended to be consumed young, so if you find a bottle, look for something more recent than I found or, better yet, just pick up that Fetească Neagră instead.