Why are the glasses so weeny? WSET Class 2 - Part 1

Yesterday, I rushed into Vancouver, picked up the car from the dealership after some repairs, spotted my youngest waiting for a bus and picked her up, had a lovely dinner for two at McDonalds, then breezed into WSET class number two - early!

Back it up.

Why McDonald's?

Both my youngest and I had courses in Vancouver. She is taking a bridal makeup course (on the way to certification in movie makeup) and I, of course, had my wine course.

We both needed something to sustain ourselves and were in a hurry and ended up in my favourite place to hate - McDonalds. I do like how you can tap a screen to order and I really like how they have the calories for each item which helped me make a less horrible choice.

Regular glass on left, weeny glass on left...

After I dropped off Jude, it was off to WSET and I was pleased to be a bit early. Part of my wanted to be the "keep it fresh" teacher and sit with totally different people but entropy took hold and I sat down with my group from the previous week. This turned out to be a good thing because we were all more social this week and had opportunities to discuss each pair of blind wines as the night went on. I  also heard about a couple of great poke places (fish and rice dish that is sort of Hawaiian take on sushi) that I will have to try next week.

Onto my big beef - the weeny glasses. The glasses we use for tasting is my biggest complaint about the course. Yes, I understand that you need the same glass for every wine to reliable tell the difference but, damn, they are so weeny?

Why do I care? Because it is difficult for me to figure out the nose with such weeny glasses. I just can't get my big honker far enough down the bowl of the glass! I find that I am struggling a bit with accurately discerning the nose with such a small glass....

Onto the wines....

The first two wines were an interesting blind tasting challenge. They were both whites and were both from the same region.

The region they were both from was Alsace. Alsace is famous for three main wines - Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Gerwürztraminer. 

The first one was a Pinot Gris  (obviously from Alsace) which was a Muré 2014 ($27). It was a clear, medium, lemon coloured wine with apple and citrus fruit on the nose. Interestingly, our teacher, Dave, said that it was off dry but I would say half the room thought it was a dry wine. However, I think Dave is correct.

The wine had high acid and a medium finish. Overall a good wine. 

The second was also from Alsace and was a better wine. It was a Gerwürztraminer Grand Cru which means it is the top of the producers in the region. The Pfaff Gerwürztraminer Steinert ($31) had a deep colour as well as a floral and tropical nose. The taste was off dry (and it actually tasted off dry!) and was much more complex with nectarine, mango, and caramel. It had medium acidity (which was why you could taste the sweetness) and a medium + finish. This full bodied wine was rated as Very Good. 

I do like a good Gerwürztraminer and have bought it many times in the Okanagan. I might be inclined to snap up a bottle of this for a special occasion....

By the way, when we taste, we are asked to guess the varietal of the wine. I think that is something that comes with practice but I did do better on the next one. 

This time the two wines had a similar grape - both were, in fact, made with the same varietal. 

The first was a Chablis (Chardonnay grapes grown in the Chablis area of France) made by Garnier and Fils and was a Premiere Cru (which is between Villages and Grand Cru). It was a 2015 vintage and goes for $48.

It was a pale wine (so a cooler climate) and was clean with apples and pears on the nose. The taste was pretty complex being dry with citrus, lemon, grapefruit and a chalkiness. It was high in acidity, light bodied, and had a medium plus finish. This was a Very Good wine.

The last wine before the break was a Trefethen 2014 Chardonnay from Napa Valley in California. It was a medium wine in colour and medium intensity in the nose where I smelled apple and peach. It was a warmer climate wine. 

On the palate was medium acidity and it was dry with higher alcohol (14%). I tasted lemon, peach, tropical flavours as well as some associated with oak such as vanilla and toast. Dave did mention banana but I didn't taste it. This was rated as Very Good. 

After we tasted each pair of wines and before Dave told us what they were, we discussed in our table what we thought the wines were. I am new to this game and I find it super challenging but I did get these ones - probably thanks to the two Chardonnay wines I had a few blog entries ago! Sadly, someone else in the group mentioned Chardonnay first to our group - but I am a bit reticent to blurt out what I think wines are - at least at this point. 

More wines to come on the next blog entry including something zinfully good! If only I had a decent sized glass....