This ain't gonna be a walk in the park - WSET 3 - first class

After doing really well on my WSET level 2 last year, I thought that it would be a good idea for me to  complete my WSET 3. After all, I got an amazing 96% on my exam so I thought that It would be a fairly easy jump to get my next level.

Wrong.

Our instructor from Fine Vintage, Lynn, was clear. I am going to have to WORK to pass this course. Really hard. Don't get behind or that's it!

One good thing is that the part I was most worried about, the blind tasting, apparently isn't as hard as I thought. So, one silver lining....

Other than scaring the  crap out of us in the first five minutes, Lynn also went over a few things but did not get too in-depth as we just received our materials. Luckily, I borrowed my son-in-law's WSET 3 materials at the beginning of summer and I have at least a good background on what we are doing.

Topics covered included the art of tasting (appearance, nose, and palate). She also discussed the different wine faults that you can come across. The whole concept of food and wine pairing was also discussed, although this is pretty much the same as in level 2. Finally, she went over the new tasting grid for level 3.

Basically, it builds on the level 2 grid. There are the same categories with a few extra (e.g. mousse- for champagne, ageability,  three kinds of flavour characteristics) as well as a slew of new aroma and flavour descriptors.

I sat with another just-retired gentleman, Owen, and a bright, young woman, Verity. We got along really well and think alike - especially when we unanimously got the first two wines wrong!

I also knew two people, well, sort of. Kelly works at Blackwood Lane (I think my favourite Fraser Valley winery) and is taking the course. I see her almost every time I take a tour there. Beside her was April, a young woman who works at the same place my youngest does, Brewery Creek. Somehow she put two and two together and figured I was the dad!

Onto the wines:

All of the tastings are blind tastings. This evening all of the tastings were in pairs.

The first pair were two bubbly wines - a tank style and a traditional Champagne.

When you hear 'tank style' it means that all the wine is put into a giant tank and yeast is added to the tank after wine has been made to provide the fizz. Prosecco is a tank method wine and sometimes gets a bad rap - although I really like Prosecco. This wine wasn't really close to Prosecco - in fact, our group thought it was the Champagne!

The wine was a non-vintage Von Buhl sparkling Riesling from Pfalz, Germany ($36). It had some nice fruit aromas which were pronounced and very pleasing. It was a high acidity, off dry wine with medium flavour intensity and medium finish. Interestingly, the bubbles didn't persist on the palate - they escaped rather quickly - and so, this is called 'aggressive' in terms of the mousse! Ready to drink. Vivino gives it 3.8 stars.

The next wine was a non-vintage Pierre Peters Blanc de Blanc Grand Cru Champagne (made from Chardonnay - $104).  I felt it was rather light on the nose but this may have been my nose confusing lightness for complexity. It was fresh and a bit off dry with medium acidity and medium plus length. There were stone fruits and biscuit on the palate as well as delicate mousse. I still can't believe we got it so wrong - and i don't think I'd pay the $104 -  but this one was ready to drink now, I felt. Vivino gives it 4.1 stars which surprised me.

The next two wines were made from Chardonnay grape. I'm getting better at guessing the grape and I did that with these ones. 

The first was a 2015 Louis Jadot Macron-Villages Chardonnay from Burgundy ($34). It had a pleasant nose with apple, peach and pear with a medium plus intensity. On the palate, it seemed a bit off dry and was fruity with peach, apricot, and honey as well as some vanilla denoting oak. It was a good wine - balance was just OK and had a bit of a short finish and is ready to drink now. Vivino gives it 3.6 stars. 

The second was a classic Burgundy Chardonnay - s 2015 Jacques Prieur Clos de Mazeray Mersault ($135). The nose was less intense - a medium - but had some complex aromas including orange peel, apple, and peach. It was less fruity on the palate - there was lemon zest - but there were other rich tastes including mushroom and toasted nuts. At first, I thought this was not that flavourful and then I realized that the flavours were complex and subtle - an outstanding wine that could age for another 10 years! Vivino gave it 4.1 stars. 

Our next two wines were both whites which we had to compare. I guessed the Riesling and Owen guessed the Pinot Grigio, for what it's worth. 

The Pinot Grigio was a 2017 Tolloy Piniot Grigio from Italy ($26). It had quite the nose with aromas of honeysuckle (I think), peach and pear. On the palate, it had high acidity, included flavours of citrus like lemon and lemon peel, and had a medium finish. We rated it as good and ready to drink. I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of the Pinot Grigio style (I prefer Pinot Gris style with this grape) and this did not change my mind. This got 3.9 stars on Vivino.

The Riesling was a 2015 Fritz Haag Spatels Riesling from Mosel, Germany ($52).  The nose was pronounced - oh my! There was a strong petrol smell as well as nectarine. On the palate, it was actually medium sweet with peach, apricot, honey, and high acidity. This wine was balanced, intense, complex and had a long finish - outstanding! It has definite ageing potential. Vivion gives this one 4.1 stars.

The last two wines were a rosé and a red. We did some cool stuff including sucking a lemon, eating a chili cracker, or having goat cheese to see the effect on the taste of the wine. Very cool!

The first was one of my favourite Rosés, Joie Farms - a 2017 made form Pinot Noir and Gamay - from the Okanagan ($26). It was not as pronounced on the nose (I only got cherries), but there were lots of flavours on the palate including grapefruit, cherries, and strawberries. This was definitely a dry wine with low tannins (like most Rosa´s). I rated it very good - could have been a bit more balanced - and Vivino gave it 3.7 stars. 

The final wine of the evening was a 2014 Stack House Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa ($92). This dark wine - purple, in fact - had lots of aromas including primary (from fermentation - plum, black cherry), secondary (from the winemaker - cedar), and tertiary (from ageing - mushroom and earth). This was repeated with the palate with the addition of bell pepper, cocoa, and wood. There were high tannins and high acidity and full body. This was considered very good by the group and earned a rating of 4 on Vivino. Disappointingly, the price in BC (must be at a private store) is $92 but the average price on Vivino is $44. Sigh.

Well, onto my homework. What homework, you may ask? Read chapters 1 to 7, do a tasting note using the grid, and then do the homework assignment we received in our email yesterday. Here's the intro to one of the questions...

For each of the below scenarios, discuss which vineyard management techniques should be considered to achieve quality grapes for wine production and two examples of wine regions that fall into the climate category.

Sigh.

This definitely ain't gonna be a walk in the park!

I Would Walk 500 Miles - Naramata Wine Walk Part 1

Naramata Walk Pt. 1

We love to walk. My wife and I enjoy a nice stroll or hike. We also enjoy a nice wine tasting. So we decided to combine them in one, sun-drenched, route-marching, wine-slurping day.

Naramata Bench is an area of the Okanagan stretching north from Penticton along the Okanagan Lake. There are around 45 wineries along the bench which is about 15 kilometres by road from the village of Naramata to the city of Penticton. We decided to walk and visit some of them.

We drove from Kelowna and arrived at the Naramata  Courtyard Suites which is a little motel that has been revamped and was a cozy place to stay (I think we paid about $150). We parked our car, checked in with the motel, and headed off.

The first place we were going to visit was Bella Sparkling because, at 11 in the morning, nothing is better than some bubbles! About half way there, which was in the opposite direction than the rest of the wineries were, I noticed that there weren't a lot of signs to the winery and I was heavily dependent on my Map app. Checking their web site, I realized that the winery was only open on Saturday and Sunday - and this was a Monday! We turned around and headed back towards the motel.

Getting out of Naramata was arguably the hardest part of the walk. It was a pretty steep, sustained hill but thankfully it was still a bit cool. There were a couple wineries right in Naramata but we wanted to get a couple kilometres along before we stopped.

Posing by the ironwork at Serendipity Winery.

Our first winery for actual tasting was Serendipity. They were 'just off the road' - or at least, that's what I told my wife. "See, it's right there!' A good kilometre or so down a steep hill, we came to the gates of the winery, followed by another steep hill into the tasting room.

Being a little off the road, it was not terribly busy. The person behind the counter was quite friendly and we enjoyed tasting the wines they had on offer. One of my favourite was the 2016 Rosé ($22) which was crisp and fruity. It also had a rich red colour, unlike some other rosés on the market. It is made of all red grapes.

We also purchased the 2016 Viognier (also $22) which is a fuller bodied white and one that has a wonderful taste. We also considered getting the Pinot Noir but preferred to wait until a later date. 

I'm sure this happens all the time, especially considering the number of cyclists visiting the different wineries, but we thought we were quite clever n asking the winery to hold the purchased wine for us until we returned the next day with the car. 

After hiking up the hill to the gate and the next hill that led to the road, we continued on our journey. The main road at this point was quite pleasant to walk.

Outside Joie Farm Winery in their little jardin. 

We skipped a couple more wineries and then went down from the road to visit Joie Farm Winery. I love their Rosé - but it is easily available at the liquor store. I was excited to try some of their other wines and I was not disappointed! Their Rosé was, of course, wonderful but we enjoyed their other wines as well. Our service was excellent - the guy behind the counter was a teacher from Ontario whose brother lives in the Okanagan so he decided to work and holiday over the summer!

The 2016 "En Famille" Reserve Riesling ($24) was a fruity, delicious wine that is just a touch off dry (in the German 'spätlese' style). It was a juicy, delicious wine and we ended up with two bottles. Although great with a variety of food, this is also a wine to enjoy on its. own.

The 2017 Noble Blend ($22) is a blend of Gerwurz, Riesling, Pinot Auxerrois, Pinot Blanc and Muscat. This is another fruity white that would be good with certain foods but would also be wonderful sipping on the deck.

I made arrangements to pick up the wine the next day. However, the winery is closed on Tuesday and I had to make arrangements to meet one of the workers to pick up our wine. She was very nice about it, though, so everything worked out!

Next up was Lake Breeze. We didn't actually do a tasting here but stopped for lunch. On their gorgeous outdoor patio,  I drank an ocean of fizzy water and used their bottle to fill up my water bottle as it was almost empty. The service was excellent as well as our lunch.

I had the Bench Burger which included one of my favourite Italian cheeses, Pecorino, as well as mushrooms and truffle aioli. Yum! Accompanying it I had a glass of their Meritage which paired well with the rather lean meat. My wife had the Grilled Chicken Sandwich which included another one of my favourite Spanish cheeses, manchego, as well as avocado cream accompanied by a food friendly Pinot Blanc.

We thought about doing a tasting there as well but, considering that we had a fair ways to go, we decided, instead, to press on.  As I walked up the hill back to the road, I felt a strange chill on the back of one of my legs. I had just applied some more sunscreen so I thought that it must be an extra thick application. However, the cold spot kept occurring, seemingly randomly. Was this some sort of strange skin condition brought on by the intense sun? Or had this hill climbing caused some sort of ligament/vein/artery issue? Did strokes start this way? I asked my wife if she could see any hideous discolouration but she couldn't see any.

Finally, I decided to take drink out of my water bottle. My full water bottle. That was now half empty because the gas from the fizzy water was forcing some of the liquid through the top - and onto my strangely chilled leg!

After the water episode, we hit a fairly long stretch of road that was bereft of wineries. Up and down we went, with no wine and just fizzy water that kept escaping from my water bottle. We probably spent an hour or so going from Lake Breeze (about the 2600 block) to Bench 1775 (1700 block. In the city, those nine blocks would be fairly close but out on the bench, it seemed to take forever!

Finally, we arrived at Bench 1775. It was by far the busiest winery we tried. The guy doing the tasting was polite but not overly friendly. Maybe because we were all sweaty? The wines were nice, though, but we couldn't do the same deal that we did at every other winery on the bench. However, the guy did waive the tasting fee and we did go back the next day and purchased up our wine.

We purchased two wines at Bench 1775. The first was their Brut Rosé ($22). This Chardonnay and Pinot Noir blend was crisp and just a bit fruity but would be wonderful on it's own or with something that wasn't too heavy. This is a killer value as it is done in the traditional method (like real Chanpagne).

The other wine was a 2016 Semillon ($19). This is made of wine from two different vineyard, one in Naramata (cooler) and one in Oliver (hotter) so the wine ends up being tasty ad complex. A really good food wine (chicken, fish, pork, etc.).

Happily, after we had visited Bench 1775, the vineyards seemed to be closer together. Mind you, at this point, if the winery was up a steep hill or down by the water, we tended to skip it as we wanted to make it to Poplar Grove in time for dinner. Some of the ones that we missed out that I really wanted to see up to this point included Nichol, Kettle Valley, Foxtrot (although you need an appointment), and Terra Vista (Spanish varietals). If only they splashed out for an outdoor escalator.....

Tiny bubbles! WSET Class #7 - Part 1

Ah, bubbles.

They tickle your nose, and stimulate your palate. Too much imbibing and there's silly behaviour or at least a headache in store.

But that was our first half of WSET class tonight - bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles!

We first looked at how bubbly wine is made - and basically there are three ways.

First is the traditional way - and this is how they make champagne. Grape juice is fermented and then the wine is blended (in Champagne, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier) and placed in bottles where more yeast and sugar is added to begin a second fermentation. That is when the winemaker goes through the tedious job of turning or riddling the bottles (the 'remuage') a quarter turn every day. The sediment collects at the neck, the wine develops yeasty, bready characteristics, and then the neck is chilled and the yeast and sediment is ejected from the bottle and the bottles are topped up and that's it.

Second is the transfer method. The second fermentation happens like the traditional way but the wine is just dumped into a big tank and the yeast and sediment is filtered out. No need for riddling, but not quite as good as the traditional method.

Finally is the tank method where, basically, everything happens in giant tanks. This is how wines like Prosecco are made.

Which reminds me.... when we were in Rome, we spent a day doing a wonderful cooking course where our group prepared an appetizer, salad, pasta, main course and dessert. It was wonderful! I remember when we were eating, we had some Prosecco after the pasta. Our chef instructor said something like, "The reason we have Prosecco is to open up your stomach so that it can receive even more food." And it worked!

Our first two wines were a couple of sparkling wines.

The first was a Henkell Trocken - a very famous sparkling wine. It was clear lemon pale in colour and had a medium intensity on the nose with aromas of stone fruit such as pear as well as a floral aroma. On the palate, it had aggressive mousse. This means that the bubbles were quite strong - you really want them creamy rather than aggressive. Again, there were flavours of stone fruit and apple. It was off dry, had light body and medium plus acidity, and a medium minus finish. It was merely Acceptable, had 11.5% alcohol, and was $15.

The second was the real deal - Champagne. And not just some everyday fizzy plonk....  It was pale lemon and clear and had medium intensity on the nose with aromas of lime, grapefruit, biscuit , bread, lees and croissants(!). On the palate, it had similar tastes and also the desirable creamy mousse, was dry, had high acidity and medium minus body. It also had a medium plus finish. This was a Premiere Cru from Pierre Glimonnel et Fils, was a blanc de blanc (which means it was made of only Chardonnay), had high acidity and cost $80. I would rate this one Very Good.

I can appreciate the bready taste of champagne but I'm not sure that I really like it. That led to our next two wines, one a sparkling tank wine and one a more natural wine.

This one was my favourite "opening the stomach" wine, Prosecco. It was pale, lemon and clear.

It had medium minus intensity on the nose with of citrus and stone food. There was also some floral aromas. Tasting on the palate, there was a creamy mousse, stone fruit, lime and medium plus acidity, off dry, light body and a fairly short finish. Overall it was Good wine made by Gabriel by Adriano Adami in the tank method and cost $30. 

Our final wine for this blog was a Pares Balta Brut Cava. it was pale, lemon and clear on the nose and was made with the xarallo  grape. There was medium plus intensity with aromas of bread, pastry, apricot, and, yes, rubber! On the palate was a creamy mousse with similar tastes to the nose as well as peach and smoke. It had medium plus acidity, medium body and was dry. A medium plus finish topped it off!

It was interesting to taste the bready, biscuity taste of the nice Champagne or Cava. Unfortunately, I am quite happy with a wine without that bread taste. However, I now know what to look for if I ever doe this again!

Mega Tasting at Road 13 - Okanagan Spring Wine Festival Part 2

After we left Hester Creek, our several bottles of wine clinking in the cardboard case, we loaded up the car, piled in, and headed for Road 13. This is a winery I have been to before and have enjoyed many different bottles of their wine over the years. One of our good friends really loved the wine and, in fact, had it at their daughter's wedding a few years ago.

My brother-in-law is a member of Road 13's wine club and needed his spring case picked up so we were more than happy to do so. We entered the wine shop and explained our purpose for being there. We also mentioned that we would like a wine tasting. When faced with either the $5 each wine tasting or the $15 each wine tasting, we chose the former - but then my brilliant daughter piped up, "I am in the industry!"

Like a skeleton key, this opened up the tasting door. Since we were picking up a wine club member's wine and since Cait was in the industry, we were able to have a complimentary Premium tasting for three in the Lounge.

First, the whites.

We started off with a Champagne style Chenin Blanc. We were all very impressed by the clean taste and the appealing flavours of this bubbly - in fact, my wife insisted we buy a magnum. Next was the Chardonnay which was good but a bit too oaky for my tastes. Then we tried the Honest John White ($18)  which was a winner - a great BBQ wine! We ended up with a bottle of that one. Next, the 2014 Stemwinder ($18) which was a mix of Chardonnay, Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne grapes. It was also another good BBQ wine. There was also their Rosé ($18), which has always been one of my favourites with its off dry taste and patio friendly flavours. This is mostly Merlot with Pinot Noir, Gamay Noir and some other grapes in smaller amounts.

Finally, the Roussanne ($29). This is a grape that is not often seen by itself. My daughter went crazy for this one but I wasn't as impressed. It wasn't awful but just wasn't my cup of tea - or glass of wine.

Onto the reds.

First was Honest John's Red ($20). I've always liked this one a lot - and now I like it more! It was just as approachable as before but has some extra richness thanks to more reliance on Gamay Noir, giving it a Beaujolais feel. Really nice change. Then was the 2014 Seventy-Four K ($25) which was also a very drinkable, enjoyable blend of reds. The 2013 Jackpot Petit Verdot ($75) was a very nice wine with good complexity but I didn't really want to spend the price for it. 

Under the new Similkameen Collective label, there were three very nice wines which all could use some ageing. I was tempted by all of them including the 2013 Consensus (Meritage blend at $60), the 2013 GSM (GSM = Grenache, Syrah, and Merlot - very tempted at $50), and the 2014 Syrah/Viognier ($45). These are all Rhône type wines and apparently foreshadow a shift in how Road 13 is going to do its premium blends. However, the one the I absolutely fell for was 2012 Fifth Element ($49). This is, apparently again, one of the last of these Bordeaux style wines as the winery shifts away from this style. I think it's too bad as it is a rich, complex, long finishing wine that I am looking forward to cracking open in the near future (I bought two bottles).

I was really impressed by the Premium tasting - it might have even been worth the $15 if we'd had to pay it! We basically tried every single wine that they still had available! It was a great tasting. At the start, we were given the tasting by Mick, the winemaker, something that I doubt would happen in the summer, and then we were switched over to a personable young guy who was working towards his law degree. Both were very knowledgable and did a great job of informing us about the wines. A fantastic time!

Even though that was enough - the day was not over yet! Our last stop of the day was dinner and a tour at Mission Hill!

"I have a dead thing in the middle of my face" or WSET Class 1, Part 1

Last night, I embarked on my wine journey in earnest.

The WSET level 2 course offered by Fine Vintage was held last night in Vancouver. Thinking I had plenty of time, I left home and arrived around 6:15 for the 6:30 class. Damn, I thought, I hate being the first one there. To my surprise, the classroom was packed with only a two seats left! Not your typical school crowd....

I sat down at my table and met my fellow wine aficionados for the evening. Across from me was a woman from White Rock who had just sold one business and I think was getting ready to start another one involving wine. Beside me was a guy that grew as part of the family that owns Desert Hills Winery in the Okanagan and wanted to improve his knowledge of wine. Finally, at the end of the table, was a woman who works at Capilano Golf Course - I think in the restaurant. Everyone was quite friendly at the beginning of the evening but our table was pretty quiet through most of the night - I think that people take this course very seriously and it's probably good that I'm not chatting to someone while the teacher is teaching, so to speak, as I do tend to get distracted.

Speaking of our teacher, his name is Dave Munro and he is did a great job the first night, keeping us interested, using lots of humour, and showing an expert understanding of wine.

Right off, we tasted two fizzy wines. I had come to the course with the intention of spitting out the wine that I tasted but that didn't last past the first glass. I did manage to spit or dump half of most of the wines so I felt fine by the end of the evening.  Interestingly, the wine tastings were all blind. It's a really good way to train the palate and not bias yourself to a particular type of wine, but it's also really difficult!

The first wine in our fancy ISO tasting glasses was a nice bubbly champagne. It had lots of baked apple, even apple crisp and also the smell of toast caused by having the dead yeast cells (lees) being in contact with the wine. This is called autolysis and I think this info will be on the exam.....  It was not too sweet and had a high acidity and was a dry wine. Dave rated it as a very good wine - which is not hard to believe as it is a Grand Cru - the highest rating, I believe, for Champagne.

It was revealed as a Charlemagne Grand Cru Champagne that was a blanc de blanc - all Chardonnay grapes - made in 2010. The price? $96.00.

The comparison wine had an amazing almost perfume nose. There were tropical fruits, melon and even lychee in the nose. It was a sweet wine which, I found out, usually means high acidity to balance the sweetness. This was also a very good wine and Dave noted that it would make a very good breakfast wine!

This was a La Serra Moscato D'Asti from Italy made in 2015. It was only 5% so you could drink it all day! It was also just $32 a bottle.

After covering some more information about tasting, we tried that next two wines.

And this is when I realized that I had a dead thing in the middle of my face.

I thought I was doing pretty well with the tastings of the first two wines, when the third wine was passed around, I couldn't smell a damned thing! The little tasting glasses makes it difficult to jam your nose in the glass but, try as I did, I couldn't smell anything.

Of course, the know-it-alls from the course sagely nodded and pronounced "cork taint" which was so frustrating to me because I had always wanted to find out what it smelled like. And, thanks to my dead thing, it didn't't smell.

Happily, when instructed to drink (and spit) this spoiled wine, it truly tasted hideous! Few things have ever tasted this bad!

This was an Alsace Riesling made by Gustave Lorentz, and it costs $38 for a hopefully unspoiled batch!

The final wine before the break was another Riesling. This was a clear wine that was German so it was rated as a "spatlese" that was medium sweet with high acidity, and a medium finish. The pronounced nose included green apple, apricot and petrol (!). Stone fruits like peach and apricot were also noticeable in the tasting notes.

This was a German Riesling from a Mosel producer called St. Urbans that was 11% and cost $82.

I was interested by the range of people and also the knowledge of wine. One woman said that she only knew the difference between red and white wine while others knew so much, especially about the wine tasting, that I felt as dead as my nose.....

Next time, I will look at the reds we tasted and a special kind of wine that I have never tried before!