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!

Picky Pinot - the Heartbreak Grape - WSET Class number 3 - Part 2

I started off talking about my Pinot Noir experiences during my last blog as a way to introduce the Pinot Noir tasting at my WSET course this week - but I got a bit carried away....

Pinot Noir is a difficult grape to grow. If you've had some less than stellar Pinot Noir - and I have had my share - it can turn you off wines made with the grape. That exact thing had happened to me for a few years but, a couple of years ago, I tried some Pinot Noir from the Okanagan that was so good that it restored my faith in, what winegrowers call, the heartbreak grape.

Pinot Noir originates from Burgundy. It is an elegant and delicate grape, full of red fruit flavours, which can age well and become more complex. It usually has light body and light to medium tannins, and you have got to be really careful taking with new oak because it can overpower this delicate wine.

The Cote d'Or in Burgundy is divided into two parts, the Cote de Nuits and the Cote de Beaune. Basically, the Cote de Beaune produces the highest amount of Pinot Noir while the Cote de Nuits produces the best wine with more intensity, complexity and length.

This is where you find such world famous (and expensive) wines like Le Chambertin Grand Cru and Domaine Romanée Conti. Let's all go to the Cote de Nuits!

What is all this stuff with crus and grand crus? Well, in France, there is a system that tells you how good the wine is and it is similar, but not identical, in each region.

In Burgundy, the basic wines are the Bourgogne wines. These are produced on flat fields and make up most of the production.

Next are the Villages wines, on still fairly flat land, named after a commune or village - say, like Gevery-Chambertin - and go for $50 - $70.

Next are the Premiere Cru wines which are on steeper land with different soil and produce higher quality wines - maybe around $100. They say Premiere Cru on the label.

Finally are the Grand Cru wines which are on the steepest parts of the valley and are so exceptional that they have their own AOC - basically their vineyard is the name. For example, Chambertin Clos de Bezé.

There are good Pinot Noir wines in California (Sonoma - Russian River, Carneros, Santa Barbera - near LA!) and in Oregon, which is said to have Pinot Noir like Burgundy. Chile has the grape in Casablanca and San Antonio and supposedly has a strawberry jam flavour.

There are good Pinot Noir wines in both South African (Walker Bay) and Australia (Yarra Valley, Worthington Peninsula). And there are some pretty awesome New Zealand Pinot Noir from Marlborough and, especially, Otago, where it is fuller body, lower acidity and intense.

Our first two Pinot Noir wines were from Burgundy.

The first was clear, pale and ruby with medium intensity on the nose and red fruit like red currant, cranberry, plum, and especially raspberry. On the palate it had high acidity - really high it seemed - medium body, light tannins, the same red fruit and a bit of oak. Due to its light body and almost short finish, our group gave it an Acceptable rating! It was a 2014 Bourgogne Les Ursulines made by Jean-Claude Boisset ($25).

The second one - ahh - the second was a different Pinot Noir!

It was clear, ruby with medium intensity. On the nose was medium intensity but many aromas including red fruit, plum, jam, fig, red cherry, rhubarb and red liquorice! There were also spices including cinnamon and nutmeg.

On the palate, there were low tannins, medium body and an almost earthy taste. The aromas I smelled were all reflected in the taste as well as some oak, black pepper, and smoke. It had a medium plus finish and our group rated it Very Good. It was a Louis Jadot, Premiere Cru, Beaune Greves from 2012 and well worth the $90 the WSET people had to pay!

Our last two Pinot Noir wines were from the New World.

First up was a California 2011 from the Russian River Valley in Sonoma made by Pedroncelli ($31). It was clear, pale,  and garnet in colour. On the nose there were some red fruit, plum and spice, all at medium intensity. More red fruit was apparent on the palate with medium plus acidity, medium minus tannins, medium body and a medium finish. It was OK but just didn't seem all that complex.

 

The last wine was a New Zealand wine from Otago from Felton Road and was a 2015 priced at $70. It was clear, pale and ruby in colour. It had a medium plus intensity on the nose and there were red fruits like strawberry and raspberry as well as cedar and oak. On the palate it had medium length and medium body with tastes of red fruit like red cherry and red currant, plum, oak, toast, vanilla, cinnamon and white pepper.

Our group really liked this and rated it very good but Dave, our instructor, said it was more of a Good Plus.

Both the New Zealand Pinot Noir and the Premiere Cru from Burgundy would make a very nice wine to drink on a special occasion. I'm not sure if I would even want to purchase the other two as they were less money but suffered from not being a flavourful enough Pinot Noir.

I leave for the Okanagan this weekend and will be undoubtedly be tasting a variety of wines. Not sure if I will be blogging on all of them but I will try to sip and slurp a couple at least.