Final Exams

Most students are finishing up the school year right now, and the pressure is on.

This coming weekend, my current class of Sommelier students will be taking their level 3 final exams. Talk about pressure. You can't imagine how much information there is to review and study prior to these final exams.

As most of you know, not only am I a Sommelier, but I am a certified wine educator too. I have been teaching classes for the International Sommelier Guild (ISG) for the past couple years. I teach level 1 (beginner), Level 2 (intermediate or Wine Steward Certification) and Level 3 (Advanced Diploma, Sommelier Certification).

My current class started their studies back in October, and minus a few holiday breaks, have been meeting every Sunday for 8 hour classes, over the past 8 months. We cover all wine subjects: viticulture, viniculture, tasting, service, regions, history and food pairing.

The level 3 class has a number of exams that they will need to pass. A passing grade is 70% on each individual exam. If you don't get at least 70% on any of the exams, you will need to retake that particular exam to earn your certification.

There are five main exams (two of which are split between midterms and finals). Some of the most difficult exams are the essays. These are split into five midterm essays and five final essays. To give you an example of these essays, see if you would be able to answer these:

Compare and contrast the following wines: Brunello di Montalcino and Carmignano. Your commentary should include grape varieties, blending options, particular climatic influences, soil, vinification methods, and aging requirement.

Compare the effect of climate, soil, vinification and grape variety on Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc versus Pouilly Fume. Describe the typical characteristics of each.

 Okay....now imagine having ten essays like that.

The second exam has to do with food pairing and the job of a Sommelier. This is broken into two portions. The first is given at the midterms, and it consists of two short answer essay questions about restaurant service, staff training, and inventory control. The second portion of the exam is given as a final exam, and it consists of two wine pairing menus (classic menu and contemporary menu). Each menu has five courses (appetizer, appetizer, main, cheese, dessert). The students are required to suggest wines for each item (including name, vintage, grape) and justify their pairing. The classic menu requires one French wine and one other Old world wine for each course. The contemporary menu requires two new world wines for each course. Each course is a progression, so the choice of wines must be made so that each wine stands on its' own.

The third exam involves creating a restaurant. Each student is given a $20,000 budget to create a wine inventory. They must create the restaurant, food and wine menu, staff training program, and two wine pairing dinners. This is a project they have been working on for the last 8 months. Now they will be bringing this to the final exams, and present their restaurant to a guest Sommelier, who will act as a guest in their new restaurant. They must go through a full service, as the Sommelier in the restaurant, helping with wine choices for the food on their menu, and doing a full sparkling wine service as well as a decanting service

The fourth exam is a blind tasting. Not just any blind tasting, but 22 wines/spirits. The first round will consist of 3 sparkling wines, then 6 white wine, 6 red wines, and 7 other beverages (including spirits, beer, fortified wines, and 2 faulty wines). They must write down accurate tasting notes including appearance, nose, palate, and their conclusion as to the grape, country and subregion. Again, 70% accuracy is required to pass.

The fifth and final exam is a 200 multiple choice exam. While this might sound easy, there is so much subject matter that can be covered here, it is virtually impossible to anticipate all the potential questions that could be asked. For example, how would you do on these questions?

 1. The term appassimento refers to what process in the production of Amarone della Valpolicella DOC?

a) The air-drying of picked gapes for months before they are pressed

b) The use of demi-muid barrels in the aging of Amarone

c) The botryitization of grapes in the humid valley floor of Valpolicella

d) The addition of sugar for a resulting sweetness in the wine

2. What is the difference Between Le Montrachet and Chassagne-Monhachet?

a) The first is a Grand Cru level wine, and the second is a village level wine

b) The first is the name of a famous single vineyard, and the second is the name of the actual village it is in

c) The first only produces white wine, the second also produces a little red wine in addition to white wine

d) All of the above

3. Which of the following terms translates as “pure rice sake”?

a) Nigori

b) Junmai

c) Ginjo-shu

d) Honjozo-shu

So how did you do? Only three questions, and the answers are a, d, b

Are you ready to become a Sommelier? Ever dreamed of being one? Then you need to read a lot, and start taking courses. It is a long road, but a great education and payoff. You just need to be able to handle the stress of the exams.

Good luck to my students this coming weekend. You have all studied hard, and should be well prepared to pass the two days of testing.

Zindfandel with a Barbecue

In the United States, the first weekend of September is a holiday weekend. Labor Day typically is considered the end of the summer season. A 3-day weekend to spend time with friends and family, have a barbecue, and prepare for the Fall season. What is better than barbecue and wine?

Like most of you, I too spent Monday with friends, and a barbecue. But, being the wine guy that I am, I added a little twist to our gathering. You see, I had just finished reading "Zin: The History and Mystery of Zinfandel" by David Darlington. While the book talks about a number of different Zinfandel producers, the "battle" for supremacy really came down to Ridge and Ravenswood. So, I thought it might be fun to see which one people thought was better. A blind tasting of Zinfandel, while eating foods off the grill would be the perfect taste test.

I purchased a bottle of the Ridge 2009 Lytton Springs and the Ravenswood 2008 Dickerson Zinfandel, then asked each guest to bring a bottle along with a side dish. We ended up with seven different Zinfandels (and actually only one duplicate bottle). All the bottles where put into tasting bags (except one, since I only had six bags). Each bag was numbered. Even I did not know what bottle was in which bag...though I had a clue to one bottle which showed up very cold, versus the others...a dead giveaway on which one it was.

In addition to the Ravenswood and Ridge, we had 7 Deadly Zins 2009, San Marcos Creek 2009 Estate Zinfandel, Tobin James 2008 Dusi Vineyard Zinfandel, Earthquake 2010 Zinfandel, and Adelaida  2008 Zinfandel (not included in the blind tasting, but opened up afterwords).

There was no particular order to the tasting, so everyone kept track of which wines they tried, and were able to go back and forth to narrow down which was their favorite. We actually did the blind tasting before ever getting to the barbecue (I guess my friends just want to get down to business when it comes to drinking wine).

I took note of the comments made on each wine.

Number one was considered very unusual, and did not taste anything like the others. It had some smokiness to it, and a bit of mocha on the nose. For drinking on its' own, this was the least favorite of the group. However, when paired with the barbecue later, this was the second favorite food wine. It turns out that this was the only wine that also had Petite Sirah, and Carignane blended in. The wine definitely improved once opened for a while. If you are to drink this one, open it early or even decant it. It is a big wine. This was the Ridge 2009 Lytton Springs from Sonoma.

Number two in the tasting had mixed reviews. There was a certain minerality to it that some liked and others did not. After being opened for a while there was a bit of raisin aroma that presented itself. The finish was considered very short. This was the Ravenswood 2008 Dickerson from Napa Valley

Number three was the overall favorite. It was lighter than all the rest, and had a bit of finesse to it. On the nose there was a slight vegetal aroma, but not enough to detract from the palate. Lots of fruit forward notes, and the alcohol seemed more balanced than most. The surprise was that this was the least known winery of the bunch...it was the San Marcos Creek 2009 Estate Zinfandel from just north of Paso Robles

Number four had a nice mix of spice and jamminess, that everyone liked. I picked up some candied fruit on the nose. The alcohol was a bit more prominent, but still fairly balanced. This was the Tobin James 2008 Dusi Vineyards from Paso Robles

Number five was very fruit forward and jammy, with just a touch of spice. The alcohol was fairly aggressive, and some didn't like the bitter finish. This was the 7 Deadly Zins 2009 from Lodi.

The last wine in the blind tasting (#6) was by far the fruitiest, most jammy of the bunch. (and by far the darkest in color). This wine had the most noticeable alcohol content, and as a sipping wine was the favorite of the group (however the San Marcos won for best with sipping and food). This was the Earthquake 2010 Zinfandel from Lodi.

Lastly, we had the Adelaida 2008 Zinfandel with dinner (as we had finished off all the other Zins, so I opened up some of my private stock). This was a well balanced wine with some spice and fruit. It was not nearly as heavy as the Earthquake Zin, but not as light as the San Marcos Creek. It went very well with the barbecue.

We ended the evening with some Ghiradelli Chocolate Brownies, so I thought a Zinfandel Port might be a good finish. As it turned out, I didn't have any in my cellar, so we settled on a St Clair Port (a unique blend of Cabernet and Muscat), from New Mexico. Presented in a 500 ml ceramic bottle and a porcelain cap, the wine worked great with the brownies, and presented a nice finish to the evening.

I must point out, that most of the tasters in this group like fruitier wines, and when it comes to Zinfandel, you can find fruity to spicy and everything in between. I tend to enjoy wines that work best with the foods I'm serving. Remember, taste and wine preference is personal, don't rely on someone else's tasting notes, unless you know that you like similar style wines.

So what is your favorite Zinfandel? Try a  blind tasting with your friends, and see how your favorite stacks up. You might be surprised.

Blind Tasting with a "twist"

As a Sommelier, I have done numerous blind tastings. Usually we are given a number of different wines, and asked to evaluate the appearance, aroma and taste. Sometimes, we'll have different grape varieties, and other times, they will be wines from the same vintage and grape, but different regions. But, if you were given a blind tasting, could you tell the difference between a low priced box wine, and a higher priced Napa Cabernet Sauvignon?

This was the scenario at a recent wine tasting for the Arrowhead Wine Enthusiasts Club. I had told the participants that they would be tasting all wines from California. I gave them a tasting sheet, with the typical characteristics that would be found in the wines they were tasting. Next to each characteristic were four columns for each of the wines. They were asked to evaluate each wine for appearance, nose, palate, and then their final conclusions.

Some of our wine club members are not red wine drinkers, so I had a nice bottle of Heitz 2010 Napa Valley Chardonnay. Suggested retail on this bottle is $21.000, but I picked it up for $15.99 at Total Wine (all the wines for the tasting were purchased at Total Wine, which has a pretty good domestic selection). This Chardonnay had a nice balance of oak and creaminess (not over the top on either). A good balance of acidity, and fresh fruit, particularly pear and apple.

When it came to the actual blind tasting, I put the wines in carafes. The challenge was to not give away what the tasting was about. Everyone knows that at my tastings, I organize my wines from fruit/sweet to aged/dry (left to right). I couldn't do that with this tasting, so I randomly put the numbered carafes on the tasting table, and let the tasters try the wines in what ever order they preferred.

Before giving any results away, I will tell you that one wine stood out with most tasters, before they even had tried it. This wine looked much lighter than the other three. Other than that, all the wines had a nice ruby color them. All wines were Cabernet Sauvignon, from California. I had purchased wines that represented the ever more specific AVA's of California. I started with a California Cab, then went to a North Coast Cab, then a Napa Valley Cab, and finally a Stags Leap Cab (think about that Russian nesting doll with ever smaller dolls inside, and you can picture how each wine got more specific - see my article on AVA's).

The wines tasted were as follows. I have included the tasting notes, or comments from the participants:

Black Box 2009 California Cabernet Sauvignon. Cost was $14.99 for a 3.0 litre box (equivalent of four bottles). This was the wine that stood out as lighter in appearance. There was limited oak, and tannin in the wine. Some aromas of red berries, but very subdued. The finish was fairly short. Out of forty tasters, two preferred this wine as their favorite.

Cartiledge & Browne North Coast 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. Cost was $9.99 for a standard bottle. this wine had a synthetic cork. The grapes for this wine were sourced from all over the North Coast AVA, and contained a small amount of Merlot in the blend. This wine had medium oak and tannin, and tasted more like a California Cabernet than the first wine. There were more fruit notes of red berries and black currants, and some additional notes of tobacco. I nice balance of acidity and alcohol. Once revealed, this was was determined to be the best value of the night.

Sequoia Grove 2008 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Cost was $28.99 for a standard bottle. Natural cork stopper. This wine was darker in color than any of the other three wines. The wine had black currant, red cherry, a bit of pepper, cedar aromas, and smoke. There was also a bit of minerality, that reminds one of "Rutherford dust" . This was full bodied, with medium (+) tannins. A lot of structure, and a long finish. This was the overall favorite of the night (at any price), but the two that loved the Black Box, didn't like this wine at all.

Martin Ray 2007 Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon. Cost was $39.99. Unfortunately, one of the three bottles we opened was corked. The wine (while the oldest vintage) was still very tight and closed. It took a lot of air to open the wine, and expose the black berries and plum that eventually came out. The tannins were firm, and there was a lot of oak present in the nose, and finish on the palate. There were mixed reviews on this wine, but in fairness, the wine would benefit from more bottle aging, or opening up about three hours in advance of drinking.

Overall, the blind tasting was an interesting experiment. As I pointed out, there was no "right" or "wrong" in how the tasters evaluated each of the wines. For those that loved the Black Box, they now know that they don't need to spend a lot of money on a bottle of wine, to be satisfied. Many also discovered that there are decent wines out there for around $10. In general, the more specific the AVA, the more characteristics the tasters were able to identify.

Blind Tasting

Last week I conducted a blind tasting for our local wine club. I had five red wines, all in bags. Included with the tasting were notes for eight different red wines. The challenge was supposed to be figuring out what wines were in each of the bags.

Balius Cabernet Sauvignon

Earlier in the week, I visited my (not so local) wine store, to find "classic" examples of single variety wines. I knew that I wanted a Cabernet Sauvignon. Since we are in California, I went for a Napa Cab, in particular an Oakville Cab. My biggest challenge was finding a good example that was within our club budget. We have always concentrated on wines around the $20 range, but this has been getting harder as we see prices going up. But, I did find a nice one: the 2007 Balius Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine had a lot of oak in it, so much of the fruit was masked. The tannins as well as some of the earthy notes, you find in Rutherford Cabs, made this a fairly obvious variety to determine.

Chateau St. Michelle

Of course, if I did a Cabernet Sauvignon, then I would have to do a Merlot, to see if people could really distinguish the difference between these two grapes that are so entwined together. I decided to go with the 2008 Chateau St Michelle Indian Wells Merlot. Well, I thought I was buying a 100% Merlot, but I come to find out that they added a little Syrah to the Merlot to make a bit richer mouth feel and add more fruit character. As it turned out, this was the wine that most people got correct in the blind tasting.

Penfolds

Next choice was a Syrah/Shiraz. I debated going back to California for a Paso Robles Syrah, but decided that the high extraction and even higher alcohol that is so typical, might not be the direction to go, so I narrowed it down to a Rhone Syrah or an Australian Shiraz. Again, cost constraints led me towards the Australian version instead of the classic Rhone wines (that I personally love). I ended up with the 2008 Penfolds Bin 128 Shiraz, from Coonawarra. I didn't find the "meaty" notes that I usually find in Syrah, but it did have some pepper, but also a lot of "green" notes that didn't seem to sit well with a lot of the tasters. This was probably the least favorite in the blind tasting, but also the biggest surprise, as most had tasted this wine before.

Buehler Zinfandel

I decided to throw in another grape that I thought most Californians would figure out...Zinfandel. With this grape, I could go all over California and find different styles. Personally, I find Zinfandel one of the hardest reds to determine in a blind tasting. Other than the high alcohol, and medium tannins, everything else can vary: from fruity to spicy, and even sweet to dry. I chose the 2009 Buehler Zinfandel. This Napa Valley Zin had a nice blend of fruit and spice, but could have benefited from a bit of age. At first it was very tight, but as I swirled the glass, it really opened up. This was actually the favorite wine in the blind tasting, and the only one I ran out of.

Baron De Ley Rioja Reserva

My last wine had to go back to the old world. Would it be a Sangiovese, Tempranillo, or Nebbiolo? Have you seen the price on good Chianti or Barolo lately? The choice was Rioja (and Tempranillo). The next question was traditional or modern style? Since I love the traditional style, where the wines are released, ready to drink, after being aged at the winery...I chose the 2004 Baron de Ley Reserva Rioja.  To me, this was the most obvious wine in the bunch, but as I learned, most people at the tasting drink mainly new world wines, and could not figure out what this was. However, it just so happens that one of the guests at the tasting was from Rioja, Spain, and this was as obvious to her, as it was to me. I found this to be a wonderfully smooth wine, with notes of tobacco, cedar and blackberry.

At the end of the night, I revealed the wines we had tasted. Some people, who never drink Merlot, are now fans, and others liked the unique flavor the Rioja. I still think that blind tastings are a bit of a "parlor trick", but the goal wasn't to try an determine the exact grape, winery and vintage. the goal was to get people to think about what they were tasting, and notice the subtle (and not so subtle) differences between the grapes. Goal accomplished!