The day before my big certified exam, I did a mock Court of Master Sommelier style blind tasting again. I did one before, remember? That one didn’t turn out so great. Big fat fail. But that was a few months ago. And with 2 more months of not only working in 2 wine shops but going to Italy again….I had a A LOT more wine under my tasting belt. So, I had higher hopes for the outcome of this blind tasting. Jill over at domaineLA brown bagged some wines for me (she marked W for the white that I would need to chill.) I brought ‘em home and got down to business.
And I did pretty well this time around! I was on target with use of oak aging or the lack thereof and also right on point with old world vs. new world, alcohol percentages and more importantly varietals and country. The wines? For the white we had a 2008 Old World (French) viognier. My guess? 2008 Chardonnay from France. I have to say the wine was too cold straight out of the refrigerator and a lot of the tropical notes were muted. The acidity seemed higher than it actually was which threw me off a bit.
The red? A 2005 tempranillo (30% cabernet) from Spain. My guess? 2006 tempranillo from Spain. Off on the aging a bit but my guess on mixed French and American oak was semi-spot on (it was just American.) This gave me enough of the confidence I needed to rock out on the actual exam the next day. Although- I may have been off on a varietal but everything was correct. According to my feedback, that is. I still have no idea what the wines from the exam were and I never will. Yep- they’re not telling. The mystery remains…
As for these blind tastings? I think I’ll take a breather for a minute and rest on my certified laurels for as long as possible. Which will be for almost… exactly one minute.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
hey, congrats on passing the certified!! Are you planing on sitting for the Advanced? i am currently studying for my advanced which is in 3 weeks, very scared!! now I’m just procrastinating, better get back to it. well done!
not planning on taking the advanced any time soon…..but good luck Seb!!