by whitney on May 14, 2010
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.
by whitney on February 8, 2010
Fail. A big fat F. That is the grade I would have received on my blind tasting exam. If that exam took place in my friend Rachel’s living room this afternoon. Luckily for me, it does not actually occur until March. In Vegas. Where, if I screw up, I can drown my sorrows in whisky and blackjack.
But, let us remain positive, shall we? OK- down to the nitty. The blind tasting: one of the more daunting tasks in the Court of Master Sommelier certified sommelier exam. 15 minutes will be given to taste a red wine and a white wine and correctly identify the grape varietal, the country of origin and the vintage. Yeah…not hard at all. When will I ever need to be able to do that in “real life” situations? Probably never. But, by training the olfactory senses in this intense way, it better enables us wine folk to inevitably understand value in a wine, regional and varietal identity, styles of winemaking, etc.
The Court is comprised of some nice people who have had to take this very same exam at some point in the early stages of their careers. Therefore, they kindly email us test-takers the exact format of the tasting exam ahead of time. They have also devised a Deductive Tasting method to help us out and break down each element of a wine into a clue to its grape and origin. There are 3 main categories: sight, nose and palate. Thoroughly examine each element of those categories one by one to then deduce what the wine could be (and what it definitely can’t be). Here is a simple breakdown of the deductive method and how what you see, smell and taste translate to a clue about what the wine in the glass could be.
[click to continue…]
by whitney on August 10, 2009
This week I bring you a super special edition of Sunday Sip. I have been hosting blind tastings at my house for a few months with my nearest and dearest gals and yesterday we decided to document our sipping fun. One of my many talented friends is Joy of Joy The Baker and she asked if I could come up with a tasting and share it with her readers. It’s summer and, as you know, I have a mild obsession with rosé. So, I settled on that as the theme of the afternoon.
Yes, you are seeing that correctly. I threw in a White Zin to shake things up. And yes, it was horrible.
I will have to keep you hanging until Joy posts the edited piece. Until then, I leave you with our quote of the day from the fun-filled tasting…play with your food, play with your wine & play with your friends. Cheers!
