Another - and final - pass

I got my very final result at the weekend - a pass (with merit) for my essay submission as part of Unit 1. I did the "Fool's gold" topic on wine competitions.

As an associate judge at the IWSC and a two time helper at the IWC I would have been disappointed with a fail given my involvement in two major competitions.

All that remains for me now is to get the final notification of my overall pass and the actual grade. I think it's due some time this month.

Can't wait.

Good luck for June

I was at the LIWF event in London helping out at a seminar on Friuli wines. I bumped into two friends both of whom are sitting their Unit 3 exams in June.

Two things:

1. is it really 4 months since I sat mine?
2. I fully understand your nerves and apprehension

All I can say is the very best of luck to anyone sitting Unit 3 next month wherever you sit it in the world. Taste as much as you can between now and then and practice writing your tasting notes as much as you can. Then go through them with a red pencil and mark every fact you have put down ie: one tick for every heading on the WSET's systematic approach to tasting sheet and one tick for each aroma/taste.

You are aiming to get more than 20 ticks and as close as you can get to 30/33 (full marks) the better. That means if some of your observations are wrong at least you will have written enough.

Good luck - you'll be pleased you have done the exam once it's over!

I've passed

I've passed my Unit 3 exam with a merit in the theory and a distinction in the tasting.

I'm thrilled.

Never in a million years did I think I'd get a distinction and a merit but it just goes to show what can be achieved when you put your mind to something - and of course hours and hours and hours of study.

This time - wine from India

Spurred on by the reaction to my last post about wine from Thailand, I've had a go at another wine from out east, this time a sauvignon blanc from India.

Seeing Sula's sauvignon on the list at Benares meant I just had to try it. This was a pretty good wine and had the typical grassy side to a good sauvignon, maybe more a Loire than a Marlborough. However it was overshadowed by the cocktail my wife had.

The passion fruit chutney martini was just that, a combination of passion fruit chutney with Smirnoff black vodka, passion fruit, egg white and a touch of lime. The kick from the spices in the chutney added a wonderful layer to a great aperitif.

Lunch was what you would expect from a Michelin starred chef of the standard of Atul Kochhar. If you can make it to the restaurant in Berkeley Square in central London you'll be impressed by dishes such as tandoor cooked salmon fillets with gazpacho salsa and pan fried king fish with chili garlic mash. And what fabulous value at £19.95 for 2 courses including a complimentary glass of wine.

As an aside, I was poring over the wine list (organised by grape variety) when the sommelier approached me asking if I wanted some help. We struck up a conversation and I found out that she has just sat her WSET advanced exam. That's quite a responsibility to be working in a restaurant like Benares with it's extensive and expensive wine list at her young age with those qualifications.

Wine from Thailand

With some friends we visited Dineasia in the middle of the Ashdown Forest in Sussex on a cold and frosty night. It's an unusual place with two separate menus, one Indian and the other Thai. If you want to mix and match and have poppadums followed by chicken satay as an appetiser and then as the entree lamb tikka jalfrezi you can.

What caught my eye on the wine list was wine from Thailand. I would have thought the climate too hot and humid to grow vitis vinifera but according to the OCW bible there are several areas where grapes are grown and have been since the 1960's. The biggest producer is Siam Winery who produce more than half a million cases per year.


We tried their Monsoon Valley 2007 a blend of malaga blanc and colombard. I couldn't even find malaga blanc in Grapes and Wines so I guess it's very local. I'd describe the wine as pleasant and food friendly. Slightly perfumed and lacking in acidity (not surprising given the tropical climate) it was certainly pleasing enough for a second bottle.

It's always good to try something different.

WSET Diploma distance learning

With only one essay submission left before my Diploma is finished, I've been considering whether choosing the distance learning option was the right one.

The advantages for me have been;

• it's cheaper, about half the cost comparing it to attending classes
• it's been more flexible. I've not had to commit to classes which was important to me when I started as I was working in Baltimore when I started the program and the classes were either in London or at Plumpton!

But I recognise there are disadvantages;

• there is no-one to talk to or share your questions and ideas with
• you are not exposed to the lecturers who are working in the industry and thus have current knowledge and enthusiasm for their subjects
• you don't get the chance to taste so many wines

However I joined a tasting group in the last 3 months before Unit 3 and that made all the difference. I think that made up for the disadvantage of not being exposed to wines in the classroom. I also attended lots of trade tastings to train my palate.

On balance however if I was to start all over again I'd think I'd choose the distance learning route again. I'd certainly say the keys to success doing the Diploma as a distance learner (he says confidently not knowing if he has passed yet) are;

• plan and review how you are doing against the plan and keep revising your plan
• join a tasting group. If you can't form one yourself. Wherever you are it doesn't take many like minded people to form a useful core for tasting
• use the internet as a research tool

The last point I'd make is that I didn't realise when I started working part time for Oddbins how useful it would be. Sub-consciously being exposed to all that wine and consumer questions you build up a bigger store of wine knowledge than you think. So I suppose my final recommendation would be to try and work in the industry occasionally even whether it's wine shop, at an event or picking grapes during a harvest.

Oh, why the picture of the Berlucci Cellarius brut 2004? It was what I drank (not tasted) when I got home after my exam. I don't know where I got it from but it was in my rack. I was a little disappointed as, made by the champagne method and with a little age to it, I would have expected more autolytic characters. And the cat's name is Smudge.

It's over

So that's it - I've finally sat my Unit 3 exam and survived all the hours and days and weeks and months of studying.

I don't want to sound over confident but I found the exam to my liking. The theory questions covered topics I knew about although I wouldn't have done well if I had to answer the question about vinification in Burgundy. I know I didn't get some of the grapes right in the tasting but am re-assured that some of my colleagues didn't get them correct either. And anyway, it's the observations and assessments that carry more marks and I feel I wrote enough. I now simply have to wait 12 weeks to see if I wrote enough facts to pass.........

So I've had my feet up since the exam last Wednesday. No wine books, study guides or surfing the web looking at wine related sites. Next and last item on the Diploma agenda is my final essay which is due in by mid April.

That sounds easy by comparison to the Unit 3 studying.