I’m not really that surprised to report that WSET and I remain at loggerheads over acceptable descriptions of fortified wines. Or, in more normative terms – as WSET itself prefers – I failed the tasting part of the fortified wines exam. Again. I passed the theory part and failed the tasting part, as with the first time. As with before, I passed the theory in the 0-9 point range, and failed the tasting part somewhere in the same range....
Read MoreMeh. That’s my one word review of the first week of spirits for our WSET Diploma. We covered a couple of areas, some interesting to me, some not so much. The morning was theory and tasting technique, as well as a practice test tasting on sparkling wines. (I was right on two of the three, but other people had the same incorrect answer for the second wine as I did.) The theory topic – basically, distillation – was interesting to me. I...
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Week 1 of Semester 2 of the Diploma was a bit of a challenge. I’m not referring to the having to get up earlier than usual, or dealing with the Tube strike when I needed to get around London. Those were manageable, if not my preferred way to start the week. There are three related things I’ll discuss here, although don’t expect any massive insights. The first thing that made the return to the classroom a challenge is the recalibration...
Read MoreWell, ok. Maybe I exaggerate a bit. But next week (Monday!), I start the second year of my WSET Diploma. It does seem a scarier semester, at least for those of us who are stronger on theory than tasting. What do I have to look forward to? It’s the same format as last time – nine weeks of getting up too early to catch a train to London to make it to WSET before 9 am. (Yeah, I know. It’s almost like having a real job, with a commute and...
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