Happy weekend my friends. A brief fire update here, Glass Fire has, as of this Friday morning scorched 67,484 acres BUT we are now up to 74% containment. Woot. There have been 21 reported injuries, but I still have not read or heard of any Glass Fire-related deaths. Scroll below to see an update on the reported damaged wineries and what this will mean for the 2020 harvest and wine country business.
We’ve also got some tariff updates as well as some data around what COVID has really done to the wine industry in terms of sales volumes and value.
And definitely check out wine-searcher’s post about killing gender stereotypes in wine descriptions (think twice before describing that Pinot Noir as feminine), and Edgar Torres’s first person account about his experience as a Latino in the wine industry.
For a bit of comic relief, a must read is Wine Spectator’s tasting assessment of beer bottled in a dead squirrel, ant-infused gin, and beer brewed with whale testicles and smoked in sheep dung. Warning: Do not read while eating and wait at least 30 minutes after consuming a heavy meal.
Of course don’t forget to check out the blogs for some independent insight.
I hope you’re finding the exploration of South Africa as fascinating as I am. Never before have I found the need to utilize detailed mapping as I have during this course. If you haven’t read through the South Africa Overview yet, definitely do so before diving in here, as there are a lot of key terms defined that will be integral to your understanding of the specific regions. My last post toured the Coastal Region. Today, we’re diving into the Breede River Valley Region and the associated districts and wards within. We’ll also make a brief pitstop into the Olifant River Region.
True confession time: I’m starting my D3 studies ‘early’ because as I’m working through my D2, I’m finding that I need real life references as to how the D2—Wine Business—material works in today’s wine industry. It’s like fate that the below question came at the bottom of a newsletter from the Napa Valley Wine Academy. So, I’ve decided that, in an effort to connect the dots between D2 and D3, I’m going to ask this question of every region I study.
Explain how wine law and regulation influence the style, quality, and price of wines from Germany.
Throughout my WSET studies, I chronicled what I was learning as I was learning: posting my own notes, study guides, and practice questions. Per the Wine & Spirits Education Trust guidelines, I cannot and will not share any content from previous exam papers or reproduce them in anyway. This includes making copies, taking photos, as well as discussing exam content.
Disclaimer
While my posts, study guides, and practice exams are all based on WSET topics, please know these are re-written in my own words that were intended to help me—and hopefully you—better understand the subject matter I was studying at the time. I also often utilized resources (and will cite those sources within the posts) outside of the WSET to help me (and, again, you) understand the subject from different angles. I hope my writing is helpful for all interested in the content of the posts, whether student or not. Please know the educational posts are in no way intended as official WSET study materials.
I highly recommend those interested in pursuing the WSET program to seek out a good WSET APP. I, myself, studied through, and now teach at, the Napa Valley Wine Academy in Napa, California. I am happy to answer any questions about my WSET studies or how to engage with me as an instructor at the NVWA. Contact Me.
Now if you understand the rules of the game, here are quick links to educational posts on my site.
Wine 101: Will take you to everything with educational content.
Happy Saturday all. Hope you don’t mind, I took a few days off following my birthday/WSET Diploma Level 1 exam…extravaganza weekend. But I have, of course, been keeping up with the latest wine (and food) news. So let’s take a look at what’s going on lately.
Locally, Sonoma (finally) has implemented fines for breaching (what I call) COVID-courtesies. So mask up if you’re coming up to Wine Country or pay the price—literally. In spite of that, a common phrase around here is, “The grapes don’t know there’s a pandemic.” True enough, and harvest has officially kicked off. If you’re in the industry getting ready for harvest, be sure to check out the Wine Institute’s harvest protocols webinar materials. Also of interest my industry readers may be Nielsen’s latest data on COVID impacts on on-premise sales and UC Davis’s white paper on developments in remedying smoke-tainted grapes.
And don’t forget to scroll down to the Blogs for some independent insight and fun, including a top 16 list of the best wine-related documentaries to watch.
And I have received a few inquiries about my posts chronicling my WSET journey. I’ve pulled them down for now—the goal is to edit and consolidate for clarity and organization. So if you are/were looking for those or wondering what the story is, that’s it. I’ll try to get them back up if/when I can. Thank you for your patience with that.
That’s all for now. Hope everyone’s doing well. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment, write me a note, connect with me on social. Would be nice to hear from you.
