Happy Weekend, friends. First, if anyone’s had trouble viewing or navigating the site lately, I apologize, I’m currently working out some bugs. Second, hopefully you’ve been keeping up with my latest WSET Diploma posts—there’s been a flurry of them, so make sure to scroll through the past few weeks.
Personally I’ve been keeping very busy (as well as distracted by current events as I’m sure you all are as well). But I’ve still managed to pull together my weekly roundup of wine newsworthy stories. Hopefully there are a few things of interest for you here.
I have a theory question for you: Tokaj has a solid reputation creating sweet wines from the Aszu grapes. So why are recent trends veering toward dryer wine styles? Describe the grapes and winemaking methods used to produce the dry wines of Tokaj and describe a typical example of a dry Tokaj wine in the form of a tasting note. What are the marketing opportunities for this style of wine for the region?
These are just a few things I was thinking about when I tasted through my first dry Furmint from Hungary. My analysis of the wine follows my Top Tokaj 10.
I got great feedback about my Top 10 idea, as expressed in my post about Jura. Today, I want to share my Top 10 Austria facts. What would you add to this list?
Following that list, I’m also sharing a little tasting I did of a basic Wachau Gruner Veltliner and a Brugenland Zweigelt. Please enjoy and don’t hesitate to pipe in
Happy New Year and happy weekend to you. What a week it’s been, eh? I don’t know about you but ever since the events on Wednesday, I’ve found it hard to focus on pretty much anything else. So, in case you missed some of the latest happenings in the world of wine and food, I’ve got my weekly round up ready for you—including a piece by yours truly.
I know that the tasting portion of the D3 WSET Diploma Exam can be one of the most intimidating. Indeed, when I took my Level 3, my nerves overtook my tastebuds, and I found myself second guessing my tasting notes the whole time. To help me gain more skill and confidence in those skills, I’ve been taking some tasting classes geared toward WSET Diploma with a Master in Wine in preparation for my exam. And I recently had my partner help me with a blind tasting mock exam, which I’d like to share here.
The goal is to help those of us who are preparing the WSET exams key in on wine evaluation (following the SAT guidelines) as well as how to correctly draw conclusions about the wines tasted and communicate the justification for those conclusions.
Following the WSET taste testing format:
Wines 1–3 relate to Unit D3 of the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines All are made from the same region. Describe them under the headings below.
Follow along on my tasting notes and see if you can figure out what the common region of origin is. Note: This exam also, for two points, asks examiners to determine the grape variety (but not qualify that determination). I’ve included my deduction in each tasting note below. However, I’ll leave the wine reveals to the very end of the post. Good luck and have fun!
