All right Looks like people are slowly coming in Just wait for you Because the attendees to all come in If you guys want to put in the chat box Where you’re all from That would be great We can see everyone All right well um welcome good morning Uh good afternoon good evening um it’s Great to virtually hopefully see you all Here we’re seeing lots of people new Zealand sweden finland Uh norway yorkshire All over lots of london’s um and korea Brazil All over the world well welcome everyone Um my name is chris Uh martin and i am the head of educator Training at wset um and i will be with You for the next hour with my good Friend and colleague vicky um and we’re Gonna be talking about diploma uh Tasting and how the diploma works and Then looking at three different tasting Um notes So um as i say i’m the head of educator Training i’m here at wsct i’m at the School in london school i teach All levels of diploma i’m sorry all Levels of wsct and in diploma in Particular I teach about Central uh europe fortified wines um as
Well as the wines of the united states Vicky do you want to introduce yourself Oh thanks chris hi everyone um i’m vicki I’m Head of product development for wine Qualifications at wset And this basically means i’m responsible For the textbooks study guides Sats And things that basically end up in Front of a student when you’re studying A wct wine course When i teach um diploma i generally Teach sparkling wine and spain And i became a master of wine in 2015. Excellent thank you very much vickie all Right well let’s get started here Everyone so you should be able to see my Screen And what i’m going to do is just walk You through very quickly an introduction To the diploma vicky will talk a little Bit more about how it’s structured and Then we’ll get into the fun bit with the Three tasting notes um if you haven’t Got the three tasting notes jenny will Post them uh in the chats i’m sure um But you should have those though three Tasting notes with with some blanks that Will fill in today So what is the diploma so the diploma is A 116 hours of classroom course That really prepares you to Be sort of
Fully understanding about the production Methods of Still sparkling and fortified wines and Really the key with diploma is about Learning analytical skills uh not only About tasting but also about business About production and about the whole World of wine After you complete the diploma you will Get the postnomials dip wset which you Can put after your name and you’ll also Be able to join our global network of Alumni uh where you can network and Talk to marvelous people All around the world So what is the ws the wrct level 4 Diploma and how does that fit into our Suite of qualifications So we have four sort of levels here and I think the majority of people on this Call are probably at level three or Thinking about doing level four But it’s important to think about How we go from level one level two level Three to level four And level one is very much just sort of Collecting some facts level two is Starting to understand how those facts Relate to each other Level three we really start to then ask And of students their ability to explain And apply those facts to different Situations asking how might a winemaker Create a more concentrated style of wine
Or how might The natural factors influence the Styling quality of the resulting wine And we do this at level three as many of You will know through the short written Answers As you go from level one to level two to Level three to level four it is about to A certain extent getting more knowledge But it’s not just about the accumulation Of facts it’s also about the application Of these facts And level three is a prerequisite to go To um level four and at level four we’re Very much focused on analyzing um so Here it’s not just about for example With beaujolais about understanding the Different structure the the trade Structure how it’s made but it’s also Trying to put that within a global Context what are the strengths and the Weaknesses of of that particular Category what are the particular other Styles of wines that might be competing With it where is it going to go in five Years and that’s part of what you’ll be Learning at um level four so i’m going To hand over to vicky who’s going to Take us a little bit more into the the Detail of that so vicky Thanks chris so um the diploma Is of course that most students do over Around 18 months to two years Um as you can see here it’s made up of
Six different units And each of what each of which is um has Its own separate assessment We have two foundation units which is uh D1 and d2 and then a number of product Knowledge units uh the foundation units Are those and that are going to give you The real sort of principles Um of wine production wine business as You can see here and then In diploma you’re expected to apply that Knowledge um for those product uh Knowledge units a little bit like if You’ve Done Level three in the last few years and You’ve got the sort of wine making and Growing environment chapters at the Start of your book and then start of the Course that you’re applying those and When you look at the sort of wines of The world later in that book or course Um so for the foundation units and these Are based on and these are assessed by Theory exams it’s a little bit like um Sort of slightly harder version of the Short written answer questions that you Have at level three Uh you can see here that d6 is an Independent research assignment so That’s a piece of course work And for d3 d4 and d5 this is part Tasting examination and part theory Examination and today we’re going to
Focus on our tasting examination for d3 D3 is really the sort of the biggest Unit and between The tasting and the theory combined is 50 Or 50 waiting of the course So whereas the other units are like sort Of little hills that you have to get Over the d3 is really the sort of Mountain that you’ve got to climb to Obtain the um the diploma And so if we focus on tasting um d4 and D5 you’ve got three wines in those exams There’s d3 you’ve got 12 wines Um and those are generally put into um Flights um and we’ll be focusing on one Of those sort of flights uh today in This webinar Um so While um The tastings um in terms of time Available you’ve actually got 15 minutes Per wine roughly so it’s quite Similar to level three But actually you’re doing a lot more Within that time at diploma so whereas In level three it’s very much about sort Of calibration and writing that accurate Tasting notes in diploma we’re going a Little bit further and we’re focusing on Uh Specifically so chris next slide please Okay so this will probably look quite Familiar to you and if you’ve done level
Three recently uh quality assessment And What we call suitability for bottle Aging and So a little bit different in language to Level three but very similar uh Constructs here And but actually level four as well as Um saying okay i think the wine is good Or very good Um you’re expected to put an explanation Down so for quality assessment there’s Actually six marks available in diploma So a lot of that is about your reasoning For that quality um similarly in bottle Aging that’s worth three marks and again At least two of those marks are Available for your for your reasoning And we also have as we talked about Flights there might be other questions To do with sort of identification of the Wines in a particular flight and you Might be asked about sort of a common Region A common country or great variety you Might also be asked questions to comment On the method of production um or maybe The style of the wine as well and all Together these sort of um Identifications or conclusions and these Reasons Um make up around 40 Of the marks so as you can see it’s far More than
The sort of standard tasting notes and We’re going uh much further into sort of Uh reasoning for the for the diploma Next slide chris So throughout um The levels of wset really um you know it Is about describing an accurate tasting Note but it’s also we want to go further And we want to really understand the Wine That we’re tasting and in levels sort of Two and three that might be mainly done By your educator and they’re sort of Teaching you about the wine using the Sample however when we get to diploma While your educator will do that you’re Also expected to be able to to sort of Showcase those skills when you’re in in The examination so it’s really taking The sort of evidence from the glass From your tasting note and thinking what Could this mean and so applying your Theoretical knowledge and applying your Sort of experience of tasting over the Years to make some um Conclusions and show your sort of Understanding of the wine through those Arguments Cool and on to chris Excellent thank you very much vicky um So what we’re going to do now and kind Of after looking at that introduction We’re going to look at the three tasting Notes i’ve been following in the chat i
Think most of you seem to have got um The three tasting notes we will show Them on the slide as well Just as a note if you do have any Questions that you have for Either me or vicki please put that into The q a so that we can answer it um When when we have some time at the end But what we’re going to do is we’re Going to look at one of the questions That vicky talked about which was the Common region so wines one two and three Are all from a common region and we’re Going to look then how to approach that But first we’re going to look at how do We um do quality those two quality sorry Those two conclusions um quality Conclusion and Suitability for bottle aging so let’s Start here with tasting note one I’m not going to go through it all but i Will say just a few things about the Tasting notes that we’ve written here um This is how you would write the tasting Notes on the exam so you don’t need to Write full sentences you can just go Bullet points so long as you’re Describing the wine accurately is the Most important thing and the the level 4 Sat is very similar to the level 3 sat Which many of you are familiar with There are a few differences which you Can note if you look at it the one thing Here for the red wines is that with
Tannins we talk not only about the level But also the nature of tannins So we’re just going to leave this Tasting note for a moment and we’re just I’m just going to talk very briefly About how do we approach The quality assessment of wine for level Four now at level three it is a little Bit of almost a tick boxing exercise and Some of you will be familiar with what We call the blic And i’m going to go through through that But i want us to think here and make it A little bit more nuanced at diploma Level and that’s what we’re going to be Asking or that’s what the examiners are Going to be asking you to do And as vicky said it’s not just about Writing what the quality word is it’s Also about writing an argument for Why you think it is Acceptable good very good or outstanding So let’s just quickly go through here um How we approach the assessment of Quality so the first one b As i mentioned is for balance and it’s Important when we’re talking about Balance that something is balancing Something else so this is why we have This picture here You don’t just want to say the wine is Balanced saying the wine is balanced is A sort of nonsense statement sort of Saying the wine is wine so when you’re
Looking at the tasting note you want to Think about what are the things that are On the high end what are the things that Are on the low end and what are the Things that are balancing those Particular Structural elements The l is for length and in the Assessment of quality we don’t just want To repeat necessarily the tasting notes Um that we had above it we want to say a Little bit more and i always say you What you wanted to do is to tell us a Story here we have someone reading a Very exciting story um so what’s what Lingers on the palette um does the do The flavors evolve does it fall off Quite quickly uh this is a little bit What we want to talk about with the Length Intensity Think about here with intensity how does The intensity on the nose the intensity On the palate relate um and so you can Think about you know if the nose and the Palate are more or less aligned then the Wine is promising something and Delivering something and then overall we Can say that the wine has this level of Of intensity if the wine is um Sort of promising a lot but then on the On the pallet slightly under delivers Then we would sort of mark this down Against the wine
Um on the other hand if the wine is sort Of very muted on the on the nose but Then on the pallets it’s sort of an Explosion of Flavors it’s sort of under promised but Over delivered and this is a sign of High quality wine making so thinking About the intensity it’s not necessarily Pronounced fantastic light negative it’s More about this interrelationship Between the pale the nose and the palate As it kind of goes through and the Tasting here the other thing with Intensity is to also think about how Well defined are the aromas so are they Quite generic sort of like gummy candy Cherries or are they fresh ripe cherries And then the c in quality here is Complexity and we don’t necessarily need To have oak for a wine to be complex we Don’t necessarily need to have tertiary Elements for the wine to be complex we Need to have sort of this a number of Clusters that are more or less well Defined that carry on from nose to Palate and that give this this Complexity and again at level four it’s Not either or so it’s not it has balance It doesn’t have balance or it has length It doesn’t have length it’s much more a Scale so we can use words like the wine Thai acidity is just in balance with the Medium fruit intensity So this is where you we we have a bit
More nuance and you as the Student and need to demonstrate your Fluency with um with writing these Tasting notes so let’s go through um This tasting note which i’ve written Here um for wine number one Here if we look at this uh let’s take Let’s take it blic and i’ll show you Then um the answer and as i say the we Will give you at the end of this Recording all of our model answers so You don’t need to furiously take Pictures or write that we will give them To you So here if we look at our tasting note We have high ass high acidity we have High tanners we have high alcohol There’s lots of high things there so What’s balancing those high structural Elements well in this case we could say It’s the pronounced flavor intensity On the nose we have pronounced flavors Aromas and on the palate we have Pronounced flavors so the wine promises And delivers throughout The length here is long now we haven’t Tasted you can’t unfortunately we Couldn’t send you all the wines we would Have loved to but i think that might Have broken our budget um so you Wouldn’t we won’t know necessarily about Here the finish but we could say it’s Long and we might want to say a story And i’ll show you what that looks like
And here we have nine different Flavors and aromas and so the wine it Does have levels of complexity to it so For this reason this wine is Outstanding And here you can see the arguments that We’ve written um and you can see how we Have With the finish we said the finish is Long starting with ripe red fruits then Giving way to a slight dried fruit note So notice how we’ve given it a little Bit Um of A flavor and a story to this Um So what we’re going to do is we’re going To make this a little bit try to make This a bit of an interactive thing there Quite a there’s 209 of you on on the on The call today and so we’re going to try As much as possible to to to do this i’m Going to hand over to vicki who will Take us to wine number two Thank you And so yes i think you’ve probably heard Enough of uh chris and myself talking so This is where it does get interactive so Um we’re just going to give you sort of Five to ten seconds to look at um The tasting note for wine two And we’re then going to launch a poll in Terms of what quality level um you think This wine would be so just familiarize
Yourself with the notes think about Everything that chris has talked about In terms of balance length intensity Complexity and think about is the spine Completely positive is everything right With it are there some bits that might Be lacking And shall we shall we launch the polls We should launch the polls Okay just a few more seconds to give Your answers Okay Could we have the results of the poll Please jenny Okay So most people are putting this in Acceptable or good okay And i think by that Obviously uh we’re seeing that um Well i don’t think it was anyone that Thought the wine was completely Perfect and positive and there were some Sort of negative arguments there and Equally i don’t think many people were Putting this in poor so there was Something positive about the wine and so What we’d like you to do now is in the Chat rather than the q a could you Possibly put one uh positive argument For this wine in the chat so That could be balance if you think it’s Uh You know balance that is the positive Thing or one of the positive things
About this y it could be length Intensity and try as much as possible to Um Think about what chris Said so if you’re talking about balance Can you can you provide us what was Balanced in this wine using the note And think about uh providing that story With the length obviously you’ve not got The wine in front of you but based on The note what do you think might be Found on the on the length for example Okay we’re seeing a lot coming in here So it’s great to see that um on some of These balance notes in particular we’ve Got people um Saying uh what is balanced in this wine I think i saw a balance between acidity And that fresh Citrus notes which is good Root Okay balance fruit and acidity Okay so a lot of people are picking out Balance as one of the positive notes About this one Brilliant Okay and in a similar vein um because No one thought it was um absolutely Perfect either could you tell me Something that’s uh maybe lacking in This wine why was this wine not Outstanding Okay we have simple aromas Lacks complexity that’s the length
Okay a lot of people saying um finish Here Okay Brilliant thank you everyone so i think Um it seems like a lot of people have um Picked out the sort of main points here For why this wine um sits where it does So if we could go on to our note chris That would be Great so we put this wine and we tasted It as good quality um don’t be sort of Disheartened if you put acceptable Quality for this it’s very hard when you Actually haven’t tasted the wine and Also Diploma is very much about um your Arguments so while there will be Obviously right and wrong answers for Some wines it might sort of sit on the Fence and so it’s all about how you Argue and whether you can put forward an Accurate and logical argument um to sort Of persuade the examiners that um this Wine is of this quality level obviously I think if you put out standing for this Wine the wine isn’t outstanding so um You would lose mark’s there but there Still would be very good marks if not um 100 Um marks for saying this could be Acceptable as well if you’d argued this In the right way And so just a couple of seconds to look At our note on this as you can see uh
The sort of positive here and we’ve Started with the positive and factors About this wine and we have bought um Through that sort of balance that a lot Of people picked up And in this case it’s the fresh fruits Um Being balanced with the high acidity And Yes it was medium but it was medium on Both the nose and the palate and so the Concentration in this wine wasn’t Exactly lacking So we’ve put that as a positive point in This case Um however it is the sort of Lack of complexity not very many Clusters were mentioned on this wine and A lot of people brought up the fact that The finish um was sort of lacking on This and as you can see in our notes We’ve put we’ve described how um The finish Ended so we’re saying that the simple Notes sort of faded and then there was That lingering acidity which isn’t a Particularly positive um finish to the Wine and hence we’re marking it down Cool so shall we look at the next wine Chris Yes let’s go here And one thing i’ll just add here vicki As well um is that the way as vicky said We’ve see we wrote it sort of positive
Than negative so don’t you don’t always Have to go balance length intensity Complexity there are other ways of of Looking at this So let’s go on to um Wine number three and again what we’ll Do is we’ll give you just a moment to Read through This red wine and just have a quick Think about that And then So if you’ve got an idea now here of Quality um jenny if you can open up poll Number two please There we go and we’ll just give you a Few moments To to do that And don’t worry if you you just Go for it you’re not in diploma yet so This is all all part of the fun I’ll just give you another five more Seconds or so Okay let’s uh Close the poll there jenny and if we can See the results please Um Brilliant so it looks like the majority Of you 73 were in very goods and we had Some outstandings and we had some goods And um you know so no one put it in poor That’s great um Again as vicky said You haven’t tasted the wine You know but we’ve got this tasting out
Here and this is where you know writing Really good tasting notes Helps you sort of think about okay how Can we get to to the quality level here And at diploma it is about sort of going All right what might my arguments be So um what i’m gonna say before i show You our answer we have gone very good For this one so that’s that’s great to See that so many of you also went there Don’t be disheartened if you didn’t get Um very good One of the important things here with With very good is that if a wine is very Good it needs you need to put in the Arguments Reasons and justifications for why it is Not outstanding so what i’m going to ask You to do is in the chat is to tell me Why do you think this wine is not Outstanding So if you just have it just start Writing in the chat and i’ll sort of go Here Um So we’ve got Uh so several people here talking about The finish Looks like Here there’s yeah so remember just even If it doesn’t have any tertiary someone Pop that in that’s not necessarily a Sign of of a negative you can have you Know outstanding wines that are um also
Uh sort of primary only Um so it seems like the majority of you Are going with Finnish as i’m just things are flashing Fast and furious on my screen um and That’s that’s actually what we we’ve Done here now again you haven’t you Haven’t tasted the wine um but if we Look at the next slide here Um we’ve said that the wine is very good Again We’ve said the high acidity is balanced By the concentration of fruits and we Have complexity from the primary Secondary and and again here we’re not Saying it’s overly tertiary we say hints Of tertiary in this case Prune The intensity matches on the nose and The palate however the wine is not Outstanding because on the finish the Fruit quickly fades away leaving only Alcohol so we had that high alcohol with A medium finish and when we tasted this Wine We thought that that finish wasn’t quite Um enough to push it up too outstanding So what we’ve looked at over the past Sort of 15-20 minutes is how to approach These quality assessments um again as i Said uh we will give you all these Answers so you can go home You might be home already and study them In any case uh but what we want to do is
Sort of introduce what is expected Of a student When they’re taking these exams and These questions the quality assessment Will be asked of every single wine you Taste Across all all the units and it is Always worth six points and as vicky Said this along with the suitability for Aging which we’re going to get to in a Moment uh makes it accounts for 40 Of your tasting examination And these are skills that you will build As you go through uh the The diploma So now vikki is going to take us to Suitability for aging Yes So uh if we could yep perfect chris um So as you can see with the uh Suitability for bottle aging uh very Similar to what you see in level three Which is readiness for drinking just Slightly different language here Um you’ll notice as well that there’s Only two options And this is because um in the Examination you’re not going to get a Wine that is going to be too young or Past its best so really we’re focusing On Either suitable for bottle aging or not Suitable for bottle aging And what we mean by this
Um in terms of suitability for bottle Aging at the focus is really is this Wine going to improve okay is it going To get better with time Um and so if you think the wine could Maybe hold or it might um sort of evolve A bit but it’s not necessarily going to To get better or in fact it’s on a Downwards um Pathway and any of those will come into Not suitable for bottle aging and as We’ve said before and this is about your Sort of explanation it’s about your Argument So if you think the wine is sort of On the fence or it could be either This is where you can add your um Argument to show the examiners exactly What you mean okay so we’ll look at how You can Make that argument now So It’s not the only way of structuring This argument but probably good practice Is um because you’ve got sort of two Marks for the um for the explanation Part of suitability for bottle aging is To first focus on what the sort of wine Has or doesn’t have and that lends it Into being sort of suitable for bottle Aging And then spend your sort of next Mark or your next sentence Describing how will it change if it was
To go through extra bottle aging So um in terms of the first point you Might look at structure so basically We’re looking is this wine in balance is There anything that is very much out of Balance that would possibly get even Worse um With aging Um And linked to that obviously there’s a Fruit concentration so we know that sort Of the primary fruit character will Probably fade away therefore if Something’s out of balance now is that Going to get um potentially even worse Um with aging In structure as well there might be some Components in the wine that make it sort Of suited to bottle aging so typically Um like high acidity um Typically sort of uh you know either Medium plus or High tannins are sort of structural Components that might make the wine more Suited um To Bottle aging uh keeping it fresh and Giving it structure uh with that age And equally we would focus on fruit Concentration is there enough uh fruit Is there enough primary character uh for This wine To age and it’s also about sort of Taking your
Knowledge and making your best guess so Do is there any evidence do you think This wine would sort of develop um In a positive way in terms of the Flavors will the flavors become sort of Interesting Or would they just um sort of fade away And you’d be left with um you know Lesser intensity there without anything More interesting perhaps happening Um and then we’d focus on how will it Change and that would be Uh it could be a positive thing it could Gain more complexity from tertiary Characteristics Or equal it could be a negative the Fruit could fade and this component of The wine might become out of balance or More apparent or something like that Equally on how would it change you might Think about uh things like oak Integration so would the oak um become More integrated into the wine maybe and That could be a positive or would the Tannins perhaps soften slightly and Again that might be a sort of positive For suitability for aging Okay so we’ll look at our um first one Okay and based on this we can see that Overall you know if there’s a lot of Highs here But the wine is imbalanced it does have Pronounced flavor intensity as well to Balance that sort of high acidity high
Alcohol high tannin and we also talked About the components like acidity and Tannin and helping the wine to age it’s Got high levels of both of those Uh it has pronounced flavor intensity And Still quite a lot of Primary character there So again it’s just that it might be able To age in terms of the flavor profile um And There are some dried fruits there’s a Little bit of leather there so there is Some evidence already on this wine that It might be sort of developing in an Interesting way So let’s have a look at our note Okay so in this case we put the wine as Suitable for bottle aging And you can see the um The factors that i brought out already In the notes you can see the two Sentences one about the wine itself and What sort of structural components and Flavors it has and then how the wine Will develop with time And again you know you could have um Argued that this wine was possibly maybe At its peak already as we said it’s hard Without tasting the wine and having it In front of you and you could have Possibly said oh it’s at its peak now it Might gain more tertiary character but That’s not necessarily a positive thing
It’s it’s different But it’s not positive and so you could Have possibly argued in that vein if you Thought that the wine was possibly going To hold but not really get any better And again it’s about using um that Argument To um To really show to the examiners that you Understand uh the wine in front of you So i think we’re gonna look at line two And open it up again aren’t we chris That’s right yes so um here we are if You’re following along um wine two our Friends Um what we’re gonna do this time is We’re gonna ask you what you think the Suitability for bottle aging is this 50 50. um but then we’re going to talk Through it a little bit so i’m jenny if You can open up poll number three thank You very much i’ll just give you a Moment there And while you’re just filling that in um Just to reiterate what vicki said this Whereas quality assessment is six points Uh the suitability is three points so You would get one points for what you’re Doing right now and then two points for The argument i’ll give you just about Five more seconds Brilliant um jenny if you can close the Poll and let’s see what the results are From that so the majority of you went
Not suitable for bottle aging and that Is the correct answer Um here so thank you very much for for Going through that so what i’m going to Ask you to do and in the chat here is to Say Why you think This won’t age what are some of the the Things thinking about the arguments um That that uh vicky had talked about what Might be some of the the arguments here So if you just type that into the chats Um and we will we’ll read it here So we have um It’s simple simple fruits there’s not Enough flavor intensity we’ve got the Light body Uh remember like body is not necessarily A Reason why not it couldn’t age lots of Rieslings are light bodied and can Definitely age um but i think we’re Picking up here on on the fact that it Lacks fruit intensity um there’s not Enough roots intensity exactly here we Got very simple um Fresh fruit flavors and however there is Something positive to this one it does Have high acidity so if you’re thinking About what um vicky was talking about With the the structural elements and the Fruit concentration it has one of those But not both of those Um excellent so and then yeah and then i
Think people here are saying what will Happen to the wine the food the the Fresh fruit will just fade um yeah we’ve Got simple and that’s that’s absolutely Right so let me show you thank you very Much for all your wonderful comments There um so this is the answer that we Put in um it’s not suitable and again When you’re when you’re learning and You’re doing the diploma you it’s Helpful to have sort of some phrases um At your fingertips to sort of help you Understand the wine and this is one of The ones you know despite having high Levels of acidity it lacks concentration Of fruits um on the palates uh and on The nose and on the palates um and as as Many of you mentioned with further age The flavors will simply fade away Excellent so that’s that was that Exciting wine number two Um i’m going to hand it over to vicky Who will take us through my number Okay so we’re going to do exactly the Same With Y number three so just a couple of Seconds to remind yourself of this wine Okay and again it’s going to be 50 50 on Our next poll Okay just a couple of seconds more Okay can we have a look at what the Results suggest Okay so most people have gone with uh
Suitable for bottle aging Okay So in this one um chris can we have our Note Great so we did also go with um suitable For bottle aging on this wine And the wine does have high acidity and Um We said that uh high acidity could be Something that would help the wine to Age in this case we think there’s enough Fruit concentration on the nose and Palate to um both to balance the high Acidity and um To ensure that it’s got enough root Concentration to develop further in the Bottle um and we thought in this case The flavors would continue to evolve There was already a little bit of fried Fruit prune on this Um And in our note we’ve noted some of Those sort of oak aromas as well um and So we brought in the argument here that The oak would become more integrated Obviously that’s only something that you Can tell when you’re actually tasting uh The wine but um In this case we brought forward um those Arguments i think maybe in this wine Based on our sort of quality notes as Well there could have been an argument For saying not to be suitable for bottle Aging had you brought in the fact that
There was sort of warming alcohol on the End Um Perhaps Um and so you could have said this is Going to only become more noticeable um With age and that might have been a Logical and accurate sort of way of Arguing the other way if you were one of Those people who said um it’s not going To age um So So the next thing after um We’ve covered up our sort of conclusions For each individual wine is to look at Our um sort of identification Across the flight and in this case all The wines are coming from a common Region and so uh on this side we’ve got A few um Sort of factors that you might want to Um consider When you’re looking at sort of identify The common region questions and not all Of them will be sort of applicable in Every circumstance in some flights and Some of these might be more sort of Clear or more useful to you um than Others so um for example we could look At grape varieties um is there anything Very sort of distinctive here is there a Particular wine that stands out in terms Of its sort of structural profile or its Flavors that make you think oh i’m sure
That that is this great variety and Therefore that leads me to a certain Region Um it could be climate now climate can Be quite difficult um it might be that You have High acidity throughout you have kind of Low to medium alcohols you have um just Ripe flavors and that might put you in Say a cooler climate Region So that could be uh evidence in that Sense i think what we have here is some High acidities but then we’ve got sort Of some high alcohols as well and some Kind of bright flavors so again the Evidence might not be quite so clear for Climate in this particular flight Um why making Um again there might be um some Particular techniques That lead you to certain regions so if You uh sense sort of botrytis in the Wine for example that might limit your Options somewhat um if you um And detect sort of carbonic maceration If you can detect sort of a dried fruit Character and that might come from a Pasmento again those are all um sort of Evidence that might limit your options And make you think of a certain uh or a Wine from a certain region Uh styles of wine and again the Examiner’s going to pick something
That’s fairly typical so if you’ve got Sort of three red wines in a flight it’s Very unlikely that the region is going To be the mosul um so there might be Some evidence there you want um The wines to Sort of line up with what you would Expect from that region again some wines Might be more useful for others if You’ve got a sweet wine in there again That’s probably more limiting Than just red and white wines but Equally and think what is typical the Examiners aren’t going to put on Something that’s completely atypical of The region Quality levels exactly the same Think about what would be um Common For the region In this case for example we had Um Two red wines in the flight They were very good and outstanding so Are we thinking of a wine that um You know a region that is perhaps Uh Noted for its high quality red wines And uh bottle aging again a factor that Possibly isn’t going to be your leading Um leading evidence but something that Could be consistent as well so for Example in this flight we had a wine That is potentially showing
Some degree of age and that could go on And age even further so we’re looking at A region where we think those sort of Wines Might be produced And equally i think particularly for This flight think about whether there’s Any um Great varieties there that really stand Out uh among the the tasting notes that We were given Okay so we’re going to again open this Up to a poll just for fun i can see People already putting um Little um sort of suggestions in the um In the chat but um yeah if you have like Sort of five seconds to put your your Answers Okay and can we see the answers Excellent okay what do you think chris Yeah that’s i’m i’m very impressed um Vicky i think these are some some great Great responses um you know don’t worry We will show you what they are so don’t You know if you’ve said it and it’s Incorrect that’s absolutely fine this is Part of What um we’re looking at with with the Tasting the tasting is very much about Um [Music] You know the ability to taste but it’s Also about the application of all the Knowledge and that’s kind of what vicky
Was outlining here so if you have gone For the war We probably wouldn’t have seen High alcohol such high alcohols um on Wine one and wine three in that in that Region the wine two potentially we could Have seen seen there Um napa uh napa you know for for those Of you who said that but that’s like That’s a good a good shout however for Wines one in wine three that kind of Makes sense however with wine too we Wouldn’t really have had such a simple Um Simple quality level wine which we said Was good um in napa we would have Expected sort of more high quality Wines Similarly if you had put stellenbosch i Think stellenbosch is is a good shout um However again we might have thought that That wine number two was a sort of Entry-level shenan but it would have and Maybe we might have thought one of the Others was a penitence um but that’s Kind of we’re trying to shoehorn a bit Of a bit of things in here Um rioja um if you had thought that Maybe the uh Wine one was say a reservoir grand Reserve and wine three was uh a um Maybe a creator or a or a reserva i Think that you’re kind of in the right Right direction there however again with
Wine number two rioja doesn’t really Make that sort of um style of white wine We would have expected it to be slightly Lower as uh more medium acidity a bit um Maybe with a bit of a bit of oak so Here we have gone um This is we haven’t gone it is uh pimonte Um and this is the rationale so thank You well then you can close that um so We we can go here with um our argument This may look very scary as an argument But what uh vicky and i wanted to do was Give you very much a model answer to What this what this looks like Um so here you can see That you and this would be worth 10 Points overall so you would get five Points for correctly identifying Pimonting But you would also get five points for Your argument so for those of you who Put um a different region you know you Wouldn’t get five points for the right Region you could still pick up points For arguments that made sense Um so for example some of the things That i had said you know if you had Thought it was a uh reserve rioja or or Whatever that kind of makes sense and The examiners would give you some some Points But here we have um we’re sort of going In right with uh as vicky said in wine Number one looking at the grape variety
And then we’re thinking okay what what Else could the other ones be wine number Three is indeed a barbara and what’s Wine number two well this is this is a Cortezer so we’ve gone in with that sort Of here we are and those where are those Three grapes grown well those three Grapes growing are grown most famously In in pimonto and then we’re using Quality um to go from sort of where can They create from good um to outstanding And then bottle aging there as well So this would this would be a Distinction level note it would get 10 Points um and that would be maybe on Your way to the vintners um cup So we have about ten more minutes now um So what we’re what we will do is um i’ve Seen i’ve answered one or two questions I was trying to do this multitasking Here um but i think vicky there’s some Questions i think that that Are there that i think you might might Be best to answer Um and we’ll try and go through all of These ones if we can’t get through all Of these questions um please know that Vicky and i will will we will look at All the answers and we’ll try and get Them out uh to the u in the post email Post event email um but vicky there was One question here um about can we start The mw track with level three or is Level four a prerequisites as an mw do
You want to just answer that Um Yes so um level four isn’t um a Prerequisite For the mw or for the master wine study Program however it is Sort of advised um that you have um Level four and what um Is a prerequisite is a sort of high Level of study in wine so if you didn’t Have the level four but you had a say Wine making degree or a wine business Degree or something Again or something on the sort of Similarly route That shows a high level of Study in wine already then those options Um Would be suitable instead of level four However I think probably level three um alone um Would probably not be um Enough um to um Uh to apply for the mw program Excellent thanks and then we have Another question here sorry i thought i Was in reading quest in order um Just with the exams uh vicar are they Taking one Each module one after the other or are They taken all at once can you just tell Us a little bit quickly about how the Exams work Yes so um it would very um well it would
Depend on your course provider but you Would study um each unit sort of in turn One after the other so typically you Would study a unit take the exam study The next unit take the exam there might Be a little bit of overlap in that there Might be an occasion where um possibly You take a couple of the sort of smaller Exams maybe on one day or quite near to Each other but it wouldn’t be a Situation where you know you have a Whole week of these exams coming one After the other so it is very much a Sort of staged um Course where you’re able to take an exam Get um get the um results for that and Sort of uh move on like that Excellent Um then i’ll just quickly go there’s a Few questions here and i can quickly Answer easier to say it than to to do This and so we have a question here About um it’s no longer required to Write out full and complete sentences That’s correct you can just do bullet Points um and yes we didn’t go into how The marks are allocated but you can read About that um on i think it’s in the Tasting guidance is that correct vicky About how if for example there is oak You need to mention oak in order to gain The full points um for the wine is that Correct Um so
Uh yes um so um yeah it’s about writing A complete um sort of tasting note so if There were sort of notable oak aromas it Would be expected that you would um Signal that in your tasting notes um in Terms of putting something like um is There more oak than primary and that Probably comes into more of a sort of Quality note so if you think the over The oak is overtaking the kind of Primary flavors in a sort of negative Way that might be sort of part of your Arguments for your quality assessment But it might not necessarily um need to Be stated or it wouldn’t need to be Stated in your tasting note that’s very Much about medium plus or pronounced Intensity overall Excellent um and then we have a question Here about topicity um i can quickly go To that we we don’t bring in simplicity Um in Into quality arguments um You know you can talk about oh this is This is a classic example of a rioja but If it’s not a rioja you’re going to look Rather silly so better just to stick to Those um that blic that we were talking About Um and then we have another question Here about intensity so if the intensity Is light on both the nose and the Pallets um what should we assess again It’s don’t think about it as a here is a
Tick box what is the algorithm for it It’s taking the whole arguments um and The whole tasting note holistically so If it’s light i would imagine that if It’s light on the nose and light on on The on the palate there are probably Other things that are going on that it’s Probably a very simple wine it’s Probably not very complex um we i don’t Know what the acidity and the tannins Necessarily might be so there are other Factors there that might sort of be a Query of its quality level so at diploma It’s not this algorithm of a plus b Therefore for c Um Then High alcohol high alcohol is one of the Elements for bottle aging however it’s Remember so i think this is this was Talking about wine number three which Had that high alcohol again here we Could have done something despite having High levels of alcohol You know it didn’t have the necessary Fruit concentration uh for it to age Further however we could we could also Use that so it’s not that we need to Mention absolutely everything Um vicky one question for you about the Barbara one i’m talking about wine Number three how much do you think it Could age and bottle Um
My number three And again this is something that you Could possibly uh put in your um In your note to show your understanding Um to an examiner so perhaps on line Number three it’s not going to be as Long aged as um for example wine number One so you might um Someone’s answering for me um you know You could put in something like i think This will develop over um the next sort Of you know five years um and then um You know hold for another You know Three or something like that so you can Show that maybe this wine isn’t going to Um Last for as long if you think that’s um Sort of an important Um sort of caveat to maybe uh put in for The examiner again it’s all about um It’s you know sort of communicating with The examiner and sort of showing exactly Um You know your knowledge of these wines Excellent um thanks vicky and then um Just we’re aware of the time here so i’m Just going to skip some questions which We’ll answer in in the other ones um if It’s simple aromas is it common to be Good wine or is it more acceptable um Again it’s it’s thinking about putting It into perspective um i would say if It’s relatively simple it’s not going to
Be towards the higher end of the of the Quality level Um the d3 exam is over two days um and You can find out more information about All of that on the website and exactly How long it lasts um the the tastings Are it’s an hour and a half for for six Wines um that you do in one day and then The the The theory is splits again into Several different parts Um What’s the step between level three the Jump from two yeah The jump from level two to level three Was was fairly steep um i think again Three to four it is You know we would expect as we say level Three level four um students to know Everything from level um Level three so you know if you if you if You’re if you’re a hundred percent of Level three then you’re you’re ready but Remember you can pass the level three With um With just 55 so if you’re if you’re at 55 you’re just a pass then you might Want to think okay i need to to get some More knowledge um under my belt Um and i think we have time for just Maybe one or two more questions um Maybe vicky just quickly how how do you Have any tips on finding tannins In terms of in terms of
Yeah Uh ripe or soft or grippy or all of that Wisdom I think um I mean definitely in diploma and i Wouldn’t get too um hung up about The exact word we’re definitely looking At Um you know are these Basically are they sort of ripe and soft Versus can you sort of feel anything More are they like green um or anything Like that and to be honest in the wine World there are so many people um using Different um Sort of descriptive words for different Um tannins that you know someone’s Uh grainy might be someone else’s sandy Or you know um grippy or something like That so i think You know definitely focus on you know Are these sort of uh soft verses um you Know Am i finding them particularly sort of Um apparent Um in another way are they particularly Sort of uh drying Um and i think it’s all about finding The sort of the language that maybe um Works for you Um chris if you’ve got anything more to Say about that in your wine studies yeah No i i think that’s that’s very much i Mean one very simple tip with um tannins
Is with it polymerizes the saliva will Polymerize the tenon so if you spit it Out you can actually see the number of Tannins by looking at how many black Little speckles are floating around but I think yeah it’s kind of concentrating On where where it is um in in your in Your mouth um as vicky says I’m i’m aware now that we are at 11 O’clock um uk time so unfortunately we Couldn’t get to everyone’s um responses There we will send out the answers to These um questions Um sorry the answers to this in the post Email um Follow-up uh post event follow-up so you Will have a copy of all of this um and If you want more information you can go To to our website um and thank you very Much for joining us Um and We wish you the best of luck and hope to See you at the diploma graduation In a few years Brilliant Thanks everyone You