So I have chosen to take WSET Level I and it runs over four weeks; class is every Monday evening from 6:30 to 9:30. While registering for the course, much to my horror, I was forced to acknowledge that there would be absolutely no consumption of alcohol during the classes – you are expected to spit!
The classes are held at BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology) downtown campus, which turned out to be a nice facility. The classroom is spacious and has five tables, each with four to six chairs around them, and at the first class we received our own set of six ISO (International Standards Organization) tasting glasses which we are expected to bring back each week.
Before launching into the course material we took turns introducing ourselves and explaining why we had chosen to take the course and, much to my surprise, only two out of the twenty-five people in the room actually worked in the food and beverage industry, the rest of us were there purely out of personal interest.
The class had a good balance between lecture and wine tasting and we wasted no time at all getting to the tasting part. We learned how to taste wine and how to write tasting notes starting with an $88 bottle of H. Billiot & Fils Champagne! We were told that if done properly the swishing, swirling, slurping (use the wine just like mouth wash) and spitting (oh, the horror) can be just like drinking wine (I am skeptical) while leaving your palate fresh for the next taste. A tip for success though, don’t look at what’s accumulating in your spit cup when you spit, it’s pretty disgusting.
After the champagne we tasted two Rieslings: one from Pewsey Vale in Australia and the other, an $81 bottle of 10-year-old St. Urbans-Hof from Germany. We then had the opportunity to compare and contrast two Chardonnays: one was a William Fever Chablis from France and the other was Mer Soleil from California. It was interesting to compare how the same grape can taste from different regions due, in part, to climate and wine making methods.
Next we moved onto reds, not the same grape varietal this time though. This time we compared a $102 bottle of Brovia Barolo from Italy (I loved this wine) with a George DuBeof Beajolais from France, in order to learn about tannins.
Tannin is not a flavour, it is a substance that produces a sensation of dryness in the mouth, which is generally felt at the tip of the tongue and around the gums and teeth. I once met a fellow wine enthusiast who described the sensation as “cotton mouth” which sums it up pretty perfectly. Tannins come from grape skins and aging wines in oak barrels; they can give a wine structure and help it to mature in the bottle.
Getting back to the wine though, Barolo is made from Nebbiolo grapes which are highly tannic; a quality I personally tend to enjoy. It seems however that most people do not enjoy sipping on a wine high in tannins, they either need to pair these wines with foods high in protein (like a good steak) or allow them to age until the tannins come into balance with the rest of the qualities in the wine. We compared this highly tannic, full bodied wine to a light and fruity Beaujolais, which is made from Gamay grapes and is low in tannins.
The first class ended on a sweet note, tasting a Chateau d’Armanjan Sauternes from Bordeaux France. Sauternes is a sweet wine made from Semillion, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle grapes that have been affected by “noble rot” (botrytis cinerea) causing them to be partially dried and producing concentrated flavours.
If you’re anything like me, you tend to choose the same wines from the same wine regions time and time again; you will often find me sipping on a Merlot, a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Meritage from BC or Washington. This first class was a great introduction to some varietals and wine regions I don’t normally choose, and it also provided access to wines I wouldn’t normally afford. I was impressed and looking forward to the next class.
P.S. I’m still not convinced about this whole spitting thing and I did end-up swallowing some of the wines (especially the Barolo).