WSET3 news from Milan

Ready, set, go!

Fascinating aromas - tough work 

Studying for WSET3 at Milan Wine Academy (or Accademia Vino) was a genuine metaphor of the wine world: our study group spent the days tasting flights of wonderful wines - only to get buried in wine literature during the evenings. This intense week of tasting and studying in Milan brought together us, who had studied for months preparing for it. All this work culminated in examination on the final day, both in tasting and theory. Many of you, dear readers, might now sigh enviously picturing me in Milan. Don’t worry, though. Admittedly, I had fun, but the fun doesn’t begin to compare with the performance pressure. Let’s see. 1. Blind tasting exam - panic. 2. Theory exam – panic. 3. Very short time allocated for the theory exam - panic! 4. The difficulty of the questions in the theory exam - panic, indeed!! 5. Added bonus panic: all my fellow course mates were either winemakers or sommeliers by profession. Is short, I panicked.

Don’t get me wrong! Milan was exciting, beautiful, delicious and surprisingly laid back for a financial capital. I spent plenty of time in awe in front of Dolce&Gabbana store – but only after the final exam. Before the exam the only sightseeing I enjoyed was from my hotel room balcony while I spent my evenings studying, studying and studying.

My only sightseeing until the exam.

  

Luckily all the study pressure wasn’t in vain, as indicated earlier in December by the winebloggers’ blind tasting challenge, where I managed to pick up the Syrah/Shiraz from Chile. So, fortunately some information stuck to my cortex, which was entirely thanks to the outstanding faculty of Accademia Vino. First, AlessandraFedi. Her bubbly personality and interactive lecturing style ensured that her themes, including her area of special expertise, Chilean wine, were unforgettable to us. Second, Marina Olwen Fogarty. Being half British, half Italian, she offered us the best of both worlds teaching-wise: there aren’t many that are able to combine winemaker’s understanding to an extremely clearly articulated academic style of communication. And finally, Flavio. Flavio Grassi is the director of the Milan Wine Academy, a true Milanese gentleman who has spent a great part of his life in Anglo-Saxon culture environment. Entertaining, sharp and clear, Flavio teaches difficult wine concepts with the kind of relaxed ease and clarity that I’ve never come across before, in wine studies or any other studies for that matter. 

WSET3 student rinses and dries tasting glasses again and again.

 

During the WSET3 training we tasted roughly 100 wines and studied for hundreds of hours. The course covered the essential wine regions of the world, and in addition, some less known, upcoming wine producing countries such as Uruguay and Canada. Understanding wine regions was only one part of the advanced curriculum of WSET3, which also looked at all core aspects of wine production and evaluation including winemaking, grape varieties, natural hazards, vineyard management, the determinates of wine quality and style, wine aromas, and – most crucially, the systematic approach of tasting wine. This technique enables the taster to evaluate a wine in terms of quality, identity, aging potential and price point by gathering systematic information of the particular wine through sensing its appearance, nose, palate and finish. This approach to wine tasting was what particularly attracted me to undertaking WSET3. 

Now, when the results of the exams have come in, I guess it is safe to say that I’m quite pleased with the skillset I manage to acquire. In spite of all that panicking I was able to pass both the tasting and theory exams with distinction. Phew! Now I can breathe again. These news require breathing in some champagne aromas… Cin cin, dear wine lovers, and Happy New Year to you all!