Diploma - Week 2, Day One

the exam

A mere three-day week this time, after the opening five-day slog in January. It opened, however, at 9am with the first exam of the course, on Wine Production. I've slaved over the Study Guide, pored over David Bird's excellent Understanding Wine Technology book, and made copious notes; stared at pages trying to remember the difference between flash and tunnel pasteurisation, finally figured out the differences between various rootstocks, and hit a complete blank at understanding all the trellis systems; and at least a week before the exam got to the point where it was impossible to digest any more.

The exam itself wasn't much different from what I expected: badly-phrased questions trying to catch students out on topics I knew I hadn't quite fully grasped. I'm sure I did OK, but looking through the trickier questions afterwards it was annoying to see that I'd picked the wrong option for quite a few of the ones I'd narrowed down to 50/50 - though some of them are still impossible to figure out even having looked at the Study Guide.

the fizz

The exam was followed by twenty-one sparkling wines, which was a great way of forgetting about the early-morning stress. Our tutor for this day was Michael Buriak, who had quite a dry wit and spent his time focusing on the wines rather than the theory. I found this very useful, as I don't drink sparkling wine very often and really needed guidance through all the various styles and how to describe them - the theory I can learn at home.

For instance, whenever I taste champagne, "apple" is the fruit I invariably end up using to describe it, but that feels so limited. Now I know that there are lots of ways to describe that consistent apple taste in champagne: bruised apple, baked apple, cooking apple, fresh apple, ripe apple, red apple, ripe red apples, crème brûlée. It'd still be nice if there were some other fruits in champagne, though.

I've also always thought using words like brioche incredibly pretentious, but they are necessary. You have to mention the autolytic character if it's there (and if it's not, then point out its absence), which comes from extended contact with dead yeast cells: yeast, lees, biscuit, bread, brioche, toast, pastry, fruitcake. I don't think any of this makes it any easier to describe uninteresting wines, but it gave me a lead into how to define wines of some quality. The day also confirmed that terms such as "Brut" are meaningless when compared to still wines, as most sparkling wines are off dry.

wines of note

Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé NV
We sell this wine at hangingditch, though I've never had a chance to taste it before. It was outstanding, with beautiful red fruits and complex autolytic characteristics. This was one of several wines of the day which pointed towards the potential depth of non-vintage champagnes. (£60)

Jack Rabbit Sparkling White Zinfandel
I only include this because I didn't even know sparkling white Zinfandel existed. If you want a wine that tastes of a watermelon lollipop, then this is the one. It sells for £2.29. Seriously.

which one's the sparkling Zinfandel?

Tesco's Cava Brut NV
This was one of three examples of entry-level sparkling wines and was truly awful. The two worst wines on the course so far have been from Tesco. (£4.49)

Waitrose Champagne Brut NV
This non-vintage champagne from Waitrose was a much more interesting and impressive example of a supermarket label than the Tesco Cava, albeit at a higher price. Complex autolytic notes (yep), bruised apples (yep), and truffles (a fancy term for mushrooms and one I shall now use whenever possible). (£19.99)

Cloudy Bay Pelorus 2008
Cloudy Bay are so famous it's possible to forget they produce high-quality wine. This has spent four years on its lees and is still a young wine. Unlike an equivalent champagne, it has flavours of stony fruits (peach and apricot), but with autolytic characteristics and, yep, baked apples. (£18.99)

Bollinger Grande Année 2004
By this point, I'd given up spitting. Bollinger are one of Champagne's most famous names and this wine was pretty special, disgorged only in January last year, meaning that it had spent eight years on its lees. The whole shebang of champagne flavours were in this wine, and more: mushroom AND truffle, smoke and toast, bruised apples and toffee, and old brioche. That's right, old brioche. This is some wine, but best drunk now. Good job I was on hand. (£60)