Diploma Week 2 - Days 2 and 3

Over the course of these two days, we tasted around 35 spirits under the guidance of Michael Walpole, who had spent 30 years working for Diageo before joining the WSET. These tastings were intense, educational, yet quite frustrating. Intense for the amount of high-alcohol drinks we tasted, educational for the sheer range of drinks we sampled, and frustrating for the contradictory WSET approach to studying and tasting drinks.

very good or outstanding?

On Thursday morning, we began by tasting three vodkas, a forbidding and unpleasant proposition. Surprisingly, I quite liked all three and could appreciate the warming sophistication of the drinks despite their neutral, high alcohol flavours. One in particular everyone in the group seemed to like was the Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka, a Polish vodka flavoured with grass from fields that European bison graze on. It had a light colour to it, and a subtle texture. Many of us thought it was outstanding, as there was very little to fault about it, but Michael said it was merely very good because there are superior vodkas sold in Poland. If there are even better vodkas than this, we thought, then fair enough.

Later on during our brandy session, we tasted Rémy-Martin's XO. This is a very expensive brandy (£120+) from a famous Cognac name, but it's one I've tasted before in a Cognac line-up and found disappointing, especially for the price. Michael waxed lyrical about the drink, declaring it outstanding, and I couldn't help question him. 'I've tasted better XOs than this, so how can I describe it as outstanding?' I asked. 'Because it's outstanding.' 'But you said the vodka this morning was only very good because there were even better vodkas out there, so if I know there are better Cognacs out there how can I call it outstanding?' 'Because it's outstanding.' 'So why wasn't the vodka this morning outstanding?' 'Because there are better vodkas out there.'

It was a conversation which summed up what I've found frustrating about tasting during the Diploma so far. The WSET have created an objective tasting schemata, which their tutors interpret in an inconsistent and personal fashion. I think, for the large part, you've got to stick with our own judgement, using your knowledge and experience.

whisky tasting

what we tasted

In short, just about everything apart from Cachaça. Spirits I've never tasted before, spirits I've never wanted to taste before, and spirits I now want to taste again. I won't go into detail about all the spirits, as there were just so many we tasted and I plan to blog about each different spirit up till the exam next month. Although the breadth of the tasting was extensive, I felt we could have tasted more premium spirits as opportunities to taste such drinks are rare. There's also a section in the book on cocktails, but it's not something we need to study; this is a shame, as having tasted all these different spirits I'm interested to discover how they work with other ingredients.

brief highlights

Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka (£20)

Vodka's just something I never drink; the first sniff of the Smirnoff we tasted brought back many bad memories. This Polish vodka really opened my mind to vodka, though. There was a complex elegance to it, with a long, lingering finish. The range of engaging flavours overlapped, creating a rounded texture - marzipan, lemon and lime, grass and hay, chamomile and mint, with spices from the rye. Apparently, this goes very well with fresh apple juice and a suggested cocktail was with lemon, ground almonds or amaretto, and apple juice.

Pusser's Blue Label Navy Rum (£30)

Now here's another drink - dark rum - that not that long ago I wouldn't have gone near, but a brief taste at hangingditch of one last year gave me an idea of the depth and complexity of the drink. This was confirmed by this astonishing spirit, which British sailors used to drink a pint a day of. The flavours were rich, deep, and intense with lots of dried fruits (figs, prunes, and dates), and Christmas cake. The treacle and toffee sweetness came from the raw material, molasses. Its colour comes from ageing in old Bourbon oak barrels, making the spirit toasty and smoky, with cinnamon and cloves spices. Yet in the midst of all this dark complexity were light tropical fruit flavours of banana and melon.

El Dorado Special Reserve 15YO Demerara Rum (£40)

And Pusser's wasn't even the best dark rum we tried. This Guyanan rum has won plenty of awards and has lots of similiar complex flavours, but with an added depth and finish, with a creamy vanilla texture also coming from the oak, as well as chocolate and coffee. I'll be exploring the world of dark rum with some pleasure.

Johnnie Walker Black Label (£25)

Spirits are all about fashion. Blended whiskies like Johnnie Walker are highly sought after in other parts of the world such as Asia; in Britain, they're seen as yesterday's drink - it's the Single Malts that are sought after. I've drunk plenty of Scotch, but never even considered trying Johnnie Walker - now I will. This was simply superb: a complex combination of all the other Scotch whiskies we tried and a prime example of the art of blending.

am I now an expert?

You'd hope so, having tasted so many spirits. However, there's still a lot of work to be done before the exam next month: learning to distinguish between each spirit, recognising the raw material, and remembering the vocabulary. We had a mock blind tasting at the end of the final day; I correctly identified the grappa and tequila, but thought the Bacardi was a vodka. The hardest thing is distiniguishing one mediocre drink from the other - not the kind of revision I really want to be doing...

I didn't drink a drop

 

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)

 

 

Cognac tasting

Recently at hangingditch, Alex Johnson of Eaux de Vie, UK spirits suppliers, gave us a Cognac tasting. It was fascinating to taste a range of Cognacs, learning about the different styles and characteristics of different producers, as well as how the price of such a branded product can be so misleading: just because something is very expensive doesn't mean it's any good.

Some facts

All brandy is a spirit distilled from grapes; Cognac is generally made from Ugni Blanc (Trebbiano in Italy), which, for the production of wine, is a ubiquituous but fairly forgettable grape. For brandy, this makes it ideal: its high acidity produces esters which means lots of aromatic compounds. Likewise, the low alcohol wine produced allows concentrated aromas to come through in the distillation process.

The soils of Cognac are similar to Champagne, which is why Cognac's two most important areas have easily confused names: Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne. The chalky soils have good drainage, making the grapes work hard, but there are differences between the areas. Grande Champagne is uniformly Campanian limestone, producing Cognacs that are elegant and delicate, with flavours of orange blossom when young and orange rind when more mature. Petite Champagne, which surrounds its more prestigious neighbour, has wines that are elegant but robust, with darker, richer fruits: the limestone here is Santonian. Of the other areas, it's Fin Bois that has the most significance: the soils are not uniform, but where they are chalky, Cognac as exceptional as those of the two Champagnes can be produced.

Oak is all important, with a variety of age to the oak used. Some new oak is used to provide flavours, but they cannot dominate, so after 3-6 months the wine will be transferred to old oak barrels, which allows in air and the spirit to evaporate. Humidity in the cellar is crucial: a wet cellar means alcohol evaporates, resulting in a gentler wine; a dry cellar means water evaporates, resulting in an austerer wine. To add to the complexity, Cognac is nearly always a blend of different vintages.

There are some basic terms that indicate the age of a Cognac, though quality Cognacs will always have been aged much longer:
VS - has to have been aged for at least two years
VSOP - has to have been aged for at least four years
XO - has to have been aged for at least six years

What we tasted

Le Reviseur VS (£35) - a single estate Cognac from Petite Champagne, with an average age of 8 years (but ranging from 4-20 years); lots of dried fruits, with a floral nose; nutty, salty, and spicy, but with a shortish finish.

Leyrat VSOP (£55) - single estate from Fins Bois. The estate is on gentle slopes, benefitting from sunshine trapped by surrounding hills. The wine, a beautiful pale colour despite its age (less time in new oak), was elegant and delicate, with poached pears and peaches and sweet spices. The XO, aged for around 30 years, had more dried fruits, with a long spicy finish.
 
Maxime Trijol XO (£120) - a small output which is funded by making Cognac for Rémy-Martin, one of the four giant operations. The Grande Champagne XO had depth, complexity, and elegance, with dried fruits, and an oily, oxidised, rancio quality reminiscent of old cheese.

Ragnaud Sabourin Fontvieille No.35 (£135) - Ragnaud Sabourin is known as one of the finest of all Cognac producers. Since it was founded by Gaston Briand, it has been run by three generations of women, who uphold the company's traditions: low quantity, high quality. There was a beautiful complexity to this Grande Champagne Cognac: dried fruits, leather, tannin, floral spices, oranges and citrus.

Cognac is dominated by four brands - Rémy-Martin, Hennessey, Martell, and Courvoisier - who together sell 80% of all Cognac. We tasted these boutique Cognacs together with Rémy-Martin VSOP and Martell XO. The Rémy-Martin, retailing at around £30-40, was of a good standard, with bread and toffee flavours, though its finish wasn't that long - relatively good value for the price. The Martell XO, retailing at around £120-130, quite simply had none of the distinctive characteristics of the Cognacs from the smaller producers yet was selling for around the same price. Proof that if you have the money to spend, spend it on quality not on a famous name.