Making Another Mockery of the Process
Not Really. Just another stupid 'Mock' pun, after a few days in Switzerland with the MW crew, Jo Dayer and Christophe Heynen MW.
Hmmmm. Sorry if you’ve been expecting a “Weekly Newsletter”, we’re solidly in the run up to MW exam territory, and as you all know, that is why we’re here. So forgive me if I do some study instead. It’s a bank holiday weekend though, I’ve got a smidge of time between ice cream eating in the garden, sourdough making in the middle room, and essay plans in the upstairs office.
Off the back of a few days in London, last weekend I was in Switzerland1, eating pickles and cured meats, scraping up blobs of melted cheese and tasting another 36 wines blind, while having a stab at what I think they were.
Luckily for you lot, I can be a tad more open about how we got on with these, but, it does make for quite uncomfortable writing. Even if the reading will be astutely lighthearted2.
Day 1 - Paper … 2.
A flipping curve a ball straight outta the gate. Christophe decided to start with Paper 2, the reds.
Flight 1 - 4 - Same Grape, Four different countries.
Alright, I was in Pinot Noir for these four Garnacha, and I promise I won’t make that mistake again. I think I spent too much time fretting over the third flight.
These were not from Chile, America, Australia and Burgundy, but France, Australia, Sardinia and Spain. Whatever.
The bulk of the question was on quality and extraction and, well, I probably did OK, but the cock up on variety here probably would have meant failing the exam.
Like stalling the engine at the test centre gates….
The rest of the paper was alright to be fair, a straitforward pair of reds from Bordeaux, four wines from Spain and then a couple of Pinot Noirs to finish, that I put down as Garnacha.
I honestly don’t think I've got those two so muddled up before.
6 out of 12 might just scrape through…. but highly unlikely.
Day 2 - Paper… 1
White Wines, and I did pretty well here.
3 whites, Chenin Blanc from South Africa, France, and a skin contact wine from Maule… of course. I thought they were Chardonnay, but 90% of the marks were for quality and winemaking, so I would have done ok here. I even got all the countries correct, just not the grape variety
Two ‘Bankers’ out of three? The third one is probably Chile. I’ve learnt over the few years I’ve been doing the MW, that if you don’t know what it is3, literally anything weird and wacky from Maule is probably your answer.
Stage 2 exam last year: Weird, hazy, natty thing? Semillon from Chile.
Mock at Seminar: Light bodied, funky smelling red? Pais from Maule.
Mock last week: Celery and bell pepper? Skin Contact Chenin, from… Maule.
I wonder if the MWs setting the mocks get together and decide to throw in weird Chilean wines on purpose.
Saying that, I think we had something similar earlier in the year at another mock, with three wines, where two were traditional European versions, and the other was a bat-shit crazy wine was from New Zealand.
Let that be a lesson to you, if there’s two wines you definitely know, and the third doesn’t fit, stick to what’s in the glass, and pretend the weird one is from Chile or maybe New Zealand.
Other than that, a straightforward gallop through a trio of Australian classics, Riesling, Chardonnay and Hunter Semillon and then off for an asparagus risotto in the sun.
Day 3 - Paper 3
With papers and days back in their right place I got 10 for 12 on this exam, and that’s pretty much all we need to say about that.
Q1: A pair: one conventional, one skin contact, Assyrtiko from Santorini … but all the marks available for my strong answer for Rkatsiteli.
Q2: Three fizzy wines with answers centred around quality and winemaking.
Q3: Port (10 yr Tawny), Sherry (Amontillado), Madeira (Rainwater4), in that order.
Q4: Last question was 4 wines in 2 pairs: “Each pair in the same region”, one was dry and the other was sweet.
With the wine styles and signposting in the question the options were: Chenin/Loire, Semillon/Bordeaux, Riesling/Mosel or Furmint/Tokaj. Yes, there are some other options, but those four are your main choices.
Pair 1 was …Chenin (Again) French, a dry and sweet pair from the Loire, which took a bit of mind-wrangling as the sweet wine wasn’t very botritised5…
The last pair was the annoying one, furmint!
The acid (high)and alcohol (low) of Tokaji, when placed next to a Sauternes, with acid (mod), alcohol (mod+) is an easy spot. Without the Sauternes side-but-side, I find it much harder. That is the game, folks.
Exam in 4 weeks.
If you’re sitting the exam, sorry for the reminder.
If you’re not sitting the exam, I hope you have a nice relaxing May, with all its Bank Holidays and sunshine.
A friend of mine one told me they take every Monday in May off as annual leave. Works out as only 2 days of holiday allowance used up, but does mean you only work 4-day weeks for the whole month. Genius.
I’ve never had the opportunity to do it as hospitality Bank Holidays are flipping busy, and you can’t take the time off, or as now, I’m freelance, days off mean I don’t get paid6. I’ve always just worked through just like any other (Mon)day.
dk
Thanks!
Big thanks to Christophe Heynen MW… From GustoWorld and some other great projects for hosting the weekend of tasting.
http://www.christopheheynen.com
And, to Jo Dayer from Clos du Tsampéhro and Hedonistica, for joining in with feedback sessions and a visit to their winery. Jo is an S3 MW student and therefore soon-to-be MW, for sure
https://www.clos-tsampehro.com
Honestly, Switzerland is really quite lovely.
I’ll tell you know, I’ve had some Riesling and some Pinot Noir before typing this up.
To be totally fair, most of the time I don’t know what the wines are.
Look it up.
Botrytis affected, botrytisy, botrytisseded? I dunno.
Booked my AirBnB this week, and I’ve gotta pay the exam fee.