Category: WSET Diploma

WSET Diploma

Overcast diamonds: Domaine Latour-Giraud 2011 “Genevrières” Meursault

Posted on by Josh

Domaine Latour-Giraud 2011 "Genevrières" Meursault[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

The first time I’ve had a Premier Cru Burgundy was in WSET Intermediate class years ago – it was the Latour-Giraud 2008 Meursault-Perrières. Looking at my notebook, I don’t seem to have much to say about it. I mean, good for you if you’re bedazzled by young and amazing white Burgundy at age 19, but I guess I needed more convincing.

The second time I’ve ever had a Premier Cru Burgundy was in WSET Advanced class, where it looks like I was really unimpressed. Just earlier this year I realized how amazing it was that I tried a Meursault and I back-pedalled hard, but retrying this helps me understand my past self.… read more

WSET Diploma

Black Swan: Joseph Burrier 2012 “Sur La Roche” Pouilly-Fuissé

Posted on by Josh

Joseph Burrier 2012 "Sur La Roche" Pouilly-Fuissé[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

If Chablis is the personification of pristine and pure Chardonnay that tastes of river stones and crisp fruit, with a balance of concentration and finesse that needs time to blossom, then Pouilly-Fuissé, at the other end of Burgundy, is a ballsier expression of quality white Burgundy.

More obvious fruit, here, with crushed pears and applesauce rather than freshly sliced green fruit, along with a vivacious touch of something Bed Bath & Beyond-esque, like a soapy lemon-lime candy. It’s the Black Swan to the White Swan we tried earlier in the flight. It’s just more willing to do MDMA on Sunday night but still have its shit together to do ballet the next morning.… read more

WSET Diploma

Audrey Hepburn: Domaine Tortochot 2010 Chambertin Grand Cru

Posted on by Josh

Domaine Tortochot 2010 Chambertin Grand Cru[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

This was spectacular. Apparently only two cases were directly brought into the province, and they went quickly. A great price, from what I can tell, but I’m not gonna pretend that I’m a huge connoisseur of Grand Cru Burgundy. Like, if you were to open one in my presence, I’d definitely force us to light candles and do a Gregorian chant before uncorking it.

Pinot Noir from the Côte de Nuits, of the north half of the Côte d’Or, is said to be more structured, deeper, perhaps darker in its fruit, and have a protracted maturation window compared to the wines of the Côte de Beaune. So, compared to the lighter Savigny-Lès-Beaune we had just before, this wine exuded more dark fruits, more brooding notes in the form of forest floor, mushroom and leather, and some oak, where there were well-integrated murmurs of mocha and sweet spice.… read more

WSET Diploma

“There’s Too Much Love” – Belle and Sebastian: Phillipe Girard 2010 “Les Lavières” Savigny-lès-Beaune Premier Cru

Posted on by Josh

Phillipe Girard 2010 "Les Lavières" Savigny-lès-Beaune Premier Cru[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

The next two wines we tasted were both Pinot Noirs from two different halves of the Côte d’Or – this one was from the Côte de Beaune in the south, while the next one was a Chambertin from the Côte de Nuits in the north.

Lighter and more driven by flowers, strawberries, and red cherries compared to the Chambertin. It’s often said that Pinot Noir from the Côte de Beaune creates wines that are lighter, fruitier, and prone to earlier maturation than that of the north. Much more pure in fruit than the basic Burgundy we tried a couple of wines before, if you were to compare the first wine to blurry vision à la Velma losing her glasses, and then this wine to putting on a stylin’ pair.… read more

WSET Diploma

White Swan: Domaine Christian Moreau 2012 Valmur Chablis Grand Cru

Posted on by Josh

Domaine Christian Moreau 2012 Valmur Chablis Grand Cru[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

Chablis, to me, is the pinnacle of perfection: not so much in a sense that it’s a wine that’s perfect and orgasmic, but more the fact that it strives to be something so pristine, crisp, calm, and complex, not unlike a snowflake.

The White Swan i.e. Nina Sayers comes to mind, where perfection is bitingly found but the wine is almost too young and needs lots of time to develop. Crisp notes of mineral, green apple, pear, a hint of oak (purportedly), cream, and something reminiscent to Loire Chenin that’s very wool and mushroom-like are found on the nose, and the palate reverberates the flavours with more intensity.

There’s a beautiful juxtaposition of young richness and brisk acid; a concentration of flavours that have lots of finesse.… read more

WSET Diploma

A scratched Frank Sinatra record: Vignerons de Buxy 2012 Buissonnier Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise Pinot Noir

Posted on by Josh

Vignerons de Buxy 2012 Buissonnier Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise Pinot Noir[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

Not bad, at first glance, but then wildly simple when compared to the Savigny-Lès-Beaune and Chambertin. Much more charming on the nose than on the palate, where simple red fruits, earth, and a bit of flowers and vanilla were a bit more shrouded and quiet on the palate.

Similarly to the first wine, there was a bit of sulphited character that was more evident compared to the other red wines in the flight, but it also could have been so because of the lack of intensity. Not really noticeable until we did a side-by-side sort of thing.

Sort of like a faded Sinatra record, where there are hints of allure but you don’t really get the true magic of the grape.… read more

WSET Diploma

Staff paper: Louis Latour 2012 Bourgogne Chardonnay

Posted on by Josh

Louis Latour 2012 Bourgogne Chardonnay[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 8: Burgundy]

We kick off our Burgundy sesh with two basic, well, Burgundies, in order to prime our mouths and ideas as to what Burgundy is and what the basic examples taste like compared to more premium examples.

Neutral, but irritatingly so. We kept samples of this wine when we tasted other whites, and it seemed like this wine had just a bit more of a sulphited character (matchsticks et al) in comparison – though perhaps it was just the lack of concentration on the nose that made it more evident.

I’m bad at picking up oak, but apparently there were bits of it on the nose, along with mineral, vague hints of green fruit, green apple, pear, and citrus.… read more

Life · WSET Diploma

WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 7: Australia

Posted on by Josh

My study schedule has happily been screwed up by – yes – a bunch of nights out, but conversely, a lot of time has gone into a wine lecture I had to prepare for. Practicing an hour-long speech doesn’t take a short time, especially if you’re trying to be witty the entire way through, but hey – it was fun and awesome and I like doing this kind of stuff.

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Australia was the topic of this week’s class – the huge booklet of information was intimidating, especially because I did next to no preparation for the class, but it was a good session. There’s a weirdly large amount of information for a region that we only focus one class on, and it’s weird when you see how a large chunk of Europe’s grape-growing area can be the same size of Australia.… read more

WSET Diploma

Eucalyptus meets leather: Wynns 2005 “John Riddoch” Cabernet Sauvignon

Posted on by Josh

Wynn's 2005 "John Riddoch" Cabernet Sauvignon[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 7: Australia]

For me, it’s hard to find aged examples of these big wines (in our market, anyways) that seem like they’re more appealing when they’re big and fresh and loud, but it’s always interesting to see what happens to the volume over time. In this case, the deep garnet wine gave notes of big black fruit, cola, mint, and eucalyptus, but there were also evolved notes of soy, leather, and coffee. Full-bodied and viscous, and surprisingly still fresh on the palate with distinct acidity and pronounced but fine tannins. The finish was slightly clunky, where there was a hint of a funky metallic thing going on, but overall I was quite pleased.… read more

WSET Diploma

“Supermassive Black Hole” – Muse: Vasse Felix 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon

Posted on by Josh

Vasse Felix 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 7: Australia]

This was the penultimate wine in the flight, and it was chosen to provide a contrast to the last wine. They obviously differed in age, at first glance, but the instructor also wanted to display the different manifestations of greenness. It’s one of my favourite things to teach, because I love telling the story about how my friend and I thought that the Château Cailleteau Bergeron 2012 Sauvignon Blanc had a distinct note of marijuana (though the vintages on either side were more distinctly grapefruit-scented). In this case, apparently Margaret River Cab has more of a minty character opposed to the classic eucalyptus note of Coonawarra Cab.

It was amazing how mouth-coating the flavours were without bringing down the animated freshness, like an umbrella keeping your socks and smiles dry during a rainstorm.… read more