Tag: Life

Life · WSET Diploma

WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 18: Workshop #4

Posted on by Josh

Because I skipped Workshop #3 for drunk studying.

Like I know I’m supposed to be pseudo-sentimental right now because it’s the last class of WSET ever, but all I can think of is how much material I have to learn until the exam in June. Holy shit. I really need to make a study plan. That I won’t end up sticking to. Ugh.

Life has been on the rise in a vague way. A good (wine) friend has moved to the other end of the country which really sucks, but it was a good sendoff.

2005 Coulée de Serrant = amazing. 2006 Elderton Botrytis Semillon = amazing. Everything in between = amazing. Taxi rides home, hugs in between. Background violin – no, cello – solo. … read more

Life · WSET Diploma

WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 17: Southern France & South America

Posted on by Josh

I just realized that this is the penultimate WSET diploma class ever, and the next Monday will be the last, so perhaps I’ll temporarily be free from making these posts instead of legit studying. It’s almost been exactly two years since I started the diploma. WOAH DUDES. I’ll save more I-can’t-believe-it’s-been-this-long-etc-etc-omg sentiments for next week.

My best friend’s birthday was on the 4th and he planned some long string of activities including pool, clubbing, and other miscellaneous turnt-esque activities. Still not feeling life, generally, so I stayed for just the first bit, which means I attempted the geometrically bro-y activity of pool (after much external convincing) while studying German flash cards on my phone when people weren’t looking. I went home after that to watch The Grand Budapest Hotel and drink Alsatian Gewurztraminer in lieu of clubbing (sorry Chris) which raised my mood in the slightest. … read more

Life · WSET Diploma

WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 16: Spain

Posted on by Josh

Fun: wine fest, sort of.

Not fun: PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. I’m debating whether or not I should squeeze another post dedicated to the Wine Fest 2015 because that’s what I’ve done in the past, but I feel like I’m being a late bitch.

I mean, these posts should be good enough. Right? Meh. Fun:
Decades Apart
Shiraz: Aussie Superstar
All About Syrah
Mod Oz

Not fun: falling right back into wine class right after wine fest.

Fun: Spanish wine, and definitely ignoring half the lecture to write in my journal because I’m a bad student.

Not fun: Having an odd week-long and spirit-encompassing feeling of wanting to do nothing, including sleep or eat or work. Not sad or happy or tired or angry, just a state of existing.… read more

Life · Tasting

Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015: “Mod Oz”

Posted on by Josh

It just feels slightly unfortunate that this seminar didn’t sell out – I mean, if the idea of Australian Shiraz is being purportedly tired, why aren’t we getting excited about every other fucking grape that can be grown there? Did you see Australian Grüner Veltliner coming? The answer is no. You didn’t.

I mean yes – I tire my face out by tensing my eye sockets and resisting an eye roll every time someone says they “don’t like Australian wine”, which is somewhat fair considering that the market can be saturated with its own stereotypes. I suppose it’s just good business sense, but there’s so much potential past the generic back-of-the-bottle tasting notes that preach deep berry fruit, “smooth”, and an empty promise that it’ll pair well with barbecue.… read more

Life · Tasting

Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015: “All About Syrah”

Posted on by Josh

Legit tried to give my ticket away or sell it just hours before like a chump, because the previous day’s Australian Shiraz tasting made me seriously question what possessed me to buy a ticket to an event where I was subject to taste eleven more Syrah wines. No ma’am. I couldn’t even give my ticket away to someone for free, as he reluctantly looked at me as if I’d just knocked on his door and asked if his life had been saved by Syrah yet.

I thought it was a bad sign when some sort of false fire alarm went off right when the beginning of the event rolled around. As soon as I was going to test if the rhythm would match up with an Iggy Azalea song, the blaring Windows 98-like noises stopped.… read more

Life · Tasting

Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015: “Shiraz: Aussie Superstar”

Posted on by Josh

Legit just took some Tums right now because the ride home was a sketchy acidic one. Maybe ask the woman who sat to my right at the seminar because she didn’t spit anything she tasted, but I guess that weird cheesy number I had for lunch didn’t really do me any favours. But yes: I wasn’t exactly super stoked about a seminar that had to do with 12 glasses of mouth-destroying Shiraz, but sometimes the best way to appreciate something so seemingly daunting is just to go for it. Just jump right into the pool of tannin and rip the bandaid off, maybe packing a toothbrush in your bag for later. Which I almost legit did, because I want my teeth to look decent and not like they belong to a Disney villain.… read more

Life · Tasting

Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015: “Decades Apart”

Posted on by Josh

I’m feeling inconveniently gross because I was supposed to study the rest of Australia last night, so it seemed like a good idea when my best friend posed the idea of doing some late night work together at a café. We drove around, and the few places we could think of were all full at 9PM on a Tuesday, so we thought we could grab a small bite at the Union before heading back out to scout a place to get some shit done.

It was not a small bite. We did not do work afterwards.

Long story short: it’s the day after. I’m tired and gross and for some reason I decided to wear this really thick button-up because I’ve been saving it for semi-relevant moments like these, and I’m thanking God that there isn’t a saccharine Chardonnay in the flight that raises my body temperature by a few degrees.… read more

Life · WSET Diploma

WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 15: Germany

Posted on by Josh

It’s been a weird past couple of weeks. I don’t know why I think it’s necessary for me to mention that I moved onto my first iPhone, but I’m going to: I’ve moved onto my first iPhone. And I instantly turned into the person I thought I would never be – the person constantly glued to their screen, swiping down on every app just to refresh what might be minuscule and insignificant updates that other people filter just so their lives look more entertaining than yours. I’m making it seem like I’m much older than I am, which seems to be a shitty inadvertent theme anyways?

Fancy dinner on some Sunday. It was great. I shall not talk about the accidental crunchy journey home because it’ll give you more fodder to poke at what might be my already hilarious life, but I’m still mentioning its existence because it makes me look mysterious even though what it should make me look like is gross.… read more

Life · WSET Diploma

WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 14: Business of Wine

Posted on by Josh

Woah! I’m feeling mighty uninspired. I think it might have to do with the clouds and rain, which are normally quite nice, but something’s blocking my brain and I feel like I have to obligatorily blame it on the weather. Maybe I need to watch a movie, or go on a mini vacation, or just hug someone for a really long time. It sure is an excuse to get juices flowing with actual alcoholic juice, but I’m going to not because my brain is telling me no. (Which means it’s going to be one can of beer or just a hint of scotch. And then maybe more scotch.)

Two weeks ago, I skipped class on southern Italy to attend an afternoon whisky seminar followed by a sobering nap.… read more

Tasting

Josh tastes 173 BC wines

Posted on by Josh

I tasted 173 BC wines in a row which was both fun and exciting but kind of slightly vexing, like if you took Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” and replaced that phrase with “Meritage” for the entire duration of the song, and then played the song 50 times in a row.

But yes – the whole ordeal was partial torture because there was a huge dominance in obvious homogeneity for heavier reds, and it becomes tough to evaluate wines when the only ones that stick out are the ones that are “different”. It’s easy to write something off as boring when it’s actually rather decent quality, so perhaps it’s safer to treat my tasting notes as a progressive story of me gently losing my mind rather than an actual set of viable records.… read more