Feb 19-20, 2014

Woo! Almost done classes for this unit. The one remaining class involves the leftovers of the fortified world, so that’ll basically be Madeira and vins doux naturels. Perhaps some other things. This’ll take place the week after next, only because classes are delayed due to the Vancouver International Wine Festival. Hurrah!

I’m pretty stoked for the VIWF. For some reason I signed up for the Blind Tasting Challenge on Wednesday morning (i.e. I must do my absolute best to get in sleep for the previous night), and I will be nervous to absolute bits. But I told myself last year that I would do it the next year. And so here I am, absolutely frightened out of my mind.… read more

Feb 12-13, 2014

It has happened. The winter quota is (finally?) being filled: Saturday afternoon brought upon the grey-feeling precursor to definite sickness, and Sunday morning felt ultra-crunchy (not a hangover, I swear!), though it went away after the first cup of coffee. Fortunately for me, this cold is much milder than some of the previous bouts. My nasal passage seems relatively clear, sneezes seem to be properly reigned, and the worst part is feeling much more unfinished in the morning than usual. On the bright side of things, it’s probably the best time of the year to get sick: after the winter festivities, and before the Vancouver International Wine Festival. I should be better by then, but it’s hard to tell because this cold seems rather mild and I hope that this also doesn’t mean it’s unusually drawn-out.… read more

Feb 5-6, 2014

Is it February already?! There’s always that point during the summer where I’m ready for the cold and even await its glacial presence, but the reverse happens so much more faster. So yes, I’m loving how fast time is flying by.

This week’s class was based centrally on terroir, especially for Champagne, where different vineyards command different prices, even though Champagne is one appellation – it’s hardly that this prevalently and lucratively occurs in any other appellation. Since the complexities of top Champagne are mainly based on the winemaking process, we focussed on the importance of terroir and location on grapes. We then explored the five main regions and their individual nuances. And then I realized that three of the northern regions, being the Montagne de Reims, the Vallée de la Marne, and the Côte des Blancs, look rather suggestive in some certain maps.… read more

Jan 29-30, 2014

What happened to the good ol’ days when I actually used to talk about what I learned in WSET class? We’re virtually halfway for sessions this unit, and I feel like I haven’t even studied anything yet. Today’s sparkling-centric class mainly concerned the vineyard, where the main topics included grape varieties and vinification. Fun stuff. The cue cards have begun, and learning which diseases that each grape is susceptible to is sort of fun in a stupid way.

We tasted a Californian blanc de noirs, a vintage Champagne, a Riesling Deutscher Sekt, a Cava with a large proportion of Chardonnay, a Cava with very little Chardonnay, and a sparkling Vouvray (this one was corked). Analyzing sparkling wine is evidently becoming a little more tricky than analyzing still wines.… read more

Jan 22-23, 2014

It’s hilarious how WSET classes are easily becoming the Glee equivalents of the Art Institute of Vancouver, where wine classes can seem even half-justifiably hilarious to the outsiders. Then there’s the occasional giggle or awe from passers-by and friendly wine banter from other faculty members (“care to share some wine with us? *smirk*”) and the stares from visual arts students or the oft white-clad cooking apprentices, but I guess it’s a nice refresher from the Sauder suits and the brobots of UBC who are scantily-clad in the middle of winter.

But this is an arts school. So we’re all losers and it’s actually a huge Glee club!

Just kidding. Insert musical number here.

First off: WSET Diploma Unit 4 (Spirits) results.… read more

Jan 15-16, 2014

This past week might as well have been the boring one, because the next couple of weeks involve more birthday shindigs, UBC tastings, staff parties, and a wine lunch. This all leads up to the Vancouver International Wine Festival at the end of February, whose tickets I’ve hopped on like a giddy teenaged girl waiting for the early release of One Direction tickets. I’ve already squealed about certain wines and their respective rockstar presenters. Eeeeee!

I’m legitimately looking back in my calendar to see if I did anything superexciting in the past week. I can’t really think of much, but let’s go through this day-by-day to see if anything fun comes up. Flashback style. I’m not always a bucket full of fun, y’know.… read more

Jan 8-9, 2014

I’ve been putting off a life update for a while due to a whirlwind of busy with wads of procrastination stuffed in between. I’ve completed the WSET Diploma Unit 4 (Spirits) exam back in November which wasn’t too bad, but I’m less confident about the coursework assignment I handed in for Unit 1 (Business). It might be the case that I’m too unaware of how the global market works for me to have compiled my data and interpreted it sufficiently like an intelligent person, and we’ll see if a rewrite is needed. In any case, it’s done. I slaved for hours on that essay – and my printer, of course – ran out of ink the night before I handed it in.… read more