Wine school: nose to the grindstone
The Master of Wine exam is arguably the toughest and most demanding in the industry. Some think the Master Sommelier qualification is marginally tougher.
A Master of Wine candidate has to sit a three-part practical tasting exam and write four theory papers before the dissertation. I recently learned I was one of the 18 lucky students to have passed, from the 92 candidates who sat the practical tasting exam. It’s tough. The exam takes place every June in London, Napa (California) and Sydney. I chose London because I had studied in Britain. It’s a good idea to go to a familiar place, as the exam is a three-day marathon. You have to pass each part; if you don’t perform well on any one day, you fail. The same applies for the theory papers – with the pass mark at 65 per cent. As my wife flew with me and we stayed at my friend’s home in London for moral support, I couldn’t have felt more settled and ready for the exam.
Before the exam day, lots of preparation needed to be done – aside from the six years of study it took to get here. I packed 24 glasses, five pens and a spittoon. I needed only 12 glasses, but you don’t want to risk breaking any or run into a glass with a touch of off-smell. I did a trial visit to the exam venue the day before, and I double-checked the weather and transport status as the London Underground can be as unpredictable as the weather. On the first day, the first thing I did after breakfast was taste some white wine, to serve as benchmark for the exam. It was a Chablis. It set a standard for my palate and my mind, so I knew whether the wines coming out were above or below the threshold of the last wine I tried.
All the candidates sat nervously in the lobby. The exam room itself was bright and a bit cold. I labelled the glasses with numbers so I would know which wine to pour for each glass. I prepared my timer and clock to keep track of time as we had only 135 minutes to taste the 12 wines and fill in a 15-page answer booklet.
The questions are about different aspects of wine for each sample; for example, grape varieties, region of origin, quality, winemaking, state of maturity, vintage, ageing potential, style, commercial positioning and acid/sugar/alcohol levels. That means what you look for in each glass should be different, depending on the questions.
I usually check the colour and smell all the wines first to decide the order of tasting. Those with riper fruit smells or hints of sweetness or a darker colour are usually tasted later as they are richer. Tasting in a progression from light to strong will prevent stronger wines overpowering more delicate ones, but it’s good to taste in reverse order to check the wines you’re unsure of.
On day one, I wrote too much on the first question about four Loire Valley whites, and I had to speed up to finish in time. Fortunately, the other white wines were familiar to me. Timing is key. You don’t have much time to think; you should know all the facts beforehand to link the sensory findings from the tasting to the conclusion through logic.
Day two involved red wines. A difficult part of this test is that fatigue can kick in if you taste some of the high tannin wines repeatedly. Accurate analysis of the wine structure is likelier to get you to the answer than the aromas.
I wrote up one wine on the wrong answer page. I had to tear that page off and replace it with a blank page. It’s really important to stay calm in such a situation.
Day three was a mixed bag. We had an interesting combination of six sparkling wines, two sweet rieslings and four sweet muscats. I spent too long tasting the sparkling wines, so I had to rush the answers on the last muscat question. I should have spent more time answering the question properly than over-analysing the wines.
A well-reasoned conclusion is more important than a correct identification without sound logic. One needs to taste widely, study past papers and practise under exam conditions to be ready. Treat the wines as friends – the truth
