WSET Two Part One
It has been a while since we completed the WSET 1 courses at the Charm City Wine School. We took the course about 5 months ago. Due to a few scheduling conflicts Bri and I were not able to start WSET 2 until the Winter. The WSET 2 is six intensive classes paired with a lot of independent study. Since Bri and I had a gap between the two levels we ordered the textbook a month before the class to start learning the material. This way class will be less stressful and more enjoyable. Tim once again made it all the way out to our house to drop off the rest of the course materials/books etc.
It was nice getting back to Charm City Wine School in Towson, MD. Tim has cultivated a room that is perfect for learning. It is equipped with tables, a projector, informative posters, wine racks and of course a lot of wine and spirits. The first class started promptly at 6pm. It was a fund class. We had a big review of WSET 1 accented with some new topics and ideas. Our class was noticeably smaller than the WSET 1 course. We really started in on the first few chapters and the WSET 2 wine Lexicon. The lexicon basically gives you a breakdown of how to describe the aroma, flavors, appearance and quality of different wines. We also got to do Tim’s famous “pallet calibration” which consists of an actual tasting of all of the structural components of wine. In other words, you get to taste exactly what tannin, acid, alcohol, umami, body, sweetness etc all taste like and see how they work together. This was eye opening as far as connecting the dots when it comes to tasting. We then went on to some geography, and climate science, then of course some tasting. We tasted about 5 or 6 wines from around the world and assessed them. The class concluded with an aromatics exercise which basically involved guessing smells. This sounds weird but it is hugely helpful.
In the second class we really got down to business. The tone of the class changed to a more serious feel as far as the amount of work/notes and pace. It was a good class and we got to try another 5 or so wines with a food pairing. Everyone thinks they know how to pair, but it is much more difficult to do it correctly. One of the best pairings I remember was a port and blue cheese, which sounds gross but was a perfect representation of balance. We ended the class as usual sipping on and discussing some wines from France/California.
Four more classes left and a month of study time before the exam.
