Last week my preparation for my new life and job took a big step forwards and I spent the majority of last week with my nose in study guides, listening to a very knowledgeable wine expert and tasting a LOT of wine.
For those unfamiliar with the qualifications open to people who work in the wine industry, the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) is an internationally recognised body who offer certification to everyone from waitressing staff, through to those who will effectively have a diploma in wine. Then from there very few people go on to become Masters of Wine, currently only around 300 people across the globe. (Something to aim for perhaps)
I love wine and I drink a lot of it. I am also fortunate enough to have a Pop who loves wine too and has in depth knowledge of wines which he has imparted to me over recent years. However, all this knowledge from what has effectively been 12 years of drinking it was not enough to make the exam easy and I sat pondering the merits of a Chablis compared to the same grape from Margaret River for quite some time. Not to mention the tannin and acidity of a Southern Rhone red compared with a young Californian Shiraz.
I have to wait another week to find out how it went so watch this space.
Over the course, I learnt a lot of things about wine, grape varieties, World regions and tasting notes. However, what interested more was the detail about actually growing vines and, more importantly, turning it into wine. Wine production fascinates me and how two winemakers in the same area can differ to such a degree – with exceptional through to frankly paint stripper. Yes, there will always be a huge environmental influence with terrain clearly playing a huge part. But somewhere in that exceptional wine making there must be an individual (or individuals) who are making sure that all the benefits they have taken from the land and environment are utilised to their fullest to make exceptional wines.
Starting in February, this is what I hope to find out and hopefully by the following February I might just be one of those individuals who helps to make the perfect grapes into exceptional wine.
If I could see the readers at this point I may be seeing some furrowed brows amongst you. I expected as much. There are questions like ‘how on earth do you intend to do that Ruth?’ and ‘where exactly do you intend to learn this information?’ and ‘how do you know you’ll actually enjoy it?’
Well, I intend to do it thanks to the wonderful wineries of the Okanagan Valley and the work I will be doing within them. The question in regard to whether I’ll actually enjoy it remains to be seen and this blog will either become increasingly negative and despondent OR it will in fact (as I am predicting) share the details of my journey from Manchester’s regeneration to North American wine industry and my transition to bringing some of that exceptional wine back to the UK.
