Wine judging

I see many of you post that you are wine judges, and I have wondered if there is training for this. I have been in school most of my life, and although I try to open as many bottles as possible, I have longed for a organized plan of study to help me broaden my wine tasting ability. It seems that the longer I taste at certain wine bars, the more bad habits I pick up in terms of my descriptive abilities. Is the American Wine Society a place to start? Does anyone have opinions on the Wine Spectator Online classes? Or should I just keep drinking and comparing in the privacy of my own home?

As an aside, this is a fantastic forum. I have learned a lot, and I only hope to be able to give back as much in the future. Thanks to all.

The American Wine Society has a nice wine judge certification program.

http://www.americanwinesociety.com/web/ ... cation.htm

Salute

Don't know how close you are to northern California, but the UC Davis extension program offers something along these lines. It's not nearly as comprehensive as the AWS program, but if you want to get your feet wet, check out this site.

It is not a class for beginners and requires basic familiarity with wine types, flavor, odors and flaws.

They understate this. You better have a lot of tasting experience under your belt, take good tasting notes and be familiar with the eight most common wine flaws before you take this seminar. They throw a lot at you fast, and the test to become eligible to judge at the CA State Fair is pretty rigorous.

Interesting, Bucko! I've been considering taking that one for about three years now. Good to know what it's like if I decide to do it this year.


Mikke

I see many of you post that you are wine judges, and I have wondered if there is training for this. I have been in school most of my life, and although I try to open as many bottles as possible, I have longed for a organized plan of study to help me broaden my wine tasting ability. It seems that the longer I taste at certain wine bars, the more bad habits I pick up in terms of my descriptive abilities. Is the American Wine Society a place to start? Does anyone have opinions on the Wine Spectator Online classes? Or should I just keep drinking and comparing in the privacy of my own home?

As an aside, this is a fantastic forum. I have learned a lot, and I only hope to be able to give back as much in the future. Thanks to all.

Nick,

I think Andrea Immer is one of the brightest teachers of wine. She has a great DVD called "Andrea's Complete Wine Course MASTER Edition" which I find excellent; she truly teaches how to taste and gives a good foundation on various wine styles. She also has a course which you can take at the Culinary Institute in NYC, I believe, in addition to various books. This is a good start in my opion.

what it's like if I decide to do it this year

The test is difficult but is actually pertinent to wine judging. No esoteric nonsense.

When I took the test, they gave us 10 unknown wines. We had to take notes on the wines. Then they mixed up the wines and you had to put the wines back in the original order based on your notes. Better be very descriptive to help yourself.

They give you several wines with fractional increases in residual sugar -- you have to align them in increasing order. This was harder than it seems.

They give you several wines with fractional increases in acidity -- you have to align them in increasing order. Again, this was harder than it seems.

They gave us eight or ten flawed wines and you had to identify the flaws. This was the easiest part of the test assuming you have experienced common flaws such as TCA, Brett, hydrogen sulphide, sulfites, VA (ethyl acetate), geranium (ethoxy hexadiene), acetaldehyde and acetic acid.

They gave us 10 or 12 wines and you had to identify the grape variety. You don't have to be exact if your notes give convincing enough evidence that you thought it through. I missed one of the wines but got credit for it -- I identified a CA Syrah as a Petite Syrah.

It was a fun experience. Good luck if you decide to take the plunge.

ok, the aws thing won't do you any harm. tasting by yourself might - just reinforce your own ideas rather than add new ones. you do need lots of experience and some can be alone; but you also need to taste with experienced tasters who can pass along valuable insights. you need to find or create such a group. find a nearby competition and ask to be an auditor - sit in and learn.

Good suggestions from everyone.