I have been remiss in posting because I have been focused on studying for my exams, which were held yesterday. At 12:00 PM, I took the exam for Unit 5 of the Diploma of Wine & Spirits (Sparkling Wines of the World). I had thought this would be the easier of the two, the second being Unit 4 (Spirits of the World). However, I thought wrong.

Each exam followed the same format, which included a tasting of three blind samples and the completion of a comprehensive essay or three-part essay, for which each candidate was given a total of an hour to use as they wanted between the two tasks.

With the sparkle in sparkling wines having a certain transience, I began with the tasting portion first. As the samples had been decanted from the original bottles into a neutral wine bottle, some of their fizz had faded already, adding to the challenge. Upon nosing the first wine, I thought I detected a wet wool note, which would be a tip off for a Loire Valley sparkling wine made from Chenin Blanc. I wrote my tasting note with that in mind.

However, when I reached for the second glass, I found an aroma in it, which was different from the first, but also recalled wet wool. Now I was confused. I went back to smell the first glass and found it to be much fruitier and floral than I had found initially. Perhaps I had picked up the wet wool note from the second glass and attributed it to the first? I’m not sure, but I went back and revised my first tasting note, now thinking that it was Prosecco.

I then completed the second tasting note and had just started nosing the third wine when the half-way mark was called out by the proctor. I knew I was spending too much time on the tasting and would need to move quickly in order to have sufficient time to write the essay. Fortunately, I write quickly.

With the tasting behind me, I moved on to the essay, reading the question. In relation to sparkling wines, we were to comment on each of the three items listed. The first asked about a particular type of sparkling wine, the second about grapes used in another sparkling wine and the third about a region. I confidently wrote my answers to all three and hoped I would earn enough points on the written portion to make up for points I was sure I had lost on the tasting portion.

As I had had a conflict on the date on which the Fortified Wines course was given, I was spared having to take this exam at 2:00 PM, but the majority of my classmates soldiered on. I headed out into the rain to find lunch and waste time before the 4:00 PM Spirits exam. I was determined not to study anymore, with the belief that anything I didn’t already know, I wasn’t going to learn in the hour prior to the exam. I found a new book store and wandered around looking at various books and eventually purchasing a "gift" for myself — a book that wasn’t about wine or spirits!

Returning to exam headquarters, or more precisely, the International Wine Center, I found my seat and waited for the exam to start. Recalling my difficulty with time on the previous exam, I took a different strategy with this one. I decided to nose all the wines first before trying to guess what each one was. I also took a small, undiluted taste of each, to better experience the spirit. Additionally, I glanced at the essay question at the start and jotted down some notes on each topic. Again, it was a three-part essay question.

My nose, which had failed me earlier, seemed to be functioning much better this time. I also found it easier to identify aromas and flavors, whereas on the other, I felt a bit like a deer in the headlights struggling to name the things I was smelling or tasting. For whatever the reason, I felt much more confident in my spirit tasting, even if I may have mis-identified them. Fortunately, the identification is only a small percent of the total points awarded.

I dashed off answers to the spirits’ short-answer essay, trying to recall as much detail on each topic as I could. I probably threw in a few extraneous ones as well, but all in all, I felt that I was strong in each answer. Having paced myself much more wisely, I actually finished with five minutes to spare, providing me with time to review my work.

The exams will be sent to the WSET’s main office in London, where they will be graded along with all of the exams taken by Diploma candidates around the world yesterday. Thus, it will probably be a few months before I get my results, so I will put it all out of my mind until then. Meanwhile, I can spend the "down time" writing the second of my four papers and preparing for the grueling Unit 3 (Light Wines of the World).