Blind tasting is fun, challenging, and humbling - as well as necessary for WSET Level 3 and 4 exams. Find out what students taking the Diploma made of tasting four blind sparkling wines.
This blog began as a record of taking the WSET Diploma, during which I studied and explored wines and spirits made all around the world. Having passed the Diploma and become a WSET Certified Educator, the blog has become much more: a continual outlet for my passion for the culture of wine, spirits, and beer.
I aim to educate in an informal, enlightening, and engaging manner. As well as maintaining this blog to track my latest enthusiasms, I provide educational tastings for restaurants and for private groups. Details can be found on the website, and collaborations are welcome.
Wine is my primary interest and area of expertise and this blog aims to immerse the reader in the history of wine, to understand why wine tastes like it does, and to explore all the latest news. At the same time, beer and spirits will never be ignored.
For the drinker, whether casual or professional, today is a good time to be alive.
All tagged sparkling wine
Blind tasting is fun, challenging, and humbling - as well as necessary for WSET Level 3 and 4 exams. Find out what students taking the Diploma made of tasting four blind sparkling wines.
The production of sparkling wine across the Americas is only fifty years old, but producers have been seeking out cooler sites to make quality wine using the traditional method. This episode focuses on California, Argentina, and Chile, as well as less famous regions.
Looking at three countries in the southern hemisphere, all of which produce sparkling at different levels of quality. South Africa is the only non-European country with a specific designation for sparkling wine (Méthode Cap Classique); Australia has its distinctive Sparkling Shiraz; and New Zealand has perhaps the most naturally ideal conditions for sparkling wine production.
Second episode on Italian sparkling wine, focusing on Franciacorta, Italy's only DOCG for wine made using the traditional method, and Lambrusco, the unusual and very varied style of red sparkling wine.
First of two episodes on Italian sparkling wine, focusing on the two big-volume regions, Prosecco and Asti.
Cava covers a broad area of Spain, producing wines that are too often simple and disappointing. There is momentum to raise the quality - find out what's happening in cava in this episode.
French sparkling wine isn't just Champagne: it's made all around the country. This episode explores the frustratingly inconsistent Crémants of France, as well as some of the more unusual, historic styles of sparkling wine.