2025 MW Exam (or My Acts Of Self Sabatoge On P2)

 

I rolled into Day 2 with a blend of semi-confidence from my performance on Day 1 of tasting with a full helping of humble pie from getting my dick kicked in the dirt on the viticulture essays the previous afternoon.  I have come a long way in my understanding of farming but honestly trying to answer the question “How effectively can vineyard pests and diseases be controlled without using agrochemicals?” in a 1200-word essay is very difficult when you don’t have 100% certainty on the definition of an “agrochemical”.  Most of my personal experience in that area is relegated to “we had some Japanese beetles on the roses so my Dad sprayed some shit from a can that he bought at the hardware store”.  That was not going to cut it.  No way in hell I passed that theory paper.  With luck I will read a bitchy comment in the examiner’s report this fall and think “That’s me they’re talking about!”.

At any given time, a fierce wave of imposter syndrome can wash over me.  For good reason I might add.  In these types of quests, it is not a great idea to have a thought of “I don’t know if I can do this” pop into your head.  The vibe in the room was calmer than the previous day.  There was a blend of cautious optimism mixed with what I suspect a feeling of “Well, I won’t pass the entire exam now based on yesterday but that tasting went OK.  Let’s see what happens today.”    I felt pretty good setting up “my rig” (what I decided to call my 12 glasses).  “Hey, what kind of rig you got?  Me?  I’m running Reidel.”  It’s blind tasting wine.  It’s fun.  You’ll taste better if you are relaxed than if you’re a smoldering bundle of nerves.  We passed the wines down the aisles and filled our glasses from the numbered decanters.  “Two hours and fifteen minutes.  Aaaaaannnnddd…..begin!”

I had spent the first 20 minutes of the last exam trying to slow my brain down.  One of the real pitfalls of these exams is coming to a conclusion too quickly.  I can’t tell you how many times I have tasted the first wine of set of three and thought “I know what that is!  That must be cabernet franc!”.  I will then create confirmation bias in my head where I go into the next wine looking for evidence of my pre-ordained conclusion.  If you need someone to muscle a square peg into a round hole, I’m your guy.  In this exam, because the timing is so tight, if you leap to the wrong conclusion on the first wines and start writing and THEN REALIZE you are wrong and need to re-write your  answer, you are f-u-c-k-e-d.  You know can’t possibly answer all the remaining questions completely, or will have to sacrifice time figuring out what is in the glass and therefore providing wrong answers.  I wanted to make sure I didn’t make that mistake and wanted to be controlled on my pace coming out of the gate.

Question 1 Wines 1-3 are from the same single grape variety or predominant grape variety. 

With reference to all three wines: a) Identify the grape variety. (12 marks) 

For each wine: b) Identify the origin as closely as possible. (3 x 6 marks) 

c) Discuss how climate and winemaking techniques have influenced the quality and style of the wine. (3 x 15 marks)

I smelled the first wine.  “I know what this is.”  I have IMMEDIATELY stepped into the mindset I wanted to avoid.  I am not kidding you.  It was three seconds into the fucking thing, and I’m thinking about the cabernet franc from Chinon note I am going to write and I haven’t even looked at wines 2/3.  Still, it smelled like Marlboro Red foil and tasted sorta like cabernet sauvignon but with a green tobacco streak across the entire palate and mellow tannins.  This is Chinon.  I tasted the next two, and they seemed like cab franc too but from ripe warm climates.  If we are dealing with cab franc, I know one of these has to be from Argentina.  Where the hell would the third one be from?  Plenty of places grow cabernet franc, though you can argue about the regional success rate.  The last one is soft and sunny and boozy.  I’m feeling the second one is Argentina, probably Mendoza.  That last one?  Shit.  I don’t know.  I’ll answer the origin part if I have time to loop around.  I’m thinking Napa.  

There’s another one of those “where the hell did that come from?” questions here too, “Discuss how climate and winemaking techniques have influenced the quality and style of the wine” that we had not prepared for at all.  I could go on a riff here where I could suggest that the people putting the exam together should create an exam that reflects the same level of difficulty that they passed without the “A-ha!” questions, but that’s only yelling into the void.  The education committee wanted to “shake it up” and they’re the ones setting the rules of the game, so that’s the deal.  It can certainly be argued that if you are going to have the word “master” in a title, you should be able to answer unexpected questions like this.  I wrote the answer with the assumption they were looking for what the winemakers did to deal with the cool climate of wine 1 and the hot climates of wine 2/3, but who the hell knows for sure? 

Wine 1:  Chinon Les Barnabés, Olga Raffault, 2021. Loire Valley, France 12.5% ABV

Wine 2:  Cabernet Franc, El Enemigo, 2021. Mendoza, Argentina 13.5% ABV

Wine 3:  Toscana IGT “Aranum”, Tenuta di Arceno, 2018. Tuscany, Italy 14.5% ABV

I move on to the next wines.  It’s a group of four.  They’re all dark and look full bodied.  

Question 2 

Wines 4-7 are from the same country and region. 

For each wine: a) Identify the origin and the grape variety/ies as closely as possible. (4 x 13 marks) 

b) Comment on quality within the context of origin. (4 x 7 marks) 

c) Comment on the wine’s maturity. (4 x 5 marks)

Looking at this group of wines, the first thing at I see is a question of maturity, which means this is likely going to be a classic thick skinned grape like cabernet sauvignon, syrah, or maybe merlot.  The addition of “grapes or grapes” means I’m thinking blend or region that produces multiple single grape wines.  With four wines coming from the same place, this is likely a benchmark region.  One of them smells like a stable there’s so much brett, so I’m already leaning Bordeaux or Rhone.  The tannins on the wines are moderate and ripe. In the words of a guy that passed this exam, the tannins are “firm yet yielding” which I love because I don’t know for sure how to explain that but know it when I taste it.  These are Rhone wines for sure.  Now I need to arrange them.  The last one is soft and fruity, so that must be a Cotes du Rhone.  Wine 4 has softer tannins than the two wines after it, so that’s probably grenache led.  It smells like olives, so I’m thinking it could be a Chateauneuf du Pape, though it’s not super boozy so maybe it’s a Gigondas.  It’s more red fruit than black, but that olive note has me sold.  I’m going CDP here.  The other two are syrah.  I’m positive.  The darker one with more savory secondary finish I am putting as a Crozes Hermitage.  I hope I’m not missing on the quality of this wine, but it doesn’t seem as triumphant as an Hermitage should be.  Wine 6 is either Cornas or Cote Rotie.  It’s not particularity “roasted” in the fruit profile, but those winemakers have been pulling back on the late harvest dates to keep more freshness.  The best Cornas always has that finesse that makes me think it’s something else like a meaty pinot or a graceful grenache before I figure it out.  I’m going Chateauneuf, Cote Rotie, Croze Hermitage and Cotes du Rhone Villages on these, all youthful.  What’s in the market now?  22s and 23s?

Wine 4:  Gigondas, Chateau de Saint Cosme, 2022. Rhone Valley, France. (14.5%)

Wine 5:  Crozes-Hermitage “Papillon”, Gilles Robin, 2023. Rhone Valley, France. (13%)

Wine 6:  Cornas Granit 30, Vincent Paris, 2022. Rhone Valley, France. (13%)

Wine 7:  Côtes du Rhône Réserve, Famille Perrin, 2022. Rhone Valley France. (14%)

I’m doing well on time.  At this point I am a bit ahead of the pace.  I’m feeling really good.  As in “this shit is easy” cockiness.  If I can continue what I am doing on these last five wines, I’m going to pass this exam.  Bring it on!  I am seated but mentally strutting around.  “Who’s the man?  I’m the man!”.

Question 3 

Wines 8–12 are from Europe. They come from five different single or predominant grape varieties, each closely associated with their origin. 

For each wine: 

a) Identify the origin and the grape variety as closely as possible. (5 x 10 marks) 

b) Comment on the quality within the context of wine globally. (5 x 7 marks) 

c) Comment on the style and commercial appeal. (5 x 8 marks)

Now this is where the wheels come off. First of all, I didn’t read the question carefully enough and have decided that I need to place these in five countries.  If you read the question, they could all be from Italy or France.  Hell, they could all be from Spain or Portugal, but that would be unspeakably cruel.  All that cuts through my stupid head is “Five”, so I write down all the potential European countries on my scratch piece of paper with the “big” grapes of each (that I remember in the moment).  This is a huge mistake as I will demonstrate shortly…. I have now created a subset of potential answers that is incorrect to answer a question that wasn't asked.  This is what is referred to as "bad".

The first wine of the group is deep almost black in color with rich black fruit and some tannic backbone.  It’s so ripe and alcoholic, it’s hot climate.  There’s not enough acid and the winemaking is clean so Italy is out.  This is from Spain or Portugal.  I have no idea what it is, but maybe the Douro or Priorat?  Priorat isn’t single grape, but how much give does the word “predominant” allow?  85%?  65%?  I’m not sure.  I’ll come back to this.  I’ll know what the other wines are and fit this in where it makes sense.

The next one is pale ruby.  It’s got plump little cherry fruit, moderate tannins and low alcohol.  Maybe 13%?  It’s not Nebbiolo, and we just had some grenache in the last flight.  We haven’t had a single Red Burgundy.  There’s a pale one at the end, but the nose says that’s not pinot. This wine isn’t great, but with the price of Red Burgundy, maybe they bought a regional Bourgogne or a less prestigious village like Savigny or Mercurey?  This could be something weird from Alto Adige.  I don’t know.  With no pinot noir anywhere on this exam, I’m going classic wine on this answer and say it’s a moderate quality Red Burgundy.  Now in my head, I have France off the list of potential sources.  (Mistake)

Wine 10 is low tannin, very ripe soft black fruit with some acid.  Medium plus?  I don’t know.  Maybe…. What the fuck is this?  I am going to pass on this and see if I can get more puzzle pieces to fit together.

Wine 11 has dark fruit, feels earthy and has very low soft tannins.  It sort of tastes like Morgon, but that doesn’t make sense because I already used France.  Shit, what could this be?  You know… this could be blaufrankish.  It’s more blackberry than cherry/pepper, but what else is a soft low tannin wine that is closely associated with the place of origin.  It’s low alcohol too.  This must be 13%.  OK, Austria makes enough sense to work here.  I’ll just funnel out the Morgon I suspect it is and land in Burgenland.

Now I am at wine 12.  It’s pale, medium tannin and acid.  I thought this might be Nebbiolo, but there’s not enough guts to it.  It could be a Langhe I guess, but why the fuck would you pour that as your regional example of Nebbiolo?  How about Etna?  Yeah, when I have a wine that I want to be Nebbiolo but it isn’t I think of that.  I can’t get a good vibe on the alcohol.  Is it 14 or 13%.  My palate is getting whacked.  Shit… I think it’s like 13.5%.  Maybe this is Schiava?  That’s a fucked up wine to pour but Italy has to be on this somewhere and this is a pale ruby suspect.  Ahhhhh I don’t know.

The clock has really run down now.  I’m taking too long trying to figure out my little puzzle I created.  I realize I still have to finish my answer on wine 3.  I’m in trouble now.  What I should have done was stopped right there and said “hold it.  Re-read the question.  Look at the available options for these wines.  What is the most likely group of grapes we are looking for here?  Pinot noir, gamay, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Nerello Mascalese, Primativo, tempranillo, and maybe xinomavro.  Then let’s think reasonable secondary grapes like Touriga Nacional, Blaufrankisch, Mouvedre, Tannat, and Dolcetto.”.  (I forgot Barbera existed at the time.). That would have been a sound piece of advice.  Did I do that?  Fuck no.

I’m at about 12 minutes and need to write complete answers for two of the wines and the back end of wine 3 from the first flight.  I just start writing.  Wine 8 Priorat, Wine 9 Burgundy, Wine 10 Douro Touriga Nacional, Wine 11 Burgenland Blaufrankisch, Wine 12 Sciava Alto Adige.  And with that, I blew the P2 exam.  

Wine 8:  Touriga Nacional, Quinta do Vallado, 2019. Douro, Portugal. (14%)

Wine 9:  Zwiegelt, Bergh, 2021. Niederösterreich, Austria. (12.5%)

Wine 10:  Barbera d’Alba Trevie, Vietti, 2022. Piedmont, Italy. (14.5%)

Wine 11:  Beaujolais Villages “Le Perreon”, Domaine de la Madone, 2023. Beaujolais, France. (13%)

Wine 12:  Xinomavro “Hedgehog”, Alpha Estate, 2022. Amyndeon, Greece. (14%)

But wait!  There’s more!  I then circled back to wines 1-3 to write the answer to wine 3.  I taste that and go, “this is too dense to be cab franc.  Why the hell would they pour three cab francs?  These are probably cabernet sauvignon!”  I then taste the super pyrazine laced Wine 1 and go “That’s Coonawarra Cab you dope!” and change all the first three wines from my correct calls right into Cab Sauvignon from Coonawarra, Maipo Chile, and Bolgheri.  Did I trust my gut with what was easily my most confident call of the exam on wine 1?  Nope.  Not me.  Let’s overthink this thing and get yourself out of contention.  

I knew walking out of that exam that my coin flip calls on those last five calls were wrong, but the quality and style were within striking distance on all but that alleged Burgundy I was chasing.  When you get down to it, the commercial potential of a big ass Touriga and a big ass Barbera are fairly similar.  Same with blaufrankisch and village Beaujolais.   Xinomavro and Sciava?  I can’t even remember what fast paced stream of consciousness I wrote down.  All I know is you can’t miss 8 of 12.  Had I got 7 of 12 but been on point with commercial potential?  I live to fight another day.  Now?  I’m dead man walking.

I've still got one more tasting exam to go.