The second day began earlier than the first day… at least it
felt like it. I was up all night studying the material that I learned from the
first day, and ended up passing out somewhere in between New Zealand and South
Africa.
Day two gave us a new pair of Masters, Reggie Narito and
Catherine Fallis.
The morning started right off the bat with more blind
tasting and a little bit of trickery- wines that I have never tried before; Grüner
Veltliner being one of them. I missed all four of the wines in the first
flight, but so did the rest of the class. I was not off to the best start, but
at least I know it wasn’t just me this time.
After the first flight, it was more of where we left off on
Monday- More regions, sub-regions and wine laws…you know, the stuff that is
important but still puts you to sleep.
I was able to redeem myself at the last flight, nailing two
of the four wines- Malbec (Mendoza) and
Sauvignon Blanc (Loire). That helped
boost my confidence for what was to come next. EXAM TIME.
The written exam was only 70 questions, but it covered a ton information that was thrown at us in a matter of only two days.
I don’t even think most of it had totally sunken in yet.
The first two pages were pretty easy, vintology and history,
and I was flying through it. I was feeling pretty good. Then I hit a series of French and Australian
sub-region questions and hit a wall. I decided that in the interest of time, it
was best that I just blow through all the ones that I know first and then go
back and think about the ones I wasn’t so sure about.
When I reached question 70, I went back and counted that I
was able to positively answer 37 of them. GREAT…I was going to need a whole lot
of educated guesses to save me. I used a lot of deductive reasoning to narrow
down my final answers. I finished with about 10 minutes left.
We had to wait outside as the rest of the students finished,
scores were tallied and certificates and pins were set up. It was the longest
30 minutes I’ve experienced in quite some time. With only a little more than
half of the questions nailed down for sure, I wasn’t sure that I had passed.
We finally got called back for results and awards. Rows of
Champagne glasses sat bubbling, waiting to be savored in celebration. You could
sense the anxiety in the room as the entire class fell silent the moment the
Masters stood in front of us with certificates and pins in hand.
I think the Masters sensed this, because they filibustered
for a bit…then it began.
As the names were being called, applause were given. As name
after name was being called, I began to worry as I was not yet called and the stack
of certificates was getting thinner and thinner. I looked around and
everyone sitting around me had already gotten a certificate and their Guild of Sommeliers Pin. I was scanning around the room to see who had not yet gotten
one. As I was scanning I heard “Jesus Evangelistaaaaaaaa”.
YES!
I smiled, got up and did the Tiger Wood’s fist pump. I shook
hands with the Masters and collected my pin and certificate. After all the
names were called, the bubbly was passed out and good times were had.
I wanted to take some photos with the Masters, but my phone
had died. Oh well, I guess I’ll save that for Level Two.
I’m very glad that I passed and I did learn quite a bit. It was a fun and exciting experience, but I
do have my thoughts on how the class was set up and run. That
will be the topic for the next entry.
Until then ,cheers!
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