New England Wine Academy is very pleased to announce a new partnership with Julia Menn, as an associate educator. Julia will be guiding students through Levels 1 and 2 Wine Awards, with class set-up and delivered as hybrid sessions. What is a Hybrid session? Glad you asked...

Hybrid sessions are classes that are offered with the delivery being done online via a webinar format. The real difference here is that during the class sessions you will have facetime with a real instructor. The WSET Online model is a great format, but the only small drawback is that you are not in a live session with an instructor. And while the instructors are great at getting back to students with answers to questions, and tasting note feedback, there is really nothing like having a person answer your questions and give you all the information needed, right then and there.
 
Julia has earned her Level 3 in Wine, works in the wine industry, and even teaches classes on her own. You can read her bio by clicking here.

We are pleased to offer two WSET wine levels, initially, starting in February and March, with Julia as your guide and instructor. Click on the buttons below for full details, and do not be afraid to ask us questions. Cheers

We are working hard here at The Academy, and we have updated all course descriptions and schedules for the remainder of the 2020 calendar year, as well as into 2021. Please refer to the "Classes" tab above for full descriptions, or click on "Shop" to go directly to the class list. We have also added options for anyone needing to resit an exam - this is for Levels 1, 2, and 3 - wine, and Level 1 or 2 in spirits. Once you book a resit then a date will be coordinated with you depending on the schedule needed.

This past week, WSET added several more options for online wine courses at Levels 1, 2, and 3. These dates have been added due to demand. Additional classes are scheduled to begin throughout the remainder of 2020, and well into 2021. Class registration deadline is generally 7 days prior to the course date.

With the year drawing to a close (thank goodness!), we are offering a number of end-of-year courses at discount. 
All Level 1 Wine courses are currently on sale with added discounts for the last few 2020 start dates getting even more aggressive. These are the ever-popular introductory course, and are designed to build a foundation for further learning.​ 

The last Level 2 Wine course for 2020 online, is also being offered at a 10% discount off the regular low-low price. Take advantage of this one as it is a great price for this course, which is one of the most popular offered by WSET. ​

​I get a copy of all of the feedback commentary on each of the online classes in my APP, and I find it useful to pass along these notes from time to as they go to the core of what is taught throughout the WSET programs. This week, the topic of BLIC came up ina L2W course. BLIC and its expanded series of letters is a tasting and judging process that will be used all the way through to the MW programs, if you were ever to aspire to that level. For the most part though I find it to be a very helpful tool in establishing my assessment of the quality of a product beyond the interference and influence of the brand name, price, grape varietal, label, etc. Here is the assigned educator's notes below...

...what we also find is a bit of confusion over how to rate the quality. Here is a system which is really good for testing your observations against your opinions. It is not a definite marker, but it does give you a very good idea whether your are in the right ball park. I still use it in my initial assessments when judging wines in my wider career. The system is called BLIC, standing for Balance, Length, Intensity and Complexity. After writing your tasting note go back over it and read it carefully in relation to these criteria. (please see textbook for elaboration on these terms)
Balance: 
Balance refers to the structural components of the wine. These are its body, acidity, tannin (red), alcohol and dryness. In the world of modern winemaking it is increasingly hard to find a commercial wine that is not in balance. One of the key skills winemakers learn in training is how to balance these elements appropriately. 
Length: 
The length of a wine refers to the 'finish', how long the flavour can be detected after spitting the wine out. This is a key element is determining the quality of a wine. If the flavours just drop off immediately then it has a 'short finish', which isn't great. If the wine's (pleasant) flavours linger long after we consider it to have a 'long finish' which would be great. 
Intensity: 
It is really important to note the intensity of the nose and palate. This way we can get a full picture. If the wine has 'light' intensity then it lacks concentration, if it is towards pronounced then this would indicate better quality.
Complexity: 
It is not a simple case of large numbers of flavours indicating quality, but it is a good sign. A wine does not have to have all primary, secondary and tertiary characters to be complex. The lexicon is broken down into clusters, a wine covering a wide span of these from green fruit to herbal, floral and tropical would indicate complexity from primary flavours alone. So when reading over your note, keep a good eye on what you have tasted. If you think a wine is not complex and have written a long list of flavours, then this would call that opinion into question and vice versa.

Each of these criteria represents 1 mark out of 4. 1 = Acceptable, 2= Good, 3= Very Good, 4 = Outstanding. You can award half marks if necessary. Here is a good example of how this works...


Anybrand Italian, Pinot Grigio, 2019 
Sight - pale, lemon 
Nose- Light Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime 
Taste- Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime, dry palate, high acid, low tannin, low alcohol, light body, light flavour intensity, short finish.
Balance - Yes, TICK
Length - It is 'short', CROSS
Intensity - 'Light', CROSS
Complexity - It has some fruit, but they are all in the citrus cluster. This is not particularly complex, CROSS
1/4
quality acceptable.  


​So, as you can see, by using a standardized system that becomes ingrained in your tasting process, you can very quickly make a call on the quality of wine based on relatively quantifiable criteria. If a wine ticks or checks all the boxes for BLIC, then there can be no other call than for a wine of very high quality, and if you only have 2-3 checks, then the wine falls in between as good or very good. Not a perfect system, but something that can be mastered and repeated in almost any tasting exercise.

If you are thinking of taking one of the WSET sessions offered by New England Wine Academy, there are several deadlines to be aware of for the March starting dates.

 Level 3 Award in Wines
hybrid-online class starting March 16
Deadline to register is Monday March 2 - TODAY!
Click on the link to the left for complete details and class description

 Level 2 Award in Spirits
hybrid-online class starting March 16
Deadline to register is Monday March 2 - TODAY!
Click on the link to the left for complete details and class description

 Level 2 Award in Wines
hybrid-online class starting March 23
Deadline to register is Monday March 9, 2020
Click on the link to the left for complete details and class description