WSET Certified

I finally received the results of my WSET Advanced test. I passed with Merit! WSET is the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, and I have taken both the beginner and intermediate courses with them, both of which were fairly easy given my base knowledge of world wines. The advanced course was more challenging, as we covered all sizable wine regions in the world, along with climate, soil, grape varieties and styles for each.

So what does this mean? Being Advanced certified gives a future employer the assurance that I have a high standard of knowledge about wine. But really, it was just a lot of fun!

Quiet summer...zzz

My recent lack of posting has been due to two important events. First, I spent all of July in Spain, and other than a few days tasting sherry in Jerez, there isn't much to mention on the wine front, other than the fact that nearly all the house wine I drank for a pittance was of very good quality. You usually never knew what you were drinking, but it didn't matter. The house wines go with the food, and do the job when you are on holiday and on a budget!

Cala de Deia, Mallorca

Examples of Sherries, Jerez de la Frontera


Fino Sherry

The second event of note is that after I got back to London from Spain, I decided not to drink for a month....I made it 25 days (a first for me!) and broke my alcohol fast last Saturday night after running a terrain race in Wales. I celebrated with a bottle of Pouilly Fuisse.

I will aim to post more regularly, as I drink through some of my collection before moving back to San Francisco at the end of September. After a few years here in Europe, Napa - here I come!