Field trips over, it was back to the classroom and the days took on a pattern. The classroom sessions were comprised of about 90 minutes of lecture and about an hour of wine tasting. Let me say here that spitting the wine out was a requirement. I would not have been able to continue with the rest of my day if I was actually imbibing 7 to 9 wines at 1pm! This has actually now become a habit – I find myself looking for the spit cup at a restaurant when I am having wine with dinner (I have to remind myself that I am no longer in class.) Part of our day also includes wine service, which will be part of our certification test. We present and open the various wines each day as if we were doing it at a restaurant, and the students are more than willing to offer constructive criticism to each other.
The class is comprised of 12 students, six men and six women of various ages and backgrounds. Most of the men are in their late 20’s and early 30’s while most of the women are like me – “of a certain age.” Despite this difference in ages, we have developed a strong camaraderie, bolstered by the fact that we are the first class ever of this kind. We feel both like guinea pigs and the privileged few.
We completed Wine Foundation and moved on to the Wines of France. This would be, by far, our most difficult and longest unit. The class worked together diligently on our Wines of France unit. We would spot-quiz each other whenever we had a free moment, and we spent our free time in blind-tasting groups and study sessions at each other’s homes. This particular unit lasted 11 full-class days. On average, the remaining units would be five class days. We were ready to be done after four days, for the classes were intense and there was a lot of information being disseminated.
Our next unit covered New World Wines. In other words, any region that hasn’t been making wine for hundreds of years. This included North and South America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. After France, this was a breeze, even though we went quickly through each region and covered the unit in six class sessions. The wines we tasted were quite interesting and ran the gamut from yum (Argentine Malbec) to yuck (South African Pinotage). It was nice to take a break from European wines and everyone did quite well on the test.
Our classes officially ended on Dec. 14. After an eight hour review session on Dec. 18, our class took their exams the following two days.
I began to see why becoming a sommelier was not for everyone. I spent hours studying and still felt woefully unprepared for the exam. My mind raced with thoughts like “Would they credit my student loan if I dropped out now?”
We were all quite subdued as we walked into class on the morning of the exam. Our test consisted of 25 multiple choice questions, five short answer questions and a blind tasting of two wines; one white and one red. It was a difficult exam, but to our amazement, delight and relief, our entire class passed the sommelier certification course! The credit belongs to our great instructor, master sommelier David Glancy.
The atmosphere in the room immediately changed when we got that news. As a special treat, the culinary arm of our school fixed us a beautiful French lunch, paired with a little bit of wine. We did not even think of spitting this wine out.
We all have lovely pins that we can wear, a lovely certificate suitable for framing and a knowledge and confidence about wine that we all are looking forward to expanding upon.
But wait, there’s more! In all of this process, I was also applying for a job a Guest Services Coordinator at Ridge Monte Bello Vineyards – which I got!
Starting this month, I will be helping to coordinate on and off-site events, industry and VIP visits to the winery, as well as managing the tasting room on Sundays. I am excited about this opportunity and invite all to visit us.
Cheers!
