Court of Masters Experience

It's Official!  I have completed the Introductory Course for Sommelier put on by Court of Masters. For those of you who may be interested in extended wine education, the CoM does a great job of illustrating wine service as well as teaching fundamental ways of blind tasting wines.  That said, the course was very fast paced and would be difficult for someone not familiar with the major wine varietals and regions in the world.  Tim Gaiser, MS, who conducted the class, and Steven Poe, MS, had incredible enthusiasm and knowledge for wine, making sitting in a chair in a hotel convention hall for 7 hours fun!

During the class, there were many blind tastings.  First day was loaded with French wines, for which I had a lot of trouble identifying.  Aei! Gotta drink more Chablis and Crozes-Hermitage!  I wish I could blame a nasty cold for my off-palate, or perhaps it's because I always find myself sneaking passed the "FRANCE" wine aisle and spending too much time in the "ITALY" or "GERMANY" aisles.  hurrah for riesling!

The second day blind-tasting was a breeze, particularly when I spotted the Zind Humbrecht Pinot D'Alsace after the room of 100 people sat stumped.  rockstar.  Then, on the last 2 wines of the day, it was as though I tasted the lips of an old lover... when good ol' California Zinfandel touched my lips. Ahh Seghesio...my good friend.  The last wine was a hot red brick in my mouth with so much tannin and leather, my guess was Barbaresco... it was Barolo.

Wow.  I left the class with a list of wines (scant notations all over my notepad document) and next day found myself at K&L Wines in Los Angeles with a bottle of Peloponnese (Greece) Moschofilero.  I'm going to take the Certified Exam in April in Seattle... see yah there!