Tasting stress!

I have been active in the wine industry for quite a few years now. In those years I have obtained my diploma as a sommelier in The Netherlands and for the tasting exam of WSET level 3 I scored a pass with distinction. So, it would be fair to say that I am a good taster. For the sommelier’s exam, of the 30 people that took this exam, I was of the 4 that passed his tasting exam at the first try. However, with WSET level 4 I all of a sudden start to question all of my tasting skills! 

Sometimes it feels like I am starting from scratch and I have trouble analysing the simplest wines (some exaggeration is placed here). But sometimes I do feel that the more simple or just the more primary fruit-driven wines can sometimes keep you second guessing. This is especially true for the red wines. It must be stated that all the wines are tasted blind and we are expected to determine the quality level. This all said, I do feel sometimes just a mind game I play with myself. The thing is that we sometimes tend to overanalyse a wine. A fruit-driven white wine without ageing potential can easily be distinguished from a more complex white with oak ageing and potential to further develop in the bottle. The red wines, however, are a bit trickier. Red wines do possess an extra structural component and that is their tannins. Doesn’t matter how high the number or level of quality they have, that structural component will add an extra layer to those primary fruit aromas. Adding to that some grapes have primary herbaceous and even earthy aromas, and those earthy aromas can easily be misinterpreted as tertiary aromas. Once you have it in your head that certain aromas are tertiary instead of primary, it is hard to come back from this. With your mind registered primary and tertiary aromas, it is not far-fetched to throw in some secondary as well. So, all of a sudden, you start picking up aromas from the ageing on oak like cloves and cedar, when in fact the wine only been fermented and aged in a stainless-steel tank. All of this does not help your self-esteem and erases all the wines that you have correctly analyzed and identified, even within your WSET 4 course, from the forefront of your mind. 

That said, I also can view this from a distance (at least I try!) and see this as part of my process, the learning curve, as I have experienced from other exams in the past. I am however, taking action and blind taste some more non oak aged reds in the coming weeks to see if I can distinguish them and describe the ageing potential as fitted. The underlying message I am telling myself here is don’t give up, keep on developing your skills and tasting palate, it is already of a very good level! Let the marathon continue!