pop & pour

With any luck, in a couple of weeks I’ll be removing all of your lingering doubts about reading a wine blog written by an uninitiated hack; if everything goes according to plan, by then I’ll be at least a semi-initiated hack.  Starting this weekend I’m taking my first ever formal wine education course:  I’m signed up for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s Intermediate Certificate in Wines and Spirits course here in Calgary.  I’m extremely excited, not only to lend some much-needed legitimacy to this poor site, but to learn a more systemic approach to tasting and evaluating wine that should improve both my analytical skills and my appreciation for what I’m drinking.  Even better:  we get to practice this tasting method in class by trying over 50 wines in a 3 day period!  Now THAT’s what I call a weekend.

It has a classic, traditional logo; it must be official.

I bring all this up because the WSET courses are another wine opportunity in Calgary that tend to fly under the radar.  I’ve previously written about a few great books that wine beginners can use to gain some core knowledge that will strip the intimidation factor away from wine and increase their drinking enjoyment.  If you already have that basic knowledge framework but are looking for something more, courses like this are a fantastic way to get a ton of hands-on experience in a short time.  The WSET is a wine education body founded in the UK over 40 years ago that has since become an international leader in the field, and their courses are often attended by those seeking careers and formal qualifications in the wine industry, so they are as legit as it gets.  In Calgary, the WSET courses are offered through Fine Vintage Ltd., which runs Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced level courses every few months — click here for the current schedule.  The prices aren’t cheap, but the wines aren’t either — if you click on the sample wine log link I mentioned earlier you’ll notice quite a few bottles retailing north of $100 a bottle — so you get a chance to try some of the top wines of every major wine region on Earth in a setting where you can absorb the most information about them.  Did I mention I’m excited about this?

So now you know why you may not be reading any wine reviews by me on Saturday or Sunday, but why my subsequent wine reviews might jump sharply in accuracy!