About wine tasting, how to get started and how to get advanced? What are the relevant professional standards?

The internationally recognized sommelier exam is called WSET, which is recognized by any country.

These four letters are short for Wine and Spirit Education Trust, which was established in the UK on 1969 to promote wine education. The training courses of this institution are mainly for wine lovers and professionals engaged in wine or catering services.

The training courses of WSET are mainly divided into the following levels: 1 basic level, level 2 intermediate level, level 3 advanced level, level 4 diploma and level 5 honorary diploma, among which 1-3 level can be divided into several parts.

The first-level training is a systematic training, which is mainly aimed at people who have just entered the industry or want to gain some basic knowledge of wine. Usually, the training time is one or two days. During the training, students will learn some very basic wine knowledge, such as different wine types, characteristics of main grape varieties used for wine making, fermentation principle, wine tasting skills, wine service, wine and food collocation and so on.

Level 2 is suitable for people who already have some basic knowledge, and the training time is usually about three days. In this training, in addition to advanced content, students will also learn the characteristics of major producing countries and knowledge about spirits. Both the first-level and second-level examinations adopt multiple-choice examination methods.

The third-level training is basically suitable for professionals with several years of wine experience. cultivate

The time is usually four or five days. In addition to multiple-choice questions, the CET-3 also includes a blind test and a question-and-answer section. China already has Chinese textbooks and exams of Grade One and Grade Two, but all of them above Grade Three are in English. So, apart from Portugal,

Besides wine knowledge, students' English level is also very important. Although the professional level does not need to reach Grade 8, it is very important to master foreign language terms related to wine.

The CET-4 certificate is the WSET test.

The most difficult exam, the training time is set at two years. In these two years, students will take the examination in six units, which are specifically divided into vineyard management and wine-making technology, international wine market, world static wine and world wine.

Wine, world sparkling wine and world fortified wine. The former is a multiple-choice exam, and the two are open-book and closed-book papers. The last four units all include question-and-answer questions and blind tests. In addition to capital investment (tuition is quite high),

Students need to invest more time and experience, because the class time is very short, so they can only find out the necessary knowledge from various channels by themselves. Even if you haven't passed the senior one exam, if you are confident enough, you can directly apply for senior two or even senior three.

Level, but to test level 4, you must hold a level 3 certificate in advance. Similarly, obtaining the WSET Level 4 diploma is also a prerequisite for registering the world's top "wine master" certificate (unless you can prove that your knowledge or experience level is the same as WSET Level 4 diploma). At present, only four people in China have obtained the WSET Level 4 diploma!

Talking about WSET test with friends.

When trying, people often ask me if the blind part is particularly difficult. Do you need this talent? First of all, I think too many people regard the sommelier as too sacred! As long as there is correct guidance, as long as you are normal.

People's sense of smell and taste, anyone can learn to appreciate wine, and no talent is needed! And those who can taste the place of origin, grape variety or year are not so talented as rich classics.

Test! Secondly, WSET's wine tasting training is very systematic. As long as you do every step well, the probability of passing this level is quite high. In fact, blind products are the easiest part to get points! Theoretical knowledge is difficult! WSET training will cover all aspects of wine and spirits to a certain level. Although most people can say that the wine they taste is woody or fruity, not everyone can correctly discuss the various styles and brewing techniques of sherry!

The above is the method of promotion in order. As for how to spell wine and how to get started, I hope the following article can help you.

For many beginners, it is difficult to distinguish the various flavors of wine at first. They can only smell alcohol, taste sour and astringent. But almost all "experienced people" will tell you: "Just drink more!" This requires a process of accumulation.

Tasting practice

How long will this process take? According to everyone's understanding and sensitivity will be different. However, the following wine tasting exercises can help beginners shorten the confusion period of wine tasting and enter a new realm of wine tasting as soon as possible. What I want to explain here is that even some professional sommeliers can keep their wine tasting sensitivity by revisiting this wine tasting exercise from time to time.

aromatherapy

Distinguishing the aroma of wine is the most difficult exercise in tasting. It tests the taster's memory and sense of smell. This approach needs to start from several aspects.

Memorizing the smell of the surrounding environment: this is an exercise that needs to be accumulated in daily life. Usually, we should consciously remember the smell of the surrounding living environment: asphalt roads, gardens, Woods, spice pots in the kitchen, vegetable markets and so on. The purpose of this exercise is to roughly classify various fragrances-floral, fruity, fragrant, burnt and so on. Finally, I can understand the similarities and differences of each odor type. This plays a very important role in wine tasting. It can turn the smell you smell into a scene. For example, when you smell some old Bordeaux wines, you will think of walking in the original deep forest, full of wet wood, green moss, mushrooms and so on.

Memorizing the smell of specific items: This exercise needs to close your eyes and blindly smell the smells of various items, and then classify them. For example, the fruit-flavored approach. We collect all kinds of fruits, smell them first and then try to remember them. Then randomly choose a fruit and smell it blindly. First, classify it: Is it a white fruit? Red and black fruits? Or dried fruit? So, what kind of fruit is it and what state is it in: fresh? Mature? Overripe and rotten? Wait a minute. Even increasing the variety of smells, crossing and mixing various smells can help tasters learn to distinguish between different smells.

Conditional beginners can also buy a professional "wine nose"-a set of aromatic bottles specially designed for wine tasters to practice their sense of smell, including the smells often found in red wine and white wine, for daily training.

The sensitivity of the tongue to various flavors.

Taste practice

This exercise involves the sensitivity of the tongue to various flavors. First of all, we should know that people's perception of taste is mainly accomplished through taste buds, which are taste receptors on the tongue. Taste buds in different parts can perceive sweetness, sourness, bitterness and saltiness respectively. The two sides of the tip of the tongue are sensitive to salt, the two sides of the tongue body are sensitive to acid, the root of the tongue is the most sensitive to bitterness, and the tip of the tongue is sensitive to sweetness. Therefore, when practicing tasting, we should be clear about all kinds of tastes, and also pay attention to the feeling degree of taste stimulation in all sensitive areas of the tongue.

Basic exercise: This exercise is to blindly taste the aqueous solutions of various flavors and remember the feeling left by each flavor in various areas of the tongue.

The items we need are: pure water, sugar, white vinegar, salt, alkali and so on. , mixed into the following solution in proportion:

Salty taste: taste 2g/l edible salt solution.

Sour taste: taste 1 g/l acetic acid solution, or add half a lemon juice to 1 l pure water.

Sweetness: taste 5g/l sugar solution.

Bitter taste: taste 2 mg/L sulfate or edible alkali.

The above solvents are only used as basic exercises at the entry level. If you can't taste the difference between each solution in your mouth, it may be that your sensitivity to taste is a little low. Try to eat less irritating food and see if there is any improvement.

Threshold perception: after defining various flavors, we need to further distinguish the differences in taste in the mouth caused by different concentrations.

Taking salty taste as an example, we mix various salt solutions with different concentrations, such as 0.2-0.4-0.7- 1.5-3g/l, and then sort the blind products. Of course, the difference between the values of each field can be continuously reduced to increase the difficulty. This kind of exercise is suitable for a group of friends.

It is suggested that beginners should have the following training values for other solutions:

Acidity range: 0.06-0.12-0.25-0.5-1g/l acetic acid solution.

Sweetness range: 1-2-4-6-8g/l sugar solution.

Bitterness range: 0.6- 1.2-2-2.5-4-5-6 mg/l sulfate or edible alkali.

Exercise of mixed flavors: This exercise is to distinguish the taste sensation when several flavors are mixed in wine. Pay special attention to the different feelings of different areas of the tongue here.

We can prepare the solution as follows: sweet and sour mixture: flavor 1g/l acetic acid solution, and then add 6g sugar on the basis of this solution. Compare and taste the taste difference between the two solutions, and pay attention to the weakening of acidity in the solution after adding sugar.

Bitter taste and sour taste: taste 1g/l acetic acid solution, and then add 4 mg/l sulfate (or edible alkali) to the same acid solution, and experience the feeling that the acidity is also enhanced after adding bitterness.

Alcohol sensory exercise

Alcohol sensory exercise

The feeling of alcohol in wine is reflected in burning and sweetness. The higher the alcohol content, the warmer the throat and the sweeter the mouth.

In this exercise, we need to prepare pure water and neutral alcohol (or we can use colorless and odorless vodka). The concentration ratio of its solution can be discharged from 8% to 20%. (This is also the alcohol threshold of wine containing fortified wine in general). We should record the difference between burning throat and sweetness caused by alcohol after tasting.

Effects of several substances in wine on sweetness: The slight sweetness in wine is caused by sugar, alcohol and glycerol. The following exercises will help you clearly understand these substances in wine:

First, taste the solution with glycerol content of10g/l. Pay attention to write down the oil, sticky feeling and sweetness that glycerin solution brings to your mouth. Then add 15% alcohol to this solution, and pay attention to the increase of sweetness and heat sensation during tasting. Finally, 10g sugar was added, and the sweetness of the solution reached the highest value.

Basic exercises of wine tasting

Basic exercises of wine tasting

This series of exercises should be compared with the original pure wine by adding other solutions to the wine. Through this exercise, we can understand the different effects of various flavors in wine.

1. Effect of acidity on wine: Prepare dry white wine with medium acidity (French Chardonnay is preferred). Add 1g/l tartaric acid to the same wine, and pay attention to the improvement of acidity and green taste after tasting.

You can do the same exercise in red wine. Pay attention to the astringency of red wine after adding tartaric acid.

2. Effect of sweetness on wine: In dry white wine, 8g/l sugar is added to the same wine. We recorded the increase of sweetness and the decrease of acidity in wine.

You can do the same exercise in red wine. Experience a reduction in astringency.

3. Effect of alcohol on wine: Prepare a glass of red wine with 1 1 degree, add pure alcohol to raise it to 14 degree, and pay attention to the burning sensation in the wine.

4. Effect of tannin on wine: Prepare dry white wine and add 0.5g to the same wine. Tannin or edible alkali for wine making. We can feel the rise of astringency and the strengthening of acidity.

5. Effect of glycerol on wine: dry white wine. Add 10g/l glycerol to the same white wine. Record the sweetness and roundness of wine in the mouth.