Spanish blind tasting night

After 8 months, I finally was able to join my Sommelier classmates and teacher's blind tasting gathering at a Central private club with Cantonese cuisine. Sorry for being ingenuous, not knowing the menu in advance made the scope too vast to have any food pairing. Nevertheless, I was so impressed with their raptness over each gathering.

Game rule in a nutshell. Each of us brought our wrapped bottle. The rest had to guess to our closest knowledge on grapes, terroir, vintage and location of the producing region.

Presentor then had to depict the stories behind this wine, the vineyard, style and the reason they selected the wine. At the end of dinner, all of us voted their favorite bottle excl. their own. One with most votes would be rewarded with a free meal of the night. Fair enough, just don't put too much cost to the bottle *grin*

Here are the selections of the night

1. Tondonia 1998 Gran Reserva

Rioja macabeo
Look: Golden yellow, slight tears. Clean

Nose: Chrysanthemum, buttery,elderflower, high acidity

Palate: vanilla, honey, oaky, long finish, waxy, end with acidity

Reserva: 24 maturation + 6 cask maturation

Price: $278 from Watson's Wine

2. Amma Albariño rais baixas 2012

Look: Lemon, clear, tears

Nose: Guava, pomergranate, peach, pear,mineral, aromatic

Palate: acidity med+; med dry.
Grape : Albariño from Rais Baixas

New version: late harvest
Price: ??

3. Tondonia 1999 Gran Reserva

Look: golden yellow , golden than 1st

Nose: buttery, sulphur, acid, chemicals,eucalyptus, 

Palate: oaky, plum, tingling poppy on tongue
Price: $298 

4.Corullon Mancia

Look:Garnet red, sentiment

Nose: Leather, peppery, red berries, 

Palate: black peppery, spicy, Thai spice, 

Grape: Grenache, Temperanillo from a village close to Priorat

Price: $468

5. Carmelo Rodero 2011 Crianza

Look: purple red, tears, clear

Nose: Oak, eucalyptus, red current, big body, pungent, jammy, chocolate

Palate: Mocha, tannin, chocolate, new oak, lengthy, vanilla,
(12mths maturation +24 barrel)
Grape: 95% temperanillo 5% Cabernet Sauvignon from Ribera du duero
Price: $480 

6. La Cima

Look: ruby, clear

Nose: celery, cherry, spice

Palate: tannin, candy, spicy, french oak 18mths, new, leathery, licorice

Grape: Mancia from Ribera sarca
The dog on the label is named Merlot
Price: from Vineyard for free

7. Tossals 

Look: Ruby, clear

Nose: fruity, cherry, sweet, red fruit

Palate: new world, Pinot noir, sweet, strawberry, mid length
Grape: Samso from Montsant

Price: ??

8. Psi 2010

2009 better Peter sisseck, 

Temperanillo 100%

Look: ruby, clear

Nose: chestnut, black fruit, leather, violet

Palate: Complex, med length, full body, asian spice
Grape: Temperanilla from Ribera del Duero
Price: 289 from Regis Wine

9. Enate 2013

Look: Lemon, clear

Nose: Light citrus, fruit driven

Palate: Med+ acidity new version Albariño
Grape: Sumatano Chardonnay 14% alc.; Single vineyard High altitude

House wine of 3 star Michelin restaurant in France

Price: $260

Best wine of the night was #4, case the votes were divided amongst 2 Tondonia. All are value for money. I will attempt grabbing some bottles as a decent weekend chillout wine.

Looking forward to next gathering...

How determined do you want to be a SOMM ?

The Most Stressful Exam - Master of Sommelier exam - SOMM

Out of my expectation - almost full house in cinema. I could only secure 2 seats at the corner.
Without knowing what to expect , I brought my boyfriend to watch. I thought he would fall asleep as the topic has so unrelated to him, with many tech words. I am surprised he is awake the whole movie. The entire audience is so enthusiastic into the movie such that they even give applause when result is released. Their grasp of breath is on same pace...why?

It is documentary, it is personal experience sharing, it is breath-taking.

In 3 months time, 3-6 sommeliers were to prepare for the Master of Sommelier exam. It looks like life-and-death matter. Q-cards everywhere, buddies skype from 11am-2am to go through all exam questions on daily basis, finding the mentor to give them tortures, studying day till night till another day. This is not acting, this is for real. They were totally stressed out. Panda eyes, endless nights. They haven't talked to their wives and girlfriends for long.

Clip of Sommelier Exam

Imagine: able to taste and give all the comments within 1 minute of time, including all the clues that the wine give them and go through the thinking tree loud to conclude which wine that can be. That whole process are in front of 6 judges.
Only 1 exam per year. Every year, less than 10 our of the 200 applicants can pass this exam. Triumph for winners, tears for losers, they all have to attend the final celebration.

When you cry, you better cry when you pass this. As of today, there are less than 200 Master of Sommeliers. Dare to enter this devil of exam? How horrible? Watch it and you will know more.

http://www.mastersommeliers.org/Default.aspx