Wine with Meg + Mel
The fun + frank podcast which helps you navigate the world of wine. Hosted by Australia's first female Master of Wine Meg Brodtmann, and self-titled Master of Sabrage Mel Gilcrist.
Wine with Meg + Mel
The MW Exam Papers: Can You Pass Wine's Ultimate Test?
The Master of Wine qualification represents the absolute pinnacle of wine education – a credential so challenging that only 5-10% of candidates ever pass. Since its creation in 1952, just 480 people worldwide have earned these prestigious initials. But what exactly makes this qualification so formidable?
Taking you behind the curtain of this elite examination, we dissect real questions from this year's MW papers, attempting to answer them ourselves with varying degrees of success (and humility). The examination tests candidates across three grueling tasting papers requiring blind identification of wines from around the world, and four theory papers covering everything from technical viticulture to global wine business strategies.
The tasting component requires identifying wines like a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon from Margaret River versus one from Pessac-Léognan, or distinguishing between Chardonnays from Chablis, Monterey, South Africa, and Margaret River. Theory questions range from highly technical matters – "How would you address 0.9 grams per liter of volatile acidity in a Chablis intended for lees aging?" – to philosophical challenges like creating a wine blend that represents "the essence of humanity's wine culture."
We explore what makes someone a Master of Wine, beyond just encyclopedic knowledge. It's the ability to communicate effectively about wine, synthesize complex information, and form coherent arguments on multi-faceted issues facing the industry today. Whether discussing the impact of health warnings on wine labels or how producers can farm without agrochemicals, candidates must demonstrate breadth and depth across scientific, cultural, and commercial domains.
Have you ever wondered if you have what it takes? Join us for this fascinating look at wine's ultimate challenge and share your thoughts on what wine blend would represent humanity's wine culture. Follow us on Instagram to continue the conversation and let us know what topics you'd like us to cover in our final episodes of the year.
Follow us on instagram @winewithmegandmel
Mel's got her little wess at three and she thinks she's going to be a friggin' MW. Hi and welcome to Wine with Megan Mel. We're here to help you navigate the world of wine. I'm Mel Gould, Chris Trumbane, Master of Wine, Bec Brotman on Zoom today.
Speaker 2:Yes on Zoom today, because we realised, well you did, because at least you're all over it and you're drinking a glass of night wine. Nice to see. We needed an episode.
Speaker 1:Are you not drinking a glass of wine? I?
Speaker 2:had a glass of wine before, but I've got water now.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's very responsible for someone who's not driving home.
Speaker 2:No, exactly exactly.
Speaker 1:Well, today I thought what would be fun is the Master of Wine exam came out in terms of all the questions they got asked and all the wines they did for 2025 this year, and I haven't looked since they first came out, but I had a quick whiz through and I went oh, I could answer these questions. Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2:I mean, some of them are fairly obvious. The problem is, and the theory papers you've got, it's divided into two sections. So you've got section A and there's only two questions and you have to do one of those, and then section B. You can choose to do two from Section B, but there's usually four questions in Section B, so you've got a little bit more wriggle room. So Section A. For some of them I thought, oh, a bit tough. But on the wines I actually thought it was a really fair exam.
Speaker 1:Do you have a fun fact and a wine before we jump in to the exam? Oh gosh.
Speaker 2:I have a wine. I had a Boto Crago Field Blend, which is Boto Crago's in the Yarra Valley and it's made with kind of the leftovers of their Viognier and Pinot Grigio and Gewurztraminer and it was really lovely. It was just a little bit of residual sugar but it's really good entry wine. You know when people sometimes go to wineries with people and they only like sweet wine, yes, so it was kind of like one of those wines that they could enjoy while you were getting down and dirty with the good pinots and chardonnays.
Speaker 1:And should a field blend all technically be grown in the same vineyard or can it just be a blend of different, like white wines?
Speaker 2:Theoretically it should all be co-fermented, but I mean, who's making these definitions? This is a thing, it's a marketing term, so you can pretty much do whatever you like, I think, if it's grown on the same vineyard and you've picked them when they're optimal, because there's, you know, there's Grunewaldlinger, there's Pinot Grigio, there's a whole range of varieties, so they're going to be picked at different times, but then you just blend them together to make a really lovely wine. I don't, you know, you could just call it an assemblage.
Speaker 1:So you don't think that they necessarily do like what if they're not co-fermented? And what if they're not co-perimented? And what if they're not on the same vineyard? Is that fine?
Speaker 2:Well, I remember someone once said because they actually did have a wine that was called a field blend, that was from a range of vineyards across the Yarra Valley, and he said at a tasting well, the Yarra Valley is a field Stretch. Wow, yeah, I know. Look, do we want to be purists? It was a delicious wine.
Speaker 1:It was fun. Yeah, no, I totally agree with you. Yeah, we are. We are so not purists here in this podcast. Do you have a fun fact or do you want to just get straight into it?
Speaker 2:I think we'll have to get straight into it, because I haven't prepared a fun fact.
Speaker 1:Oh well, that's fine, we're fun enough. Let's talk about the wines. Do you want to remind everyone we've spoken about and in fact I think it was a good episode? In season one we did a whole episode about what you went through personally to get your MW. But maybe do you want to just quickly recap on like what the tasting section is like.
Speaker 1:So the section is three papers over three days, so you do it in the morning. Hang on wait. Sorry. Maybe let's go one step back further and clarify for anyone who doesn't know what a master of wine is. Is the pass rate still 5%?
Speaker 2:It's between five and 10, I reckon in any given year. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's pretty low. About a thousand people go for it each year. It is like the top, top qualification you can ever get in wine. Only about 5% to 10% of people pass, which makes it very, very rare, like it's been going for 30 or 40 years, and I think when I was looking into it, when you first started with us, there was only like 450-odd, yeah, there you go, so it's probably only about 480 now and I'm not sure how many Like that's?
Speaker 2:crazy. Yeah total ever been since 1952 I think was the first exam, so it's been going for what? 70 years yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, and there's got to only be a handful in Australia. You were the first woman to get it, first female Australian. Yeah, is there anything else that you think worth pointing out? I mean, like it is widely known to be the hardest thing you can do in wine, I guess.
Speaker 2:Well, I think the reason it is hard is because not only do you obviously need to have the facts, but you've got to be able to communicate, because, at the end of the day, about wine, even winemakers have to communicate, even viticulturalists have to communicate, marketers have to communicate, people who sell wine buy wine they all have to be able to communicate. So it's been be able to write and communicate your ideas and, obviously, support statements that you made with examples, and so people need to use a wide range of examples. There's nothing worse than reading a paper and they're just quoting. They've obviously all visited one winery in Napa Valley and they're all quoting exactly the same reference.
Speaker 1:Was it the hardest thing you've ever done?
Speaker 2:It was hard. It's moralizing, it's because you walk into a room I remember walking in and I got off a ferry and I didn't have. I've been in France and I drove from the ferry at like five o'clock in the morning to Reading, I think it was, and I didn't have glasses. So I ended up using, you know, those goblet glasses that the pub basically provided. Embarrassing, everyone's got their like redial glasses. That is really embarrassing, I know, I know. And at the end of it, this lovely guy from Amsterdam I think his name was Christian, I don't think he ever passed he gave me his glasses because he obviously thought, oh, she's so poor or something?
Speaker 2:Oh, my God he felt sorry for you, I know, so he didn't want to take them back with him?
Speaker 1:Do you reckon he's gone home and he's been like? You should see the glasses they drink out of in Australia. I know.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it is with a group of people that knew way more about wine the European wine, particularly than I had a clue, but I was very strong on the winemaking and viticulture side, so everyone had their sort of strengths and weaknesses. But of the group that I did started with, probably six people passed Of how many Of that.
Speaker 1:What Forty?
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, wow, Forty people, because when you start, people drop out and they start again and then they're in and out. Now they have sort of a first stage assessment so that you to see that you're ready to go through to actually sit the exam. None of that existed when I did it. You basically started. 18 months later you could sit the exam. So it was pretty crazy.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right. Sorry, I've now cut you off twice. Now, meg, you can tell us about the tasting component.
Speaker 2:So the tasting component is three tasting papers White is the first one 12 wines. The second one is red 12 wines. And the third one is what is called a mixed bag. So that can contain whites, reds, sparkling fortifieds. It can have anything in it.
Speaker 1:Are they meant to be somewhat related to each?
Speaker 2:other yes. So I'll give you an example, question one of paper, one which is the white wine. Paper wines one and two are blends of the same two grape varieties. For both wines identify the grape varieties, 10 marks. So you have to say blah, blah, these are what the grape varieties are, and then justify your reason and then, for each wine, identify the origin as closely as possible and then comment on the style, winemaking and quality. And the wines were a Sauvignon Semillon Cirque 77 from Xanadu, from 2023. Margs, and a Chateau de Fusel Blanc 2021 for Persec-Lignon, france. So obviously that is Sauvignon dominant with Semillon. Now the question is, how many classic wines are a blend of two grape varieties? It's not going to be Chardonnay, it's not going to be Riesling, so you're automatically cutting things down.
Speaker 1:So you knew it was so it has to be a classic wine to be an exam, hey oh, look that they had.
Speaker 2:They had throw some oddball ones in there where there was a ferment one year, fermented in oak. But for a question like this, you know that it's going to have to be a classic what else would it? Be, it couldn't be an Italian wine. So as soon as you pick it up, hopefully, you'll Wait, but did you know that?
Speaker 1:but the question didn't state that it was a blend.
Speaker 2:Yes, wines one and two are blends of the same two great varieties.
Speaker 1:I literally like what Marsan Roussan yeah, could have been a Rhone red. Might be the only other thing, but apart from that, yeah, if you think of a white blend, sam Sav is the first thing that comes to mind. Yeah, seamag, I could.
Speaker 2:I could do it. And then the next two, three wines were from the same single grape variety and you needed to reference all four wines to identify the grape variety and then comment on the style, quality and maturity of each wine and identify the origin as closely as possible. And they were a Chablis Premier Cru, a Monterey Chardonnay, a South African Chardonnay and a Mosswood Margaret River Chardonnay.
Speaker 1:Jesus, Margaret River is getting a good run here, I know Again pretty cool.
Speaker 2:On the reds there was a weird one. There was wines. 8 to 12 are from Europe. They come from five different single or predominant grape varieties, each closely associated with their origin. You needed to identify the origin of the grape variety as closely as possible, comment on the quality within the context of wine globally and comment on the style and commercial appeal. And they were a Toriga Nacional from Portugal. Yeah, I'm not getting that. No, zweigelt from Austria. I I'm not getting that. No, zweigelt from Austria. I'm probably not getting that. A Barbera d'Albi from Vieti and Piedmont Maybe. Yeah, a Beaujolais.
Speaker 1:Village Any day of the week.
Speaker 2:I would get that, and a Zinomavro from Greece.
Speaker 1:Nah, I wouldn't get it, and then I'd kick myself.
Speaker 2:That would be pretty tough, so I'll move on to the theory. So the first paper is viticulture and I'm going to test you, mel. You can choose the question, section 1 or Section A. Question 1 is how effectively can vineyard pests and diseases be controlled without using agrochemicals? Or you can choose, oh you choose. Bacterial and phytoplasma diseases are the greatest threats to vine health today. Discuss.
Speaker 1:I'm going to start by saying I have no idea what phytoplasma means. Yes, so I'm going to opt for question one, please.
Speaker 2:Okay, how effectively can vineyard pests and diseases be controlled without using agrochemicals?
Speaker 1:Okay, so what I would do is. So this is effectively asking how well can they be right? So then I'd have to go into the methods, but ultimately I'm arguing if it, if it's possible, right well, I think, first of all, you define what the pests and the diseases are.
Speaker 2:So if they're soil borne pests, how can you control them without the use of agrochemicals? So, root stocks, if they're um things like so do we have to go?
Speaker 1:so? So would I have to go through every type of pest? And okay, no wait, let me try first. Let me try first and you can tell me if I pass this question. Okay, okay, so what I would say is that, um, maybe that it depends on your region how effectively it is possible to manage vineyard pests and diseases without using agrochemicals. And I might say that, like, maybe a wet region is going to be more difficult to manage disease because you're going to be more prone to, like humidity and mold and stuff like that, and therefore use of chemical not using chemicals is tough, but if you're in a drier region, you might be much more able to not have to use chemicals because it's less wet.
Speaker 2:Well, you have. Yeah, if you have less, you have less disease pressure in drier climates, obviously, but what about pests?
Speaker 1:So pests, all I know? Okay, I would just like grab anything that I know. And all I know is that the research I've done into eco vineyards and I know that some of the things that can be done about pests is like stuff like getting those big prey bird logs and you can get those and then the birds of prey come and hang out in your vineyard and then the crappy birds that want to eat your grapes piss off because the scary birds are there. So that's one method. I don't actually know how effective it is, but I know it exists. I mean, you can use netting against birds, but it has its own downfalls too, because it's very labor intensive and some birds don't make it. They get stuck. I don't know what else. What other pests?
Speaker 2:Well, the thing is they're finding here using agrochemicals, and we've never used agrochemicals for bird control and for kangaroo control or deer control. So the pests that I think that are more likely are grape moss insects and things like that. So the way that you would do it would be using integrated pest management and honey pots to attract them away, pheromones to attract them away, get lots of good insects in your vineyard and for diseases, canopy management would be the main one, and brook stock, of course.
Speaker 1:So how effectively do those things work?
Speaker 2:They're all very good, but it's a lot more work.
Speaker 1:It's more expensive than going out and spraying, so if you employed all those things, you could still effectively grow grapes yeah organic growers do it all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, organic growers do it all the time.
Speaker 1:Biodynamic growers do it all the time, but it doesn't necessarily always work, does it?
Speaker 2:No, but it can be effective. Okay, it's. The thing is it's a holistic approach and you have to be on it, but in some years, nature's just going to throw you a curveball and you may have to revert to using agrochemicals. So yeah, All right.
Speaker 1:Well, I think we can safely say that I failed that question. If you're playing along at home, if you answered something close to what Meg just said, you can give yourself one point and you'll have to message us. And if anyone gets through this episode and reckons they can take on the MW, message us and let us know.
Speaker 2:So in winemaking I thought this was a great question Critically assess the key techniques a winemaker can use to enhance complexity and texture in bottle fermented sparkling wine. Now, this is a question for you, mel. So the key techniques to enhance complexity and texture in bottle fermented sparkling wine?
Speaker 1:Okay. So for people listening, we mean not method tradition, oh no. Or in bottle fermented, so yes, method traditional, ah ah, that's okay. So I guess? Um, firstly, I'm like you can't stir leaves, can you If they're in a bottle Base wine. Okay, so we start with base wine. No, you don't. You start way before base wine.
Speaker 2:Oh, we start in the vineyard, well, in the grape varieties.
Speaker 1:Ah, grape varieties. Okay, okay, so maybe we blend. Yes, you need to stop giving me hints, baby.
Speaker 2:No, no, okay, I think we all know If anyone is an MW student, always start at the beginning of the process and think about it across the whole process.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, I mean, I think we all know I'm not getting through this without you giving me hints, but anyway, okay, I'll start at the start. Okay, great varieties. So I guess you want to choose. Um, if you want to enhance complexity, you could opt to make a blend which could add different characters, and then you might want to look at the site that it's growing and maybe things like yield lower yield might contribute to more complexity. Maybe Concentration, concentration, but not complexity.
Speaker 1:Complexity and texture Okay. So complexity, Okay. Well, have I covered enough with grape variety? Can I go? Yeah, that's all right, Move on.
Speaker 2:Okay, so base wine Go back to primary fermentation, barrel fermentation, yeah of course.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you could ferment in a barrel instead of stainless steel, and that would contribute to texture because you've got more like oxygen that can kind of penetrate and work on the wine. And then I don't know what you would do. What would you do? What about different yeast, different kinds of yeast, different flavors and different complexities and stuff? Milo, what Do any? Is that a choice? I actually didn't know that. I think I just assumed that all sparkling wine wasn't Malo.
Speaker 2:No, no, quite a lot of champagne goes through Malo. A portion of it goes through Malo.
Speaker 1:Would Chandon go through Malo?
Speaker 2:I don't think Veuve, I think does, and I think Rotoroo does as well.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, I'm going to have to ask tomorrow. Yeah, mailer, okay, well, oh Oak.
Speaker 2:Yeah, different oaks, old oak, new oak, big format, small format.
Speaker 1:But would you age it in oak, like after fermentation, like as a baseline? Yeah, well, you could do it. You could do fermentation in oak after fermentation, like as a baseline.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you could do it. You could do fermentation in oak and then aging before you put together your primary blend, your baseline blend.
Speaker 1:I know it's going to change the texture if we make it like peanut style. True, yeah, that's technically bottle fermented.
Speaker 2:And texture. Yes, very true. No pet nuts. Well, yes, I guess it is. It terminates. Am I missing anything? I think the blending, obviously, when you go to blending for your base wine and then time on, yeah, so like blending previous vintages, Is it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so blend like new vintage with. Yeah, like it doesn't say it has to be a vintage wine, so you could blend with past vintages.
Speaker 2:Yeah, using reserve wines.
Speaker 1:And then time on lease. How long you leave it on lease? Yep.
Speaker 2:Bottle age. Bottle age time on lease time on cork, and the only other thing that I was wondering about was dosage at the end.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, totally Complexity, surely? Yeah, that's what I yeah. And even texture, texture, surely, adding sugar. The more sugar you add, the more texture you'd contribute, surely?
Speaker 2:And, yeah, sugar, the more sugar you add, the more texture you'd contribute, surely? Yeah, Bearing in mind you have to write about 500 words. Yeah, that wasn't 500 words. No, fair, fair. This was a good question, I thought. Evaluate prevention and correction strategies for each of the following issues. First one is 0.9 grams per litre of volatile acidity in a Chablis wine with a pH of 3.2 and an ABV of 12.5% intended for Lee's aging. Oh my God. The second wine is a strong reductive aromas post-malolactic fermentation in a premium Barossa Shiraz with a pH of 3.8 and 15% ABV destined for 24-month O-coaching. And then 180 milligrams per liter of total sulfur dioxide in a Bordeaux blend pH 3.6, 13.5 ABV pre-bottling.
Speaker 1:Whoa, okay, nah, I'm not even going to try. I know that, like I know what volatile acidity is and I know what pH means, but I actually, to be honest, don't have like a benchmark reference for what the numbers are yeah, so that's the thing you need to know what legal limits.
Speaker 2:Also, what desired so that is vinegar is one grams per liter of volatile acidity. This is 0.9. So they've truly fucked up here.
Speaker 1:So volatile acidity. Do you want to explain it? So?
Speaker 2:volatile acidity is ethyl acetate, which is an air pollution remover, or acetic acid, which is vinegar, and it comes about. There's acetobacter, so there's bacteria that produce it, usually when you've had contact with air, so you haven't had very protective winemaking if you don't have sufficient sulphur dioxide. This wine has a pH of 3.2, so sulphur dioxide would be quite effective because it's a low pH and it's a fairly low alcohol pH relates to acidity no. Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:All right, go into that I'm not going into pH because you told me I'm not allowed to talk about pH. The lower the pH, the more effective your sulfadoxide is basically. But in this wine, because it's asking you for prevention and then correction. So prevention would be protective winemaking, basically get it through ferment really quickly, and then correction strategies. You'd probably have to run it through a reverse osmosis to remove that va or blend it away before you wanted to do your lees aging and make sure your lees because lees are really reductive environments so make sure they're quite clean and they're not really stinky. But they're quite specific questions. I mean, I would love a question like that. That's a real wine nerd question. But I'll move on to where you'll probably feel more comfortable. Great, seriously, this was made for you, this question. Okay, this is the business of wine, all right.
Speaker 2:So paper three sorry is the handling of wine. So paper two is from harvesting until basically you've got your wine produced, and then paper three is how we get the wine into bottle and what happens when it's in bottle. So there's a question here of write concise notes on three of the following mousiness light strike in bottled wine. Elevated VA in bottled wine. Management of a tank of rose with free sulfur dioxide well above its ideal levels. So it's sort of looking at, it looks at fining and stabilisation and things like that. Quite technical.
Speaker 1:It is technical.
Speaker 2:So the business of wine. Paper four how has champagne maintained its primacy in the world of sparkling wine?
Speaker 1:Oh, that is a good question. I love it, okay, okay. So we would start by okay, no, start at the start. Okay, if we start at the start, let's talk about history, that they have such a strong history, really strong storytelling as well, like if you think about Madame Clicquot and Bollinger, and like there's really good storytelling there, a lot of good women in champagne. There's great women in champagne. Let's be honest, the women are the secret, they're why it's so great. And then you would say tight controls. So I think what champagne does really good is you know what to expect when you pick up a bottle of champagne, and that's because they control it really tightly. You have to know minimum of time, that it's going to age and what grape varieties you have to choose from only a few. And like there is so much consumer, you're just meeting consumer expectations, so it's a really specific product. Scarcity because oh and they did it oh, there is a illusion of scarcity. Let's say yes that's right.
Speaker 1:Yes, they've done a good job of that. And then there is the fact that they took the word champagne, like I mean, it wasn't always this way. I mean, at some point around the world, everyone was calling sparkling wine champagne, and I don't know what decade and you can correct me after I'm done, but there was at some point champagne went. No, we're from champagne, you can't use the name Champagne, and it's become so associated with prestige. And then they have done a really, really good job of maintaining both the history and the culture and the tradition, but also sticking with pop culture and the times. So if you take Dom Perignon as an example on the website, you equally can venture into their massive caves and explore all these decades and decades of old wines, and then you can also have a look at Lady Gaga doing a little dance with a bottle of Dom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, at Mowat you can do the one on ice that they were doing for a while. They do reinvent themselves, considering they've got one wine, basically, yeah. But, the other thing is, I think, always aligning themselves with luxury and people with money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they treat the champagne like a handbag. It's like they market champagne the same way that Gucci markets a Gucci belt or bag or whatever. It's all the same luxury marketing, which is brilliant, to be honest.
Speaker 2:So there was another question in Section A, so you had to choose Do sustainability initiatives inevitably compromise profitability? Yeah, of course they do. It's a, that's a yes I mean, but you have to back it up, you know, with examples.
Speaker 1:I mean. So, firstly, just the fact that you have to hire someone to get Sustainable Wine Growing Australia. It is a hell of a lot of work and I know that at Chandon we have so much resource compared to smaller wineries. Yeah, yet it was still a massive feat when, like everyone was like popping bottles when we got Swar and it's like if that was that much effort, when we have a dedicated person whose job is sustainability, it's crazy. If it was that hard for us to get it, how is everyone else getting it? So, firstly, just resourcing and record keeping and all of that. But then it's the actual management techniques and all the improvements that you have to make.
Speaker 2:And you constantly have to be improving to maintain your certification. That's the thing. You've got to show improvement every time you get audited. And it is what? Three grand to get audited. It's not cheap. A small grower can't afford that. So the last section is called Contemporary Issues, and this is where they want you to have an opinion. I love having opinions, I know so two questions to be answered, one from Section A and one from Section B. Section A is what will be the likely impact on the global wine industry if health warnings about cancer risks become increasingly mandatory on wine labels? Discuss the implications of such changes for producers, marketers and consumers. Or the other question was how is the global wine industry adapting to changing societal attitudes towards alcohol consumption and how should it respond to the challenges and opportunities these changes present? Both very big questions.
Speaker 1:I don't know if they are, because the first one is almost a stupid question. Like I know, you have to analyze it, but of course, of course, if you put health warnings on wine, it's going to change things. Like I read that the World Health Organization is calling for cancer. Like in the same way that you see the ugly cancer pictures on cigarettes, they want that on wine and well on alcohol, and tell me that's not going to. Of course that's going to do anything that did heaps in terms of the cigarette industry. So yeah, of course that's going to have a huge effect. Although, what do I need to get 500 words out of that? I guess I could.
Speaker 2:I just want to say, yes, you idiot, there's a lot in there, because it's what will be the likely impact on the global wine industry. So then you can say what will be the impact. So obviously, decreased consumption, yeah and then discuss the implications of such changes for producers, marketers and consumers.
Speaker 1:Do you know what I was thinking today? I actually had this brain bubble today. I was thinking that it could be good for the wine industry, not if they went down ugly cancer amounts way, but if plain packaged labeling came in. No, like plain packaging, like if everything had to look the same. No branding, no branding. It would force people to learn about wine. They couldn't just pick up a pretty label, because that's what everyone does. Now People say to me sometimes like oh, I just I buy wine because of the labels. Pretty ha ha. And I'm like everyone does, like that's. I think 80% of people do that.
Speaker 2:Well, we always used to say that the label sells the first bottle and the winemaker sells the second.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's fair, but I don't know. I, the marketer in me, doesn't want it to ever happen, but the wine educator in me kind of loves the idea that everyone is forced to figure out that Chablis is Chardonnay.
Speaker 2:Have you seen that ad? I think it was in America that they've splashed that alcohol causes cancer, but the image they've got is a red wine glass red wine going into a glass. So it's not spirits or whiskey or bourbon. They've used red wine as an image. It's on, it's all over LinkedIn. Go. And bourbon. They've used red wine as an image. It's all over LinkedIn. Go and have a look. Everyone's talking about it. This is a great question. You are tasked with creating a wine blend that represents the essence of humanity's wine culture.
Speaker 1:I love this question so much.
Speaker 2:Which grapes or regions would you include and which winemaking style and packaging would you use, and why Isn't that a great question?
Speaker 1:Yes, but I want a week to think about it, not the amount of time you're given in an MW exam. Oh, the essence of humanity that is so deep.
Speaker 2:I think I'd go to Greece. Why? Because that's where it started, yeah, and you know it's grown from there and they've continued to do it. So, yeah, I'd probably go Zinamevro or Assyrtiko, I don't know.
Speaker 1:No, I would be so much more philosophical.
Speaker 2:But which winemaking style and packaging would you use, and why no?
Speaker 1:I would feel like, oh, you put in the goat's bull bladder or whatever, it is the goat's bladder. Oh nice, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean you've taken the question very literal the essence what is the essence of humanity?
Speaker 2:Of humanity's wine culture. Oh, wine culture. Yes, that represents the essence of humanity's wine. So you'd have to define what that is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, of humanity's wine culture?
Speaker 2:Is it all about conviviality and sharing? Is that the essence of humanity's wine culture? I mean seriously. If you think about it historically, it was just because you got pissed yeah, like, what is the essence of humanity is like, is it? Conviviality is a nice thing, people can tell us what the essence of humanities wine culture is on Instagram.
Speaker 1:Maybe Instagram is an interesting place to explore. Maybe wine culture is becoming digital and therefore the wine that you could choose would be something that's good, digital. So maybe, maybe because wine is becoming so digital and fads and everything that is the direction we're headed in, you would choose a wine that actually had a couple of grams of sugar, but said it was no sugar and said that it had protein in it or something.
Speaker 2:Or bloody protein. Something like that, but does that represent the essence of humanity's? What I guess? I'm thinking historical, you're thinking I'm thinking philosophical?
Speaker 1:oh my yeah. Like what is humanity's wine culture? Is it um? Is it pretentious and prestige? Would you blend a wine that just packed so much punch from the most high-tanin like powerful, full-bodied high-alcohol wines that big, rich men can sit around with a cigar and think they're drinking something super prestigious?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm just asking Cat GPT what? Is humanity's essence of wine culture. I like that. Oh, hang on, where's he gone? Chat GPT here we go.
Speaker 1:Tom, what do you have you got your friends in? You can't hear. What do you think is the essence of humanity's wine culture? If you had to choose a wine, if you had to blend a wine that represented the essence of humanity's wine culture, what would it be?
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, here we go, tom's got nothing.
Speaker 1:You normally come up with something good.
Speaker 2:All right, he'd take it back to the Roman Empire, the essence of humanities. Wine culture is deeply rooted in history, ritual, community and meaning. It goes far beyond the beverage itself. And then it talks about connection to nature and time, ancient origins and continuity, ritual and symbolism, social bonding, craft and culture, exploration and identity. Well, that's a lot. How would you make one? Wine culture is a mirror of humanity itself. It's roots in the earth, it's reach for the transcendent and it's joy in coming together.
Speaker 1:That's bullshit. Do you know why? Do you know what I would say? I?
Speaker 2:love.
Speaker 1:Chattipati. I do love Chattipati, but also it's an idiot. I'm smarter, it helps me, but I always win. I do you know what? The other day I kind of wrote something, chat chibity, and it got red and like I sat down to kind of like I got a few markups and I sat down and instead of just changing a couple things, I just completely rewrote it and I sat there and looked at it went, god, I did so much better than chat chibity. I think at this point in time I'm still better than chat chibity. But I'll see, this point in time I'm still better than Chat Chippity.
Speaker 2:But I'll see you again, definitely no. Especially this is very.
Speaker 1:Do you know what I would do? I would take I would go what is wine culture? There is no wine culture. There is no one wine culture. Wine means something different to everyone. So what would I blend? Yeah, I would blend a Cab sav for the big americans who who want something big and rich, and yeah, those are traditional men that want to have it with a cigar and associate it with luxury. And then I would add in a dab of sauvignon blanc for the wine moms who are just using it to get by and make it from Wednesday to Thursday. And maybe we put in a touch of Moscato for the people who are just starting their wine journey. That's the kind of blend I would make. Would it taste very good? Probably, and maybe that's the point, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Well, do I think you've passed the CMW exam?
Speaker 1:Probably not yeah, have I Meg, am I ready? Yeah?
Speaker 2:I mean, you could probably pass the business one. Yeah, but yeah, the viticulture and winemaking, they are very, very yeah, they're very specific.
Speaker 1:You'd hope so. It takes years right of Training and study and stuff, like you've got to get to the highest level of whatever you're at before you even think about MW, and then you start doing years of training specifically for MW. So the fact that I'm sitting here being like quiz me on MW Meg is probably insulting. In the first place it was your suggestion.
Speaker 2:I know, I know, but the thing that I find amazing is that you have to have such broad skills, like you've got, to be able to write an essay effectively on the essence of humanity's wine culture, bringing in winemaking and wine regions and packaging and everything else, and justify why you do it. And you've also got to be able to say, oh, if I've got 0.9 grams per litre of VA in a Chablis wine, a pH of 3.2, what am I going to do about it? So it is very broad.
Speaker 1:You do have to be really very, not just an all-rounder, you almost have to be a specialist, but in like five different areas. Yeah, like and yeah. I can't imagine most of the winemakers I know being able to sit down and answer that question about the essence of humanity. It's a fantastic question, though.
Speaker 2:It is a fantastic question though it is a fantastic question. Please write in to us and tell us what you think, what wine blend you would make to represent the essence of humanity's culture?
Speaker 1:I can't wait to hear these answers. I'll put something on Instagram because we have to know I'm sure there's going to be some good ones out there. So that's it, babe. That's it. Do we know how many passed yet?
Speaker 2:No, no, now the poor examiners, because I used to set paper too. So the examiners would now have all the photocopies and there's two examiners marking each paper and then it goes back to the chair, which was my role, and where there's a 10% variance between the markers, the chair has to review each of those papers and then, if the person's really close to passing, you have to review all of their papers. Wow, we really want people to pass, to get over the line. So there's a lot of work for the examiners. Can I call?
Speaker 1:bullshit on that. There would not be a 5% pass rate if you wanted people to pass.
Speaker 2:No, people just aren't ready. Oh really, oh God, I mean, I can tell you from marking paper too. People just have no idea. We will add some sulfur dioxide. That doesn't cut it. I need to know how much Is it a sweet wine? Are you adding 80 milligrams per liter? You're adding 35. We'll add some sulfur dioxide. People get the whole winemaking process confused and they don't go through it as a logical process. Yeah, so I think that's becoming reduced now that they've got this stage. One assessment yeah, so it's weeding out the not so clever clogs.
Speaker 1:You know what, though Like with Wesset 3, you're told that, like most people fail the theory, everyone's worried about tasting, but everyone fails theory. Everyone's worried about tasting, but everyone fails theory. I think I would actually that would be true for me Like, if I did MW, I think I could take a couple of years to study. I'm not saying I could do it now, but I mean, if I took two years and studied, I am pretty confident I could do that theory. But that, those tasting that's like tough. I reckon the tasting this year was really good, yeah, but those tasting that's like tough.
Speaker 2:I reckon the tasting this year was really good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but.
Speaker 2:But you've got to taste a lot You've got to know so much.
Speaker 1:You've got to know every wine in the freaking world. Like that's crazy.
Speaker 2:Because they've got. There was Riesling from Germany, from New Zealand, from Framingham. There was a Cver Brute. There was a La Bruja Commando, ola Rosso, cote de Bronte, cru Classé, who knew? Pinot Gris from Alsace, tokai Surseal. So there was Madeira in there. There was fine Ruby Port. There was a 40-year-old Tawny Port. There's a lot.
Speaker 1:Nice wines. In the first paper wine wines I'm looking at now, there's actually only one wine that I don't know Salva Piana from Tuscany. Vincenzo Del Chianti, Raffina oh yeah, Vincenzo.
Speaker 2:Have you never had Vincenzo Dried grapes? So it really it would stick out. It's, yeah, it's oxidatively made, it's sort of quite oxidized, and it's usually sweet. So Pete used to make Vincenzo out of Stefani.
Speaker 1:Oh really it's lovely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really yummy.
Speaker 1:You know what, though, looking through everything else, I at least recognize all the regions and all the varieties.
Speaker 2:Don't forget wine's 10 to 12. So you've got a Riesling from Mosul, a Rioja Blanco Gran Reserva from Spain and a Vincanto from three different European countries, and then they just ask you comment on the style of the winery with reference to the relative importance of human inputs versus natural factors. Oh yeah, so that's basically wine versus vineyard, and then identify grape variety and origin as closely as possible.
Speaker 1:So you know anyway, could you tell, like a Tokai from a Sauternes, Sauternes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Tokai traditionally was made more oxidatively. The barrels weren't filled, so it's usually darker in colour. And Furmint and Hush Leverloo, the two grape varieties, are searingly high in acidity, whereas Sauternes has high acidity, whereas Furmint and Hush Leverloo are just next level.
Speaker 1:So what about something like Noble One in Australia? Is that?
Speaker 2:It's broader Is that.
Speaker 1:Botrytis.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, botrytis it's.
Speaker 1:Botrytis. So is that yeah? So how is that different?
Speaker 2:It's always darker in colour. Have a look at it. It's always much more on that really deep gold colour, whereas Saturn can be sort of more of a wedding ring colour gold. And the deep gold colour whereas Sature could be sort of more of a wedding ring colour gold and the acid isn't as high.
Speaker 1:It's broader. So, yeah, maybe we should do. Yeah, we could do that. Just like in West Sature there's a blind tasting and it's Tokai, and everyone always says, oh, it's Sanse, and I'm always like gotcha, it's Tokay. And everyone always says, oh, it's onsen. I'm always like gotcha, it's Tokay, but in reality I'm like I actually don't know why it's not onsen.
Speaker 2:Sauternes, oh, sauternes, yeah, yeah. No, we should do a tasting Get all the sweeties, the classical sweeties out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, cote de Leon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I see, because Wade is out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, go to De Leon yeah, deal, all right. Well, this was fun. We'll be back next week. We'll be more organized, so we'll be back in with our usual audio. Until then, like, keep messaging us. Let us know if there's anything specific that you want us to talk about before the end of the year. We're kind of getting to that stage where we're planning the last few months. That's crazy, isn't it? Yeah, so let us know. But until then, enjoy your next glass of wine and drink well.
.jpg)