Advanced Wine Certificate Course 5-Day course:  £466.48 including tuition and examination fees, refreshments, wine for tasting and VAT

Course Dates 2007

This level 3 qualification is designed for trade proprietors and employees who need to advise management, answer customer queries authoritatively, or make informed selections of wines and spirits in a wide variety of situations. It is essential that students have achieved knowledge of the subject equal to that introduced and developed on the Intermediate Certificate course. This leads on to the level 4 ‘Diploma in Wines and Spirits’, the level 5 ‘Honours Diploma’ and then, for the really ambitious and talented: ‘Master of Wine’. Advanced Certificate in Wines and Spirits. SYLLABUS DAY 1 Introduction Wine law and labelling regulations, Responsibilities and legal obligations, Retail sale Unit 1 The WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting Preparation for tasting, The stages of tasting (Appearance, Nose, Taste, Conclusions), Taking notes Unit 2 Viticulture Climate, soil, the vine, Producing wine grapes Unit 3 Vinification Fermentation, Red and Rosé Vinification, White wine Vinification Unit 4 Maturation, Bottling and Wine Defects Maturing the wine, Fining, filtration, stabilisation and bottling Unit 5 France (General) and Bordeaux Controlling organisation, Legal categories, The Bordeaux trade and chateau concept. The 1855 classification, Topography, climate and soils. Viticulture, Vinification and maturation generic and cru wines. Graves & St-Emilion classifications. Districts and communes Unit 6 South Western France Bordeaux look-alike appellations. Key appellations of the southwest DAY 2 Unit 7 The Loire Valley Topography, climate and soils. Grape varieties and styles of Wines. Nantais, Anjou-Saumur, Touraine and The Central vineyards Unit 8 The Rhône Valley The AC structure. Topography, climate and soils. Grape varieties and styles of wines. Northern Rhône and Southern Rhône Unit 9 Southern France Topography, climate and soils. Grape varieties and styles of wines Significance of Vin de Pays. Provence, Languedoc-Rousillon Unit 10 Burgundy Burgundy trade and the AC structure Grape varieties, viticulture, vinification and maturation Chablis, Côte d’Or. Côtes Chalonnaise, Maconnais, Beaujolais Unit 11 Alsace and Eastern France Alsace trade and AC structure. Topography, climate and soils. Grape varieties, viticulture, vinification and maturation. Alsace, Jura and Savoie Unit 12 Italy Italian wine laws and labelling terms. Topography, climate and soils. Grape varieties, viticulture, vinification and maturation of the sixteen principle regions DAY 3 Unit 13 Spain Spanish wine laws, ageing regulations and labelling terms. Topography, grape varieties climate and soils. The Upper Ebro, Catalonia, The Duero Valley, The Atlantic Coast, Levante and Castilla-La Mancha Unit 14 Portugal Portuguese wine laws, ageing regulations and labelling terms. Topography, climate and soils. Key DOC wine regions Unit 15 Germany Current marketing trends. German wine laws, quality classification and labelling terms. Topography, grape varieties climate and soils. The thirteen quality wine regions Unit 16 Central and South Eastern Europe The UK market. Climate zones and corresponding styles of wine Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary Unit 17 Australia The Australian wine trade and the importance of the UK market. Topography, grape varieties climate and soils. Labelling laws. Wine producing states and the key districts Unit 18 New Zealand The New Zealand wine trade and the importance of the UK market Topography, grape varieties climate and soils. Key wine regions DAY 4 Unit 19 South Africa The South African wine trade and the importance of the UK market Wine laws. Topography, grape varieties climate and soils. Coastal region, Boberg and Breede River Valley Unit 20 United States of America Drinks industry controlling body and wine laws. California:- The California wine industry, climate, topography, soils and grape varieties. Key wine regions; North Coast, North Central Coast, South Central Coast, Central Valley and Sierra Foothills. The Pacific North-West and New York State Unit 21 Chile and Argentina Chile:- The wine industry topography, soil, climate and grape varieties Key regions; Central Valley, Maipo Valley and Aconcagua Argentina:- The wine industry topography, soil, climate and grape . varieties. Key regions; Mendoza and San Juan Unit 22 Other Wine-Producing Countries Europe: UK, Czech, Georgia, Luxembourg, Moldova, Slovakia, Switzerland and Ukraine. Americas: Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Uruguay. Africa: Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Near East: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, and Turkey. Far East: China, India and Japan Unit 23 Sparkling Wines (General) Production methods. Principal sparkling wine producing regions Unit 24 Champagne The Champagne wine trade structure, legal requirements and quality levels. Topography, climate soil and grape varieties. Viticulture and Champagne method of production. Key Champagne districts DAY 5 Unit 25 Fortified Wines (General) Fortifying techniques. Sherry and Port type liqueur wines. Madeira. Vins doux naturels Unit 26 Sherry The sherry trade. Topography, climate soil and grape varieties. Viticulture and Vinification. Styles of sherry. The solera system. Preparing sherry for bottling Unit 27 Port The port wine trade. Topography, climate soil and grape varieties Viticulture Vinification and maturation. Styles of port Unit 28 Spirits (General) Pot still and continuous patent still. Range of raw materials. Flavoured spirits. Gin:- production, compounding, botanicals Unit 29 Fruit Spirits Cognac:- Climate, soil and grape varieties. Principal districts. Distillation and maturation. Styles and qualities. Armagnac:- Climate, soil and grape varieties. Distillation and maturation. Styles and qualities Other grape spirits. Calvados and other fruit spirits Unit 30 Grain and Vegetable Spirits Scotch Whisky:- Malt; Production, maturation and styles. Main production districts. Grain; Materials, production maturation and styles Other whiskeys; Irish, Bourbon, Rye and Canadian Other Spirits:- Vodka, Rum and Tequila WSET Examination for the level 3 Certificate in Wines and Spirits Assessment Unit 1: A 60-question multiple-choice question paper to be answered in 45 minutes and a short answer paper to be completed in 60 minutes. Unit 2: A practical tasting paper in the form of a blind tasting of one wine to be completed in 15 minutes. All papers require a pass mark of 55% and all must be passed to gain the certificate.