Price: $ 395.00
A proprietary, innovative and ground-breaking course, the 2-day 'MASTER OF TERROIR ®' course specifically focuses on TERROIR and everything that affects it. Taught by Gold-Pin NASA Sommeliers and professional Geologists, CLIMATOLOGY/METEOROLOGY, TRADITION, GEOLOGY and ADVANCED WINE TASTING combine into a thrilling course that covers how the entire environment affects what we drink all over the globe...and how we can recognize it in wine. Following an examination, students who pass will achieve the 'Master Of Terroir' certification issued by NASA, member of the WSA (Worldwide Sommelier Association).
Terroir = (French pronunciation: [tɛʁwaʁ] from terre, "land") is the set of special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place, interacting with the plant's genetics, express in agricultural products such as wine.
DAY 1 (6.5hrs):
1.Introduction to NASA Wine Tasting
2.Notion of Terroir
3.The building blocks of wine
3a. Climate (Introduction to 3 different types of Climate ( Macroclimate, mesoclimate, microclimate)
3b. Relation between climate, and flavor profiles (includes tasting, Vintage variations & Vintage charts)
3c. Photosynthesis in vines and factors that influence it (Latitude, Altitude, Inclination, Exposure, Winds, Water, Vegetation, Valleys and mountain ranges, Precipitations (includes tasting))
4.The Human factor (Agronomy)
4a. Vineyard density, Yield
4b. Organic / Sustainable / Biodynamic Viticulture / Irrigation
4c. Aerial mapping of vegetative vigor
4d. Manual / Mechanical harvest
4e. Wine Tasting
DAY 2 (6.5 hrs):
1.Geology,rocks, soil, geomorphology and their effects on wine character
1a. Introduction to Geology
1b. Origin of the rocks and their classification, soil creation
1c. Igneous rocks (granite,lava, porphyry, etc.)
1d. Metamorphic rocks (slate, marble, etc.)
1e. Sedimentary rocks (marl, limestone, sand, clay, etc.)
1f. Main minerals and chemistry of the three Rock groups and their soils.
2.Wine tasting per soil-type
3.Not only Soil: unique geological history and geomorphology, unique wines
3a. Geological time and Earth deformation, their influence on wine
3b. Soil key factors (porosity, permeability, surrounding geomorphology)
4.Examples of wines from different soils and geological frames (6 wines: 2 per rock family)
5.What have we learned to improve our wine selection skills?
DAY 3 / EXAM (2 hrs):
Written exam plus 2 written wine tastings
LOCATIONS:
LOS ANGELES
WHEN: TBA
WHERE: TBA
EXAM: ONLINE (APR 15th - 10:00am PST / 1.5 hours)
SAN FRANCISCO
PRESS CLUB, 20 Yerba Buena Ln San Francisco, CA 94103
* no editions currently scheduled