CAPE WINE ACADEMY
http://www.capewineacademy.co.za/index.php
Experience: 5/5
Today, my partner and I signed up for our second course with the Cape Wine Academy: the three-day Certificate Wine Course in mid-March. Little did I know what I had started when I picked up a flyer for the Cape Wine Academy in Ultra Liquors in Wynberg. We both share a passion for learning as well as an interest in wine. The courses looked interesting. Indeed, each one has an exam so this is not just a question of turning up for some fun tutoring while tasting some wine. The progressive approach, being only able to join the more advanced courses having completed the beginner ones, appealed to me also.
The introductory course, the South African Wine Course, comprised two lectures, wine-tastings and an exam. We learned the basics of how to compare wine through taste, sight and smell, together with wine origins and viticulture. I can’t remember when last I did an exam and it proved to be quite testing. This was no attendance course and last-minute revision was certainly in order. We both passed with flying colours as ‘A’ Grade students.
I look forward, with much excitement and not a little trepidation (there is a tasting exam too) to the next course, that will broaden my knowledge of the industry, wine-making, sparkling and dessert wines, fortified wines and brandies. This is the programme:
Lecture 1 – Tutored Wine-tasting
Lecture 2 – Viticulture. Seasons of the vine: how to establish a vineyard. Pests and diseases. Wine-tasting and discussion
Lecture 3 – Viticulture. Wine growing areas of South Africa. Wine-tasting and discussion
Lecture 4 – Winemaking: from arrival at cellar till final product. Art of blending, wood treatments, innovations in wine-making. Wine-tasting and discussion
Lecture 5 – Brandy distilling. Process of production. Different styles. Wine-tasting and discussion
Lecture 6 – Fortified Wines. Sherry, Port, Fortified Wines. Special & Noble Late Harvest wines. Definition & different styles. Wine-tasting and discussion
Lecture 7 – Sparkling Wines. Methods of production, different styles. Wine-tasting and discussion
Exams
Two-and-a-half hour Theory exam
One hour Tasting exam
I shall update here on the blog in due course. Meanwhile, I am already looking at the follow-on course – the Diploma Wine Course that is completed between 2 to 4 years. A new passion indeed ….
20 Comments
[…] perhaps having mentioned that we were Cape Wine Academy students, the staffs were more open and attentive. Our host Sebastian, coincidentally another […]
[…] explained we were Academy students and asked if we could taste our wines ‘blind’. I wasn’t sure how this could be […]
[…] 6 wines on offer for R65: two whites and a rosé to start, followed by three reds. I used my usual Cape Wine Academy scoring method – up to 3 points for colour, 7 for nose and 10 for palate – but included […]
[…] explained that we were student wine-tasters with the Cape Wine Academy so wanted to taste the estate wines ‘blind’. It transpired that they sold two wines only so, […]
[…] too was studying wine but with the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) rather than the Cape Wine Academy (CWA). The two organizations similarly study the wines of the world but the WSET is more […]
[…] while she was working. It was an opportunity too to continue my wine studies ahead of the next Cape Wine Academy Course. I could also research and select wines for the March tasting meeting of the Society. The […]
[…] I had booked two events. The first was the Pinotage tasting in the Wine Library. R150 was on the pricy side to taste the 6 wines given sponsorship of the festival. The event was well-attended, if a little rushed, but the wines were the highest quality I tasted at the festival. The highlight was the specialist knowledge given by the speaker from the Pinotage Association about the effect of different types of oak barrel: French, American and Hungarian. This was really useful information for me as I study wine with the Cape Wine Academy. […]
[…] told Zelda that I was studying with the Cape Wine Academy and I had visited the champagne region in Reims and Épernay in France last year. She took me down […]
[…] Wine Folly is most definitely a reference book. A bulky hardback at 230 pages long, it is too large to carry with you as a guide and too factual as a coffee table book to browse or look at pretty photos (it has no photos). This is a book that calls out to be used – and use it I have, both for the Cape Wine Lovers’ Society and for my studies with the Cape Wine Academy. […]
[…] busy time made me appreciate the visit to Ambeloui all the more. I am taking part in the Cape Wine Academy 3-day Certificate Course until mid-Saturday afternoon so I arranged to see Alex and buy some bottles […]
[…] to taste wine and how to record that assessment. I use the standard method as taught to me by the Cape Wine Academy that is easy to use and follow. We tasted the 8 wines in two sessions – whites first and then […]
[…] it happened, the third and last day of the Certificate Wine Course run by the Cape Wine Academy finished at lunchtime. It was apt that the final day of study involved the ‘sparklies’. Indeed, […]
[…] the first lecture and I was wondering what I had let myself into. It was on 21 December 2016 that I applied for the Certificate (3 day) Course. I was still enthusiastic after completing the South African […]
[…] the Vineyard, it was nonetheless a pleasant tasting. I even met some of my fellow students from the Cape Wine Academy Certificate Course from the end of last week […]
[…] in his inimitable, cheeky style to start the third and final day of the Certificate Course at the Cape Wine Academy. Monty turns learning into fun. He had taught me before during the introductory South African Wine […]
[…] Cronje was our Instructor. She taught me for the introductory Cape Wine Academy ‘South African Wine’ Course and so it was good to see her again. More than that, she is one of the very best instructors I have […]
[…] Certificate Wine Course is the second course in a hierarchy that starts with the South African Wine Course (3 hours). It leads on to the Diploma Wine Course (2-4 years) and ultimately to Cape Wine Master. […]
[…] was taught the 20-point scoring system by the Cape Wine Academy and use it during my vineyard tastings. However, this was the first time I had a benchmark against […]
[…] is the nickname for Elizabeth Petersen. The Cape Wine Academy Introduction to South African Wine course was, as for me, the start of her passion in wine some 10 years ago. She is a wine […]
[…] high reputation and little or no reputation. It is why too I score the wines not only using the Cape Wine Academy 20-point scale (3 for Appearance, 7 for Nose, 10 for Palate) but also give a separate rating for […]