Final Exam at The 2009 Wine School of Southern Italy

While everyone is welcome to attend our wine course, we’ve designed our diploma with one simple phrase in mind: if the course is not rigorous, it simply doesn’t mean anything. In order to graduate from The Wine School of Southern Italy students need pass a two-part exam, taken in front of the faculty, as well as a group of recently-passed student peers.

Part one is wine identification: the student’s ability to distinguish 15 unlabeled wines (5 whites, 10 reds) from the South of Italy by only colour, smell and taste. Further, students need list a few qualities and characteristics (‘buzz words’) for each wine, discussing food pairings as well.
(Ex. ‘Dried fruits, cinnamon and cloves, goes great with game and heartier red meats’, would more than acceptable and would result in 100% for that question)

Part two is a final discussion with faculty and student peers. Here are several examples of questions that will certainly come up.

1) Discuss chapelitazation and how has it influenced Italian wine in general.
2) Describe how yeast, alcohol and sugar interact in the science of wine making.
3) Discuss the differences in white and red production. Which tends to be more difficult? Why?
4) Discuss the history of the south of Italy, oenologically. Express three opinions.
5) Is the South producing more ‘New world’ or ‘Old world’ styled wines? Defend your answer.

Re-enforcing:
From Wednesday on, we offer a tasting table where students can rate themselves in their wine identification skills. These are the same wines as on the final. Further, the faculty, staff and guest instructors are present constantly, giving you the ability to discuss wine at length throughout the day and night. (As we cook and eat together all week, with two hours a day allotted to meal production, and another four for dinning, experts are always on hand to answer questions).

Retakes will be offered on Saturday morning. Those that fail to pass will be given a certificate of attendance rather than the diploma.

Notes:
There is no need to be on the diploma-track in order to attend and enjoy our wine course (although we do ask everyone to respect the earnestness of those taking the final exams, observing quiet time during study hours, etc). Further, we’ve worked hard to develop a program that anyone can pass coming to Italy with no prior knowledge of Southern Italian wine, or perhaps even wine in general (though it’s rare, as curiosity-towards-learning usually sleeps with interest.)

Lode:
We do have an ‘honours’ program that is better spelled out during the course of the week, but those that successfully pass the exam with lode, or honours, will be invited back to attend any future course as a student facilitator, free of charge.

Typical Wine Week

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