Tam met New Zealander Kirsten Creasy (right) in the Languedoc in May and suggested that she would make an ideal guide to wine faults for us wine lovers. With combined roles of wine lecturer, consultant winemaker and wine analyst (Lincoln University, Hill Laboratories), Kirsten was well known throughout the New Zealand wine industry for her informative lectures bridging the worlds of practical winemaking and academic research and has conducted numerous sessions on wine faults.
She and her husband Glen (a contributor to the Oxford Companion to Wine) have recently moved to the Languedoc to make wine and she has offered to conduct one evening and one day-long workshop on the causes, identification and analysis of common wine faults at the Institute of Masters of Wine’s London headquarters in mid November (see dates and times below).
When we mentioned this possibility on the Members' forum, the response was most enthusiastic, so let's hope it continues to be. The evening session will be a tutored tasting designed to offer an introduction to the most common faults (VA, mousiness, brettanomyces and TCA), with tasting samples of each. We'll finish with a glass of something we actually want to drink.
The all-day workshop is specially designed to illustrate varying levels of VA, mousiness, brettanomyces, TCA, and sulphites good and bad, all presented in more detail than at the evening session.
By preparing samples with different levels of these compounds, Kirsten will be giving attendees the chance to gauge their individual sensitivities.
Both sessions will be held at the headquarters of the Institute of Masters of Wine on the south bank of the Thames at Nine Elms. The address is below.
The sample wines, carefully chosen by Kirsten, are kindly being provided by Marks & Spencer, whose in-house Master of Wine Emma Dawson MW is a great supporter of wine education.
Evening faults tasting Tuesday 13 November 6.30–9 pm
To be held at the headquarters of the Institute of Masters of Wine, 6 Riverlight Quay, Kirtling Street, London SW11 8EA
Buy tickets here, price £50.
All-day faults workshop Wednesday 14 November 10 am – 5.30 pm
To be held at the headquarters of the Institute of Masters of Wine, 6 Riverlight Quay, Kirtling Street, London SW11 8EA
Buy tickets here, price £70.
As you will see from the article about our first Languedoc Night, we will be holding this walk-round tasting in our usual self-pour format at Caravan, King's Cross, London, on Sunday 18 November. Tickets are £75. We are offering special discounts to those who wish to book both the Languedoc Night and the evening faults tasting, as below. (Tickets for the all-day workshop are already at a knock-down price.)
Combined Languedoc Night and evening faults tasting
Buy tickets here, price £110.
Tickets are non-refundable but if you find you cannot use them and we have a waiting list, Richard (richard@jancisrobinson.com) will try to put you in touch with someone who will take them off your hands.