Dude's been dabbling in the art of interpreting website traffic results, and noticed in the process that lots of folks are finding the 1WineDude blog while searching for advice on the CSW (Certified Specialist of Wine) exam.
Well, Dude has passed this exam and he is here to help!
I've written before on this topic, offering CSW exam advice based on how I nearly totally screwed myself on the exam due to my poor prep. work. So I thought I'd offer some advice about the exam itself (without giving you any actual questions, of course... shame on you for thinking that!). I'm assuming that most of you out there contemplating the CSW are already wine lovers, or industry types who have opportunity to taste wine, and so you're probably already cool with wine varietal taste profiles and the like. That's good - because the exam will test you on your knowledge of those elements. But what else do you need to be an 'A' student? Cue the Sam Cooke tunes...
Don't Know Much About History...
There's a surprising amount of wine history that is fair game for inclusion on the exam. Unfortunately, this means that you will need to know some fairly obscure facts about wine-related names and dates. Concentrate on the people who were the "founding fathers" of modern wine cultivation and/or wine production in today's major wine-producing areas (South Africa, California, etc.). Look at it this way: if nothing else, it's an opportunity to impress party-goers at your next wine gathering, or get a leg up in a wine trivia drinking game.
Don't Know Much About Geography...
You will need to be very comfortable with geography in order to do well on the exam. And because the Society of Wine Educators (SWE, who administer the exam) are based in the U.S., the CSW seemed to me to favor California geography questions over "Old World" (France, Germany, Italy) geography questions. You will need to know your CA wine geography. Having said that, remember that obscure the "Old World" geography questions are fair game, and other questions about varietals, styles, etc., are sometimes phrased in terms of geography (e.g., "a famous wine from the southern area of country X is...").
...don't ignore
the History, Geography and Chemistry of wine
for the CSW exam...
The most surprising aspect of the CSW exam, at least for me, was the healthy concentration of wine chemistry questions. Dude didn't much care for Chemistry class when he was in high school, but he found the chemistry material in the on-line SWE Wine Academy to be fascinating. Good thing, too, because there will almost certainly be wine chemistry questions waiting for you on exam day (as there were for me). Some areas where it may help to concentrate your study time: Bacteria and wine faults, chemical composition of wine (both in the raw materials like grapes & skins, and in the finished product), and the uses of chemicals like sulfites in viniculture.
I hope this was a useful list for all of you CSW hopefuls out there. You can always contact the Dude if you're looking for more advice. Good luck - and don't forget your #2 pencils.
Cheers!
How to Pass the CSW Exam: More Advice from the 1WineDude
CSW Exam Don'ts
Happy New Year and greetings from my "snowbird" vacation to southern FL!
I was recently contacted by Kathleen Lisson, a fellow Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) and Wine Century Club member. Kathleen has started a blog post about tips and approaches for studying for the challenging CSW exam, and asked me to participate by adding my studying tips.
I've written about the CSW and other wine certifications before, but had not really detailed my CSW experience. I nearly botched the approach to the CSW exam completely, so I thought I'd write a post in response to Kathleen's request, so that any readers out there who are contemplating sitting the CSW exam have an idea of what not to do to pass it...
First, a bit of background: I put off the CSW exam for nearly a year. I had intended to sit the exam in Philadelphia in April, and life "got in the way" as they say. Because the Society of Wine Educators (who oversee the exam and certification) administer the exams throughout the U.S., I needed to wait until they sat another CSW exam close to home. That meant waiting until October to take the exam in D.C.
I never ordered the CSW study materials from the SWE. October was fast approaching, and I'd not studied consistently since April. I was definately setting the stage for being totally screwed on this exam.
At the 11th hour, I got a bit smarter about my approach: as a paid member in good standing of the SWE, I had access to their on-line wine academy, which has excellent information and practice exams for the CSW. I crammed, hitting the on-line wine academy hard, taking every pre- and post-test and the CSW practice exam. I took notes along the way and highlighted the areas that gave me trouble during the practice tests, and revisited those to make sure I was more comfortable with that material prior to the exam.
I had one other decent idea before the big exam day arrived: the weather forecast for D.C. was excellent, so I treated my wife to a stay in D.C. (using hotel points). We had dinner at the same restaurant where the CSW (and the more difficult Certified Wine Educator exam) was being held the next day, so I could get familiar with the exam area. So we were able to take a potentially stressful situation and have some fun with it, which dialed down the stress considerably for me.
Come exam day, I felt great, well-fed, and well-rested (being able to sleep just a block or two away at a nice hotel). Unfortunately, the exam started late due to a fire at the SWE building location, but thanks to my low stress level that didn't phase me too much. When I received my exam results a few weeks later, I was flabbergasted - I did not just pass, but did really well.
I suppose the moral of this story is, if you're going to sit the CSW:
Cheers!
Wheel of Misfortune OR "Screw it & pass the Bubbly!"
I've posted previously about my take on the "main" (aka internationally-recognized) streams of wine certification. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to take one of the certification exams, you should check out the World Wine Challenge game that I stumbled upon recently.
How did I do? Not as well as I should have considering how recently I passed the WSET Advanced and CSW exams. So... I said screw it and decided to drink some wine instead (back to the old-fashioned wine study method!).
For those times that you say "Screw it! Let's have a drink..." this holiday season, I advise you not to forget the Bubbly (aka sparkling wine). Here in the Northeast, when the weather gets cooler we start to gravitate towards the heavy, alcoholic, and very red wine styles to give our insides that warm-and-fuzzy feeling. So we tend to forget how awesome it is having a bottle of bubbly around for the holidays.
My buddy Jason has recently penned a list of his holiday fizz favorites for Main Line magazine. A snippet from his picks are below (click to enlarge). If you're in the mood to splurge, I highly suggest "La Grande Dame" (if you're also in the Philly area, I also highly suggest that you e-mail me when you open it!).
Cheers!
3 Paths to Wine Geekdom OR "Hey - you like one of them thar some-yeahs?"
Whenever someone asks me what I've been up to in my "wine life," and I tell them that I've recently sat an exam of some sort, I invariably get asked the same question:
"So... uhm.. what does that do for you exactly? Are you, like, a sommelier now?"Now, it wasn't all that long ago that I knew nothing about wine, or the various credential-chasing that would effectively allow me to take something I would come to love (drinking and sharing wine) and piss all over it by making it difficult and shoring up my free time with studying weighty tomes of wine knowledge. So I understand why people ask me that. The answer is even more complicated and usually boils down to this:
"Well... sort of..."
So, I thought that I'd try to take a few minutes to explain the wacky world of wine education in layman's terms - a quick reference that I'd wished that I'd had when I was starting to "take this wine thing more seriously."
Fortunately for me, the fabulous folks at i-WineReview.com have already done this for me, and they have a great page on their site that lays it all out in some detail. So, can you go to this page and have it all figured out?
Well... sort of...
In the world of wine, there are (more-or-less) 3 main educational/certification paths that you can take which are internationally recognized:
- Masters of Wine - This is the granddaddy qualification for wine peeps, and exists to recognize the best of the best in the art, science, and business of wine. Which means that theoretically anyone can achieve it, but in reality it's insanely tough and there are fewer than 25 members from the U.S. Achieving the MW credential is a bit like a PhD on steriods.
The MW recommends, as a prerequisite for entry, the Level 4 Diploma in Wine & Spirits from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET). This is a bit like the Masters degree of the wine world, with 4 levels of certification covering a one-day foundation certification in wine / spirits concepts, all the way through a multi-year Diploma program. Each step gets significantly more difficult in the academic portion (multiple-guess and essay exams) and adds more difficult wine identification tastings. This is where I started (I've got Level 2 and Level 3 certifications, Level 3 being the first one to test you on tasting identification). WSET classes and exams can only be offered by affiliated organizations (e.g., PhillyWine.com in Philadelphia).
This path (WSET through MW) focuses on the entire world of wine & spirits, how they are made, with emphasis on tasting profiles typical for these beverages in the regions where they are made. - The Court of Master Sommeliers - This is the granddaddy qualification of wine service. It focuses on the best-of-the-best in wine service and industry matters, and those that sit the final diploma exam also must pass a brutal (and fairly rapid) tasting. I know someone who is sitting this tasting by invitation, and she has been studying her a__ off for a month, mostly through 'blind' tastings (you identify the wine - type, age, and region - by tasting, without knowing anything about it until it's poured into your glass).
- Society of Wine Educators - This group exists to promote standards of qualification in the education of wine. Their focus is on deep understanding of wine taste, identifying wine faults, and having detailed knowledge of the geography, science, and history of wine. Members (of which I am one) and non-members can sit two levels of exams to achieve qualifications that are meant to prove that you know what you're talking about when you speak or teach on the subject of wine:
Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) - This exam is a bit like the Boards of wine: 100 questions (a bit more difficult than those of the WSET Advanced exam), 1 hour, 75% needed to pass.
Certified Wine Educator (CWE) - More difficult exam, plus two tastings to identify similar wines from different world regions and wine faults, respectively. I have met people that have failed these tastings multiple times - it's brutal.
Well... sort of...
If you want to learn a bit more about wine, by all means seek out a local program near you and have fun. If that program asks for lots of your hard-earned dollars (I'm talking $1000s here) to give you what they tell you is a "professional" certification that rivals the three I have outlined above, then ***walk away as fast as you can***. And keep your hand firmly on your wallet and/or purse while you exit.
Cheers!
Toast This!
