This week we took our Fundamentals of Wine I test. As I prepared for it, I was a little surprised by the amount of content. Our book is 128 pages, which doesn’t seem like a lot. And it’s not physics or calculus where the concepts are difficult to understand. The focus of Fundamentals I is grapes, and we covered 18 of them. What surprised me was how much rote memorization was required. We only need a 60% to advance to Fundamentals II, but I made the decision that I really do need to go ahead and master the material if I’m serious about my goal to become a “wine expert”.
The test was sixty multiple choice questions, followed by a blind tasting of one wine. The tasting was for bonus points only. Our instructor made sure that we were well prepared for the exam. We had a helpful review session. After it was over, I knew that I had done very well, but that I had probably missed a question or two. Our instructor told us which wine we had tasted for the bonus and I felt proud that even though it was an easy one, that I’ve learned some things and got it right. Everyone in our class passed. Let the Fundamentals II party begin!
Pam Barksdale 
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