Chris Herbert was among Diploma students asked a five-part question about ‘Commandaria’ in his exam. Neither he nor any of his fellow examinees had ever heard of it, and neither had anyone in our office either, so we thought we would try it out on Jancis…
Chris reports:- “After tasting through our 2008 Burgundys, Jancis Robinson was put to the test with a blind tasting.
The test was to name to a wine that was brought up in my WSET Diploma exam a few months earlier. After writing a rather dismal essay on a wine I really knew nothing about, the word ‘Commandaria’ became something of a joke in the office (although may I add that no one else seemed to show any knowledge of this matter – and it was not available in the UK as far as we coud see).
Sebastien managed to source a bottle of Commandaria from his in-laws who were holidaying in Cyprus. There were bets in the office as to whether Jancis would be able to name this most unusual sweet wine.
Patrick Sandeman handed her a glass of this port like wine. After a few seconds of pondering, wondering if it might come from southern Spain Jancis declared “…could this be something like Commandaria?” We were in utter awe. I would hazard a guess that there are only a handful of people in the country that could blind taste as well as her.”
For information on Commandaria see https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a200808089.html