Cramming for FWS final

This Sunday I see the culmination of months of effort in my French Wine Scholar class with our final exam. We started in October but with school breaks and Snowmaggedon 2014 the 12 week course has lasted a lot longer than expected. The final is a 100 question exam concerning any aspect of French oenology, viticulture and wine law.  Up until a couple weeks ago I thought I was doing pretty well with the learning but the closer I get to the test the more daunting it seems.  The class has been a total blast and I have experienced truly beautiful wines from every region (some much better than others)  but the sheer magnitude of information is unbelievable.

For those that don't know France has the most complicated wine quality laws in the world not only do they dictate on the national level, each individual region has completely different laws.  The levels of quality, allowed varietals, and terminology are all different in a confusingly similar way such as Bordeaux's "Cru" system rating chateaus instead of the wine itself as in Bourgogne.  These differences are all based on France's strict adherence to specific terriors and traditional oenology which is why to even begin to understand the laws one must know each regions respective history and geology. At first glance this complicated system seems completely incomprehensible but it has a very important function and is the main reason why France is the worlds best wine producer.