The Unscalable Mountain: WSET Diploma D3 Exam

 Hi Everybody,

this is a bit of a self-conscious (and self-pitying) moment. As you know I am enrolled in the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines; when I started I knew it was going to be tough, but boy was I underestimating this!

As you've read in my second post I have already been to Austria for the first part of the Diploma and I have already sat my D1 Exam (for which I still have not recieved my results...).
Right now I am preparing for the D3 Exam -Still Wines of the World that I will sit the 26th and 27th of October, I know it sounds like a long way to go but trust me, the sheer quantity of knowledge you have to memorize is disheartening.

Let me walk you through the exam, the first daythere is going to be a  written theory exam divided into two parts: one 2 hours paper and then another 80 minutes paper. The written exam is open questions, no multiple choice, and you get to choose the questions from a list - so there is a bit of wiggle room but you really need to know your wine facts and geography for this.
The questions can be very narrow-scoped e.g. "The sweet wines produced in Jurancon and Bordeaux differ in style. Explain how the differences in the vineyard and in the winemaking process influence the style of the final wine" in this case you must know thouroughly both regions and winemaking techniques otherways you are better off choosing another question; they can also be much wider in scope e.g. "Explain the advantages and disadvantages that Greek wines face in export markets" this question is extremely broad and knowning about Greece's wine will not be enough, in depth knowledge of wine marketing and commercial insights of Greece, global market trends and consumer appeal is needed.

The day after the written exam comes the blind tastings of 12 wines, the exam is structured in 2 1,5 hours parts; each part consists of two flights of 3 wines each. WSET is kind enough to give you "hints" for the first three flights of wines:

- the first 3 wines are made from the same grape variety

- the second 3 wines come from the same country of origin

- the third 3 wines come from the same region and have to be assessed in terms of quality, usually the wines come from across the price range, from simple, inexpensive wines to premium examples of that region (e.g a flight could be like the following: a cheap 5£ bottle of Bordeaux AOC, a mid-priced bottle of Saint-Emilion AOC and a premium priced bottle of Pomerol AOC

- the fourth and last flight is a "mixed bag" - 3 random wines from somewhere in the winemaking world

After writing down the SAT tasting note for the wines you have to guess the grape variety and pinpoint the region from where the wine comes from. Of course you can guess and get lucky, but WSET will also ask the reasoning behind your choice; so if you guessed correctly but don't know how to back up your statement you will score just a few points (between 3 and 5 out of 100). So knowing your wines is extremely important.

To help my self I have prepared a table with all the information on the grape varities that are mentioned on the D3 book (some will be blank because of missing information) and I am also preparing an excel file with all the wine profiles from all the D3 GIs with tasting profile, permitted grape varieties and maximum permitted yields - you can download them here:

- grape characteristics (will be updated during my revision)

- wine numbers+profile  (work in progress) 

So now that I have explained what masochistic endeavour I have signed up for you can understand why I am getting shaky knees and feeling insecure. I've been studying since I came back from Austria in May and I am not feeling confident at all with the amount of knowledge I am retainaing. The sheer quantity of data, numbers, names, rules and more that you have to memorize is humongous and with work, the heat and overall stress I am not perfoming well in my studies.

Moreover I haven't started properly tasting yet, I have been to a few tastings (e.g. VinoVip in Cortina) and to some wine bars with a few wine afficionados but the big problem is that here in Italy usually there are only italian wines and sometimes French, German or Spanish wines.
Its hard to get your hands on many different "New World" wines (Australia, South Africa, USA, South America) so it is very difficult to train and then hopefully recognize that style of wine during the tasting exam.
Next week I am heading to a failry big wine distributor in my area with an open mind about New World wines (once I was told by a distributor that New World wines are not good - he used much worse words - and that he does not and will never keep them in stock) hoping to find something for my training!

I guess i am just venting and I am a bit frustrated because I never really liked studying for long periods of time...

Thanks for listening to my ranting!

Bye,

Dino

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introductions

Image
Hello everyone, My name is Dino Gastaldello I’m 27 years old and I live in a small Italian town in Northern Italy, Bassano del Grappa. I am an AIS Sommelier and currently undertaking the WSET Diploma in Rust, Austria. I’m a big wine nerd, always have been, and probably always will be.   Me in September 2020 when I officialy became an AIS Sommelier In 2018 I decided that I needed to go more in depth into my passion so I undertook the Italian Sommelier Association certification, which is structured in three levels. The first level was focused on viticulture, winemaking and wine laws; the second level was all about vine ampelography and  GIs from all over the world, with the main focus on Italy (of course) and then mostly France, Spain and Germany. The third level is all about wine and food pairings, which was very technical; AIS has a scheme for pairing food and wines based on acidity, tannins, fat, sapidity, bitterness and other componets. Extremely interesting and honestly fairly hard!
Read more

Wine of the Week: Chateau Simone Palette Blanc AOC

Image
 Hello everybody! Wine of the Week #2 is Chateau Simone's Palette Blanc AOC. This wine is a Southern France white blend of Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Bourbolenc, Ugni Blanc and Muscat Blanc. I have to thank my dear friend Simone, head waiter and sommelier of Room Food&Drink in Bassano, for introducing me to this lovely gem! The wine is spontaneously fermented after a light pressing. It then ages for 6 months on the fine lees and then another 12 months in small oak barrels. Once poured the wine shows itself with a golden colour and feels heavy. The aromas start off with flint, smoke, toast, vannilla, cloves, quince and hawthorn flowers. The bouquet is surrounded by straw and grass, it really reminds me of a summer afternoon in a farm house. The acidity is medium+, enough to balance the full, powerful oaky body. The saline finish complements perfectly the buttery mouthfeel. Overall a high quality wine that will show its full potential with another 3 to 5 years of bottle ageing. G
Read more

Wine of the Week: Domaine Gadais Le Pélerin Muscadet AOC

Image
 Hello everyone! This week's wine of the week is Domaine Gadais' 2020 Le Pélerin Muscadet. Muscadet is an appelation in the Loire Valley, France, around the city of Nantes; facing the Ocean. The wines from this AOC are fresh, acidic, sometimes simple wines, based on the Melon Blanc grape variety (known also as Melon de Bourgogne). This wine is a perfect example of a Muscadet. The bouquet is dominated by green apple and lemon peel with some hints of flint, a fairly simple aroma profile.  it is very refreshing with a saline finish. Ane asy going, refreshing wine, perfect to be enjoyed on a summer day with some fish based dishes. Very cheap, sitting at 8,50 a bottle! Reccomended as a cheap and cheerful glass.
Read more