Gooseberries and goosebumps were the theme of the day as we tasted some New Zealand wines…and the reality of the impending exam began to set in. It’s Halloween week and my bones are chilled! I don’t remember ever being this frightened by a test in high school, college, or after.
That’s probably because, compared to the WSET Level 3 Award in Wines, all those tests were pretty easy.
In most of my academic life, I could prioritize what to study and fudge a little on an essay question if I under-prepared. For the Level 3 exam, on the other hand, you have to study everything and there’s not too many instances where fudging will help you.
Teaching Level 3, I imagine, means striking a balance. A balance between encouraging and supporting your students–some of whom are fairly new to wine study–and impressing upon them that this is a challenging course that requires their full commitment.
I’m at Blind Bishop in Dallas, a wine bar owned by Master of Wine Dilek Caner. It’s now the third weekend of classes with only one more weekend to go. There’s six of us candidates in the room today, our desks covered with notebooks and maps. Two of us have our exams scheduled right after class wraps up at the end of the month.
Each weekend as the Level 3 candidates take our seats, our instructors prod us gently about our exam preparation. Flashcards? Good. Practice questions? Good. Have you memorized that tasting grid yet? Are you studying outside of class? As of right now, are you confident that you’ll pass?
On Saturday afternoon, Dilek hands each student a four-part sample essay exam to practice with on our own time. I work through the essay exam at home between the Saturday and Sunday classes.
On test day, we’ll have two hours to finish the written papers plus a 50-question multiple-choice exam. I time myself, aiming to finish the written portion in under 90 minutes.
I’ve decided I can definitely complete the multiple-choice questions in 30 minutes…probably in less than 15. As it turns out, I may need to. I’d like to carve out another 15 minutes to review my essay answers. Compared to the average person, I’m fast and tidy at writing by hand, and I’m surprised to find that I still use up the entire 90-minute time block with less than a minute to spare.
I’ll come right out and say it: It’s a hard test. Anyone who has taken it and says it’s not hard is either a wine genius, or they’re humble-bragging, or both.
Some of the essay questions are obvious, but some are obscure and hyper-regional. Hunter Valley Semillon rears its head, of course. (C’mon, WSET people…who actually drinks those?) Describe how you would open and decant a Vintage Port. How does the climate of Alsace contribute to the style of Vendanges Tardives?
Also, it takes longer than you think to write everything down in an orderly way. I had planned to outline my answers on a separate page on the actual exam, but now I’m not sure I’ll have time. Somewhat shaken, I hit the books again to review a couple of the thornier passages: Semi-carbonic maceration and Rutherglen Muscat.
WSET Level 3 Tasting Exam: The Dress Rehearsal
Besides the essay questions, the other thing that keeps WSET students up at night is blind tasting. On Sunday morning, we’re scheduled to take a mock tasting exam at our desks. It’s the same format we’ll see on exam day: Two wines, 30 minutes, write a complete and correct WSET tasting note without any reference materials.
I do know the grid, but I’m still nervous. Although I’ve been mucking around with blind tasting for several months now, this will be my first stab at doing it in written form, in a controlled environment.
But first, a few more wines of the world. In previous classes, we’ve hopped all over France, Spain, and Italy. This weekend, we turn our attention to Australia/New Zealand and North America. The PowerPoint slides flicker by, and we go bounding between Pacific islands, up to Niagara, down to the African Cape, across to the Sonoma Coast.
At one point, Dilek pauses the lecture to walk around the room with a small package of yellow gooseberries, placing two precious fruits on each desk with a pair of tongs. She explains that “gooseberry” is a common tasting note for Sauvignon Blanc, but that many people have never actually tasted one for reference.
I love this! “Gooseberry” is such a British, WSET-y thing. In the United States the fruit is greenhouse-grown, expensive, and rare. I’ve only had them fresh when I was a chef a decade ago–and since then only as green gooseberry jam, from a jar.
Removed from their husks, the gooseberries are sticky and smelly and the size of small grapes. I nibble them slowly, tasting around their grainy seeds to try and cement the flavor in my mind for another ten years: Intensely sweet and tart, tropical like a mango, tangy and vegetal like a tomatillo. But if someone asks me, I’ll probably be a smartass and say that gooseberries taste just like Sauvignon Blanc.
Sunday’s mock tasting exam is undoubtedly the most nerve-racking part of my Level 3 class so far. We’ve been told to just do our best. Don’t leave anything unanswered. Focus on completeness more than accuracy.
As a wine writer, I’m used to the feeling of grasping to (imperfectly) put words to wine. I do it all the time.
Still, I really didn’t anticipate how intimidating this moment would be, looking at an empty page with a red and a white wine in front of me. No context, no discussion–just two wines and a pen. Do your best with your tasting notes, then hand them to an MW to grade. Yeah, I got this!
I take the full 15 minutes for each wine. Each time, at least four or five minutes is spent just staring at the wine or the paper, frozen. This is exactly why we’re all practicing before test day.
Wine #1 is pale lemon. Or is it medium? Oh no. This is not a good way to start. I leave it blank, for now.
I smell the wine and I only come up with obvious aromas. Apple, pear, blossom, lemon. (Great–it’s a white wine, for sure. Nailed it!)
I need more descriptors, five to seven at least. I round out the floral cluster, adding acacia (like blossom, but more specific) and elderflower (an aroma very close to pear, for me). It warms up a bit and I get some nectarine, so I write that, too.
The acidity is high. Or is it just because it’s the first wine of the day? No, I think it’s actually high. There’s a little bit of body, too. Medium-minus. Could this be Chardonnay–cool climate, picked early, delicately handled? Chablis? A restrained Cali knock-off?
It’s a young and agreeable wine, but it’s not telling me much else. Maybe it’s simple? (Or maybe I’m simple.) I keep swirling and squinting. It doesn’t help. Now I’m stuck and I have to move on.
Wine #2 is an ample, meaty (blended?) red. At Level 3 we aren’t supposed to try and figure out what the wine is. Or do anything besides making a systematic, detailed observation of what’s inside the glass.
But right away I am, like, 80% sure that Wine #2 is a mature Côtes du Rhône–its beefiness, peppery spice, and high alcohol giving that much away.
I allow that first glimmer of certainty to drive my aroma/flavor notes. I find a lot of primary, secondary, and tertiary descriptors for the red, filling up the “Palate” box with a list of fruits and spices.
Then I get to quality and age-worthiness and freeze up again. It’s very good quality at least, but is it outstanding? Could it be from a Rhône cru? If so, it’d be hard to argue that it isn’t outstanding. It’s obviously been bottle-aged for several years–but could it go for longer? Back to guessing.
I tally up my possible points, and realize I didn’t write any secondary aromas for the white wine. Are there any? I go back to Wine #1 for another sniff. It’s still really primary, but there’s a smoothness there I didn’t notice before. Touch of oak? I can’t honestly tell. I panic and scrawl out “vanilla” before handing in my paper.
Dilek marks the tasting papers in her office. I’m terrified that I messed up. But as it turns out, the answer key is fair and the assessment is kind. She hands my paper back, only calling out my most glaring error of scratching out a right answer and turning it into a wrong one.
Still, my heart sinks into my belly as I look at those two pages. All in all, the mistakes cost me 10 points out of a possible 41.
I missed a point for color and a point for color intensity. Appearance points are gimmes, I’ve gotta do better there. I called Wine #1 simple, totally missing the lees aromas. Under-rated the quality and finish, too.
It was a 2022 Albariño Lías. Oof. Not the first time I’ve mistaken one of those suckers for a high-acid Chard in a blind.
The Côtes du Rhône was a 2019…not as developed as I thought it was. I wrote “high” for tannins. Why did I put “high,” if I thought it was Grenache-based? I already don’t remember! And so on with a whole long list of blunders.
Trying not to be mad at myself, I pull out the calculator. A Pass with Distinction grade on the tasting paper requires 80% correct responses, or 33 points out of 41. My 31 points are more than enough for a Pass with Merit, if I can repeat the score on exam day.
But it still feels disappointing. I don’t know why I thought it was a realistic goal to sit down and write a Distinction-level exam tasting note on my first try…but I wanted to be able to. I feel a wave of frustration wash over me, and I almost want to cry.
There’s no time to dwell, though, because the next flight of wines is being poured for discussion in class. I pick up the first glass and breathe in grapefruit, Key lime zest, passion fruit, guava, green bell pepper–and yes, gooseberry.
Oh, thank God. I needed precisely this wine right now, for a confidence boost. My neighbor calls New Zealand, South Island, Marlborough, Awatere Valley. I concur but call Wairau Valley, citing the juicy tropical notes.
Our instructor, sitting across the room, checks his notes. It’s a blend of both sub-regions! I grin at my neighbor. We high-five. “Can I have this wine on my exam?” I ask, and a few people laugh.
Just over a week to go! I’ve been living and breathing wine for several months–and while I don’t think finishing the Level 3 exam will dampen my enthusiasm, I can’t wait to turn in that paper and drink something different…like a beer. 🍺
I’ve been writing about my WSET Level 3 journey (in sometimes exhausting detail) for the blog. If you’re considering having a go at the certification, my hope is that you might find these posts useful. Here’s Week One and Week Two of Level 3.
I also previously wrote about my Level 2 experience! You can view all WSET-related posts here.
Wines tasted:
CUNE Rioja Gran Reserva (2017) – Spain
Emilio Moro Ribera del Duero (2020) – Spain
Vietti “Castiglione” Barolo (2019) – Piedmont, Italy
Jermann Pinot Grigio (2024) – Friuli, Italy
Pieropan Soave (2023) – Veneto, Italy
Allegrini Valpolicella (2023) – Veneto, Italy
Prà “Morandina” Amarone della Valpolicella (2016) – Veneto, Italy
Querceto Chianti (2022) – Tuscany, Italy
Cortonesi “La Manella” Brunello di Montalcino (2017) – Tuscany, Italy
Caruso & Minini “Vuala” Nero d’Avola – Sicily, Italy
Urlar Gladstone Pinot Noir (2022) – Wairarapa, New Zealand
Cristom “Mt. Jefferson Cuvée” Pinot Noir (2022) – Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Frog’s Leap Merlot (2022) – Rutherford, Napa Valley, California
Maxwell “Silver Hammer” Shiraz (2021) – McLaren Vale, Australia
Black Cottage Sauvignon Blanc (2024) – Marlborough, New Zealand
Beaumont Family Wines Chenin Blanc (2023) – Cape South Coast, South Africa
Pewsey Vale Dry Riesling (2022) – Eden Valley, Australia
Patz and Hall Chardonnay (2021) – Sonoma Coast, California
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
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