“Are you going to do the Diploma?” my wine teacher asked me, only minutes after I handed in my Level 3 exam.
“I dunno,” I remember saying. “It’s a lot of time and a lot of money.” Even as I spoke those words, though, there was a quieter voice in my head whispering:
Yeah…probably.
Today, I started on the next phase of my wine education journey. Buh-bye, free time. Hello, flashcards, practice essays, and blind tasting for the next 2-3 years of my life.
The Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 4 Award in Wines, also known as the Diploma, is the top qualification that WSET offers. It’s built on six separate units spanning wine production, wine business, and all the important wine styles of the world. It’s a challenging certification that is held by fewer than 15,000 people worldwide.
To Diploma, or not to Diploma?
It’s a question that crosses the mind of every recent Level 3 graduate.
At Level 3, you’ve invested a not-insignificant amount of time, money, and effort into taking wine exams and tasting systematically. Formal wine study is tough, but it’s addictive–and the temptation gnaws at you to keep trying for the next level.
I’ve weighed the benefits and costs–and there are a lot of costs–quite seriously in the few months since completing Level 3. I’ve polled friends and mentors. Some have told me it’s a wise next step, and some have advised me that the effort and cash could be better spent on other goals.
But in the final analysis, I decided to go for it. I’m now officially registered as a Diploma candidate for the next three years, and I’m planning to sit the first exam (for D1, the viticulture and winemaking unit) this December.
The Diploma decision is personal and different for everyone. This post looks at some reasons why I’ve decided to tackle this fearsome mini-boss of wine certs.
Reason #1: To become a better taster and writer.
Even before the wine bug got its teeth in me, I’ve been enamored with the art and science of tasting. But even more than tasting, I love writing and talking about tasting. Words take fleeting sensations and make them durable and real.
As a taster, I’m starting from a fortunate place. I was born, I think, with a balanced perception of aromas and flavors. (Sensitive enough to detect most things–not sensitive enough to have any strong dislikes.) Ten years of working in kitchens gave me the vocabulary to describe tastes and smells and textures with some precision. Learning the process and language of wine-tasting feels like returning to a familiar place and finding something new there to enjoy.
Wine beginners often describe wines evocatively, but imprecisely. There are a lot of wine words (think “bold” or “smooth”) that mean different things to different people, or which have lost their power through overuse. As a writer, my aim is to chuck those words from my internal dictionary and replace them with ones that carry more meaning.
Education eases that task. One of the best things that WSET does is to teach you to taste deliberately and sequentially, using a standardized set of descriptors. (The Systematic Approach to Tasting, or SAT.) The wine lexicon is incredibly useful for teachers, sommeliers, wine writers–anyone who wants to communicate about wine and have a prayer of being understood. The SAT can’t take all the subjectivity out of tasting wine–nor would we want it to–but it is a really great place to start when looking for consensus around wine style and quality.
Plus, it’s really fun and nerdy! Each level of the SAT introduces a deeper level of analysis and more vocabulary words. At the Diploma level, you’re not only writing detailed tasting notes–you really get into the nitty-gritty of all the natural and human factors that make a certain wine taste the way it does.
Tasting wine is always a great time–but becoming a trained taster amplifies the thrill. You never forget the first time you nail a wine in a blind tasting, or describe an aroma or sensation so specifically that everyone at the table goes, “Yeah! That’s exactly it!”
Or when you drink a special bottle and you really understand what makes it special–finding satisfaction in everything you can perceive within the wine, not just the price and label.
None of this happens automatically, though. Tasting skillfully takes a lot of practice (writing arguably even more so) and I’m hoping my Diploma studies support me in that practice.
Reason #2: To bet on myself.
Let’s get this out of the way first: Nobody needs letters after their name to have a wine career, to be an excellent taster, or to be an effective educator or communicator.
Some of the people that I respect the most in the wine business don’t have any formal qualifications at all. Their experience speaks for itself–and nobody whose opinion matters will look down on someone just because of the lack of a lapel pin.
In other words, I don’t feel like I need the Diploma to be taken seriously. I’ve never in my life chased degrees or titles for their own sake. But this time feels slightly different.
I’m entering the wine world after pursuing a couple of different job paths throughout my 20s and 30s. With that change comes some nagging doubts and fears: Am I just dabbling? Am I good enough? Can I take all that knowledge and enthusiasm and turn it into something useful?
It feels too late for some things, honestly. I have family and financial obligations. Realistically, I’m probably not going to go work in vineyards all summer or get an oenology degree or work nights and weekends as a floor somm in a restaurant.
The DipWSET designation is not a substitute for those years of hands-on learning–but it shows employers and peers that you’re willing to put in a significant amount of work over a sustained period of time.
My journey from “amateur blogger and wine enthusiast” to “actual wine pro” has been a rapid and kind of jarring. Achieving an advanced certification is one way I plan to smooth over that transition.
The Diploma isn’t the ultimate goal–at the end of the day, it is just a piece of paper. But it’s a piece of paper that can remind me how far I’ve come and where I’m going.
Reason #3: To remain part of a learning community.
When I got the email that I had passed my WSET Level 3 exams, I was elated.
But with that rush of excitement came a strange feeling of loss. Many wine students (and wine schools) stop at Level 3. I had barreled through the Level 2 and 3 courses and exams in just under a year, and I wasn’t actually ready for it all to be over.
There were a few weeks where I cherished my freedom, of course. I flipped through books about wine for fun. I read books about things other than wine. I stuffed the study notes in a bin in the closet. I drank whiskey and beer for a change. I poured Prosecco into brunch mimosas without even taking a tasting note on it.
But before too long, I was thinking about the next step. I started looking up WSET providers, researching airfare, and interviewing current Diploma students.
Who willingly signs up for two (or more) years of expensive, sometimes tedious, highly technical wine study? Lots of people, it turns out!
As perverse as it sounds, we all enjoy the study routine and the challenge of having an upcoming exam. I love the friendships I’ve formed and the camaraderie I share with other certification seekers. There’s a lot of independent study required for Level 4, but I truly feel that it’s something I won’t be doing alone.
I’m under no illusion that the next few years will be easy. There will be wines that I misjudge, essay questions that make me pull my hair out, and stacks of flashcards that grow taller every day.
But I also know myself well enough now to recognize a pattern: I like rigorous things when they’re mixed with pleasurable things. I like refining my understanding and my senses. And every time I’ve gone deeper into wine, I’ve found more reasons to keep going.
So when my Level 3 teacher asked me whether I was going to do the Diploma and I shrugged, the honest answer was probably already there. It just took me a few months to say it out loud.
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