Tools you can use
There are no fancy graphics here, only effective study tools I developed to support my students. These tools are helpful for both the theory and practical components at all levels of the WSET Awards in Wines, even for Sommeliers and Masters of Wine Candidates…
Winemaking & Style, a Table on its Causes & Effects…
In a deductive tasting exercise, winemaking techniques can yield helpful, sometimes essential, clues to identify the origin of a wine, even its quality status in the hierarchy of an Appellation.
Here is a helpful table outlining the effects of these techniques on style and quality. To be used alongside the tasting notes, of course…
A most helpful Wine Grape Profile Table - fully revised & updated!
An invaluable tasting assistant... in its 5th edition. It lists the major grape varieties and shows typical structural levels, aromatic categories, ageing potential, and possible aromas. A practical tool for WSET students to memorise and use alongside tastings to help imprint the distinctive character of each grape.
Fortified Wines, A Most Helpful Table..
During our tasting of various sherries last week, it became clear quite quickly that knowledge of other fortified wines would be necessary to identify them promptly in a blind tasting. And so, I created a profile table (here) for fortified wines to help me study.
This table was created with the help of various source. In particular, the official websites of sherry and port. Invaluable was The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia by Tom Stevenson as was The Oxford Companion To Wine by Jancis Robinson.