Nervous about your WSET Diploma D3 tasting exam? Yeah, me too. Kind of. The best advice I can give is to remember that the tasting portion of the exam is exactly like the theory part of the exam—but instead of written prompts, they’re presenting you with wines.

If you’ve made it to the Diploma level of the WSET, that means you have a pretty strong palate and have practiced writing tasting notes utilizing the SAT grid already. So trust yourself, trust your notes, and use what you see, smell, taste, and have written down to answer the proposed question(s).

Easier said than done. But let’s put this into practice using one of the very first regions you study in D3—Burgundy. You don’t have to taste along—instead, I encourage you to write a few dry tasting notes (following the grid and SAT format) for the wines listed. Then, take a look at the theory questions I’ve created and see if you can answer those based on both your knowledge of the region(s) and using your tasting notes as evidence to back up your answer.

At the very end, I’ve listed my tasting notes and conclusions about the wines (which I did, indeed, taste). And if you feel so inclined, post a few bullet points about how you’d answer these theory questions. The more we interact the more we remember.

Have fun!

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