HOST_A: Okay so I want to start with a confession. The first time I sat in a WSET Level 2 tasting class, I sniffed a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and I said — out loud, in front of everyone — "it smells like... white wine."

HOST_B: As opposed to red wine? Very helpful.

HOST_A: My tutor just stared at me. And I thought, I have spent actual money on this qualification and I cannot describe a single smell beyond "smells like alcohol." Which is where so many people start. Welcome to Crack the WSET 2. I'm Emma.

HOST_B: And I'm Ryan. And Emma, I think your Sauvignon Blanc moment is more relatable than you realise. That's exactly where this series is aimed — people who are genuinely interested in wine, maybe already drinking it regularly, but who find the systematic, structured approach of WSET a bit... alienating.

HOST_A: This is Part One of three episodes. And today we are doing the big foundational stuff: the WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting — which everyone calls the SAT — and then a deep dive into the major grape varieties you need to know for Level 2. White grapes, red grapes, their key characteristics, their regions, and crucially, what you need to say in an exam to actually get marks.

HOST_B: Right. And I want to say upfront — we're not going to just recite bullet points from the WSET materials. That's what the book is for. We're going to explain why things work the way they do, give you memory tricks, and be honest about where people lose marks.

HOST_A: Including the mistakes Ryan and I have both made personally.

HOST_B: I haven't made mistakes. I've had learning opportunities.

HOST_A: Sure you have. So let's start with the big question. The SAT — the Systematic Approach to Tasting. Ryan, make the case. Is it genius or is it bureaucratic overkill for a beginner?

HOST_B: I'll say this — it is genuinely useful once you understand what it's for. The SAT exists because the examiners need to be able to mark your tasting notes consistently. If everyone just wrote "tastes nice, quite fruity, good," you couldn't distinguish a Level 2 response from a five-year-old's review. The SAT forces you to go through every relevant quality indicator in a specific order.

HOST_A: But here's where I push back — for someone just learning to taste wine, the SAT can feel like you're filling out a tax form while trying to enjoy a drink. There are something like fourteen or fifteen assessment points. And when you're sitting there with a glass and you're thinking "sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body, flavour intensity, finish, conclusions"—

HOST_B: —quality assessment, drinking window—

HOST_A: —yes, ALL of that, it's a lot to hold in your head while also actually tasting.

HOST_B: I'll grant you that. The learning curve is steep at first. But here's the thing — once you've done it fifty or sixty times, it becomes second nature. You stop thinking "now I assess acidity" and you just notice acidity automatically.

HOST_A: Okay, so let's actually walk through the SAT properly. This is the core of what the examiners want to see, and if you don't know this structure, you cannot pass the WSET 2 tasting unit. We're going to go section by section.

HOST_B: Starting with Appearance. This is what you see when you look at the wine. And there are three things to assess: clarity, intensity, and colour.

HOST_A: Clarity first. Is the wine clear or is it hazy? Now, most wines you encounter in an exam will be clear. But you might get a wine that's hazy — which could be a fault, like bacterial contamination, or it could be intentional, like an unfiltered natural wine. WSET wants you to note it either way.

HOST_B: And in the exam context, if a wine is hazy, you should mention it under "condition" later in the nose section, and flag whether it seems like a fault.

HOST_A: Intensity of colour. Is it pale, medium, or deep? That's it. Three options. Don't overthink this. A pale white wine, a medium white wine, a deep white wine. A pale red, medium red, deep red.

HOST_B: And this actually tells you things. A deep-coloured white wine might suggest age, oak treatment, or a grape variety that's naturally rich like Viognier. A pale red might suggest a grape like Pinot Noir, or a wine from a cool climate where the grapes don't develop as much colour.

HOST_A: Then colour itself. For white wines, you go from lemon, to gold, to amber. For rosés: pink, salmon, copper. For reds: purple, ruby, garnet, and tawny as wines age. And there's nuance within each — you might say "medium-intensity, ruby with garnet hints at the rim" which suggests some age.

HOST_B: Here's a pro tip for the exam. The rim of the wine — where it thins out in the glass — often shows age better than the core. If the rim is going garnet or tawny while the core is still ruby, that tells you something. The examiners appreciate when you demonstrate that kind of observation.

HOST_A: One more thing on appearance — bubbles. If you see bubbles, note them. Petillant means slightly sparkling, sparkling is full-on fizz. Most wines you see won't have bubbles, but if they do, it's relevant.

HOST_B: Right. Moving on to the Nose. This is where people struggle the most. Probably the hardest part of the SAT to learn. You're assessing: condition, intensity, aroma characteristics, and development.

HOST_A: Condition first — is the wine faulty? This is your chance to identify big problems. Corked wines smell like wet cardboard or damp basement. Oxidised wines that have gone stale smell like sherry or nail varnish remover — actually acetaldehyde. The most common fault you'll encounter is cork taint, technically called TCA.

HOST_B: Now in the WSET 2 exam, faults aren't tested super deeply, but you should be able to identify the most obvious one. If you smell something deeply unpleasant and musty, flag it. Don't just soldier on and try to describe the fruit when the wine smells like a wet dog.

HOST_A: Then intensity on the nose. Delicate, medium, or pronounced. Again, three options. A delicate wine is quite subtle — you have to work to find the aromas. A pronounced wine hits you the moment the glass comes near your face.

HOST_B: And this matters for quality assessment later. Generally, higher-intensity aromas are a positive quality indicator. Though subtle and complex can be better than loud and simple.

HOST_A: Aroma characteristics — this is the big one. What does it actually smell like? WSET categorises aromas into: fruit, floral, spice, herbaceous/vegetable, oak, and other. And under each category there are specific descriptors.

HOST_B: So for fruit, you'd break it down: citrus fruit — lemon, lime, grapefruit. Stone fruit — peach, apricot, nectarine. Tropical fruit — pineapple, mango, passion fruit. Red fruit — raspberry, strawberry, cherry. Dark fruit — blackcurrant, blackberry, plum. Dried fruit — fig, prune, raisin. Cooked fruit — jam, stewed, baked.

HOST_A: And different grapes have characteristic aromas. This is actually the key to identifying grape varieties in an exam. Sauvignon Blanc smells herbaceous and citrusy. Riesling has petrol notes as it ages. Gewürztraminer is intensely floral — rose petals and lychee. Cabernet Sauvignon has blackcurrant. Pinot Noir has red fruit and earthiness. We'll go through all of these in detail.

HOST_B: Then development on the nose. Is it youthful, developing, or fully developed? Youthful wines smell of primary fruit. Developing wines start to show more complex secondary or tertiary notes — a bit of toastiness, earthiness, some oxidative character. Fully developed wines have lost most primary fruit and are dominated by tertiary notes.

HOST_A: Alright — the Palate. This is where you actually drink the wine, and you assess it systematically. Sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body, flavour intensity, and finish.

HOST_B: Sweetness. Dry, off-dry, medium-dry, medium-sweet, sweet, or luscious. For most wines you'll encounter, this is dry. But don't assume — taste it. Your tongue picks up sweetness at the very tip. If you feel that initial sweetness sensation, note it.

HOST_A: Acidity. The tartness, the mouthwatering quality. Low, medium minus, medium, medium plus, or high. High-acid wines make your mouth water intensely. Low-acid wines feel flat. You feel acidity primarily on the sides of your tongue and the way saliva pools in your mouth after swallowing.

HOST_B: Acidity is crucial for understanding grape varieties and regions. Riesling: high acidity. Chardonnay from a warm climate: medium to low. Sauvignon Blanc: high to medium-plus. Knowing the typical acidity level of a grape is a big part of being able to identify it blind.

HOST_A: Tannin — only relevant for red wines and some orange wines. Tannins are those grippy, drying sensations you feel on your gums and the inside of your cheeks. Low, medium minus, medium, medium plus, or high. The scale also considers texture — are they smooth and silky, or are they rough and astringent?

HOST_B: And tannin gives you information about grape variety AND about oak ageing. Cabernet Sauvignon: high tannins. Pinot Noir: low to medium. Nebbiolo: very high, sometimes brutal. Oak-aged wines can also pick up tannins from the wood itself, which tends to be a bit drier and more grippy than fruit tannins.

HOST_A: Alcohol. Low is under twelve percent, medium is between twelve and thirteen-and-a-half roughly, high is above that. You feel it as warmth in your throat. Too much alcohol and the wine feels hot or even slightly burning. Low alcohol wines can feel light and refreshing or a bit thin.

HOST_B: Body. How does the wine feel in your mouth overall? Light, medium, or full. And body is basically a function of alcohol, tannin, sweetness, and extract. A big oaky Californian Chardonnay with high alcohol: full body. A Mosel Riesling at eight percent: light body.

HOST_A: Flavour intensity on the palate. Same options as the nose: delicate, medium, pronounced. And then finish — how long do the flavours last after you swallow? Short is under three seconds. Medium is three to five. Long is over five seconds. Longer finishes are generally a quality indicator.

HOST_B: Right. And then you get to the Conclusions section, which is where students often throw away marks.

HOST_A: The quality assessment. Four levels: faulty, poor, acceptable, good, very good, outstanding. And WSET doesn't want vague impressions. They want you to link your quality conclusion to specific things you observed. You say "this wine is very good quality because it has high complexity on the nose, a long finish, and the acidity is perfectly balanced with the fruit."

HOST_B: That's the key phrase: link your conclusion to evidence. Don't just say "it's quite nice." Say: complexity, balance, length, typicity — those are your quality markers. Use those words.

HOST_A: And the drinking window assessment: is it ready to drink now, or does it need more ageing? Most wines at Level 2 are ready to drink now. But if something has very high tannins, high acidity, and lots of primary fruit intensity, you can say "not yet ready — needs ageing."

HOST_B: One thing I want to emphasise about the SAT: the examiners are not trying to catch you out. They want to see that you've gone through the process systematically. Even if you identify the grape wrong, you can still score well if your tasting notes are methodical and your quality assessment is well-reasoned.

HOST_A: That is such an important point. This isn't X-Factor blind tastings. This is about demonstrating systematic thinking. Okay, let's move into the grape section. And I know we said there'd be genuine disagreement — Ryan, which white grape do you think is the hardest to remember for the exam?

HOST_B: Genuinely? Viognier. Because the aromas are quite unusual and not immediately "wine-like" to most people's reference points. Peach, apricot, violet, blossom — very perfumed. And it's a grape that punishes you if you get the region wrong.

HOST_A: I'm going to say Gewürztraminer. Because the name itself trips people up, the aromas are so distinctive that you'd think they'd be easy to remember, but in practice students panic about whether they're spelling it right and completely forget that it tastes like lychee and rose petals.

HOST_B: Fair. Actually let's just go through all the white grapes properly. Chardonnay first. The most important white grape in the world for the exam.

HOST_A: Chardonnay is what the WSET calls a "neutral grape." What that means is that the grape itself doesn't have super distinctive primary aromas — it's quite chameleon-like. It takes on the character of wherever it's grown and how it's made.

HOST_B: Cool climate Chardonnay — think Chablis in northern Burgundy, or Champagne — gives you lean, green apple, citrus, a kind of steely minerality, very high acidity. The oak influence in Chablis is deliberately minimal. The wine is all about that stark, almost austere quality.

HOST_A: Move to the Côte d'Or in Burgundy — famous villages like Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet — you get more richness, more yellow fruit like peach and nectarine, and usually some oak influence giving you notes of toast, vanilla, and butter. This is classic "white Burgundy."

HOST_B: Then go all the way to California, Chile, or Australia, and suddenly you're looking at full-on tropical fruit, pineapple, mango, very ripe peach, often heavy oak treatment with lots of vanilla and butter, creamy texture from malolactic fermentation, and quite low acidity because the warm climate ripens the grapes and burns off the acid.

HOST_A: For the exam, the key Chardonnay descriptors to know: green apple and lemon in cool climates. Peach and nectarine in moderate climates. Tropical fruit in warm climates. Oak character: vanilla, toast, butter, creaminess. High acidity in cool climates, lower in warm.

HOST_B: And the key question examiners love: what does malolactic fermentation do? It converts the sharp malic acid — like the acid in a green apple — into softer, rounder lactic acid, like the acid in milk. That's where the creamy, buttery quality in many New World Chardonnays comes from.

HOST_A: Mnemonic for Chardonnay styles: Cool, Medium, Warm. CCC-Chablis, Côte d'Or, California. As the climate warms, the flavours go from citrus and apple to peach and nectarine to full tropical fruit. Just think of the C-progression.

HOST_B: Next: Sauvignon Blanc. Much more distinctive than Chardonnay. Very aromatic, very recognisable once you know it.

HOST_A: Classic cool-climate Sauvignon Blanc — especially the Loire Valley in France, particularly Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé — gives you really pronounced herbaceous notes: cut grass, green pepper, nettles. Very zingy, high acidity. Citrus fruit — lemon, grapefruit — some gooseberry.

HOST_B: Then New Zealand Marlborough happened and the world kind of went wild for a bolder, more tropical style. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is famous for passion fruit, grapefruit, green capsicum, and an almost pungent aromatic intensity. It's louder than Loire. More tropical fruit, still high acid, but with that signature zingy edge that somehow got even more pronounced.

HOST_A: The technical compound responsible for the distinctive grassy, pungent quality is methoxypyrazine — but you don't need to know that name for Level 2. What you do need to know is that cooler growing conditions retain these herbaceous compounds. Warm Sauvignon Blanc loses the grass and gets more melon and tropical.

HOST_B: For the exam: Loire Sauvignon = citrus, herb, high acid, steely. Marlborough = passion fruit, grapefruit, pungent, high acid. The common thread is high acid and aromatic intensity. Sauvignon Blanc is not a subtle wine.

HOST_A: Key regions to know for the exam: Loire Valley (Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé), Marlborough in New Zealand, Bordeaux where it's often blended with Sémillon. Bordeaux Sauvignon is usually softer and more restrained than either Loire or Marlborough.

HOST_B: Riesling. And this is one where I want to push back on the idea that Riesling is confusing for beginners, because I think once people understand the structure, it's actually very logical.

HOST_A: Okay but the sweetness levels ARE confusing. Because you can have bone dry Riesling and then insanely sweet Riesling, all from the same grape, and the labelling on German Riesling is notoriously hard to decode.

HOST_B: That's fair. Let's start with the key thing: Riesling is defined by its acidity. Very high acidity. This is what allows German Riesling to be made at varying sweetness levels without ever tasting sickly, because the acid cuts right through the sweetness and creates balance.

HOST_A: The key flavour profile of young Riesling: lime, green apple, white peach, floral notes like jasmine or blossom. Very aromatic. High acid, as Ryan said. Often lower in alcohol than many other whites.

HOST_B: Then as Riesling ages — and it ages spectacularly well, one of the best ageing white grapes in the world — it develops what the wine world calls "petrol" notes. Or kerosene. It's this distinctive waxy, almost hydrocarbon-like smell that is actually very pleasant once you've been taught to appreciate it. It's caused by a compound called TDN if you want the chemistry.

HOST_A: For the exam, petrol on an aged Riesling is a POSITIVE descriptor. It shows development. Don't be put off by it.

HOST_B: German sweetness levels: Kabinett is the lightest and usually driest or just off-dry. Spätlese — late harvest, richer, usually off-dry to medium. Auslese — even later harvest, often sweet. Beerenauslese — very sweet, concentrated. Trockenbeerenauslese — TBA — extraordinarily sweet, basically dessert wine made from shrivelled, botrytis-affected grapes. And Eiswein — ice wine, made from frozen grapes, intensely sweet and high acid.

HOST_A: You don't need to memorise all of these for WSET 2 but you should know the basic spectrum: dry to sweet, and that sweetness level is often stated on the label for German wines.

HOST_B: Key regions: Mosel in Germany — steep slate slopes, very cool, produces delicate, high-acid Rieslings often at low alcohol. Rhine regions — Rheingau, Rheinhessen — slightly richer. Alsace in France — dry, full-bodied Riesling, often the most powerful style. Clare Valley and Eden Valley in South Australia for dry, limey, racy New World Riesling.

HOST_A: Mnemonic for Riesling: PLEA. Petrol when aged, Lime and apple as primary fruit, Extraordinary acidity, Alsace does it dry. PLEA.

HOST_B: That's actually pretty good.

HOST_A: Thank you, I've been workshopping it. Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio — same grape, different styles, and the name difference tells you a lot.

HOST_B: Exactly. "Pinot Grigio" from Italy — especially the cool north, Alto Adige, Friuli — is light, dry, neutral, high acid, low alcohol, delicate apple and pear flavours. Very clean, very easy drinking. Not complex.

HOST_A: But "Pinot Gris" from Alsace in France is a completely different beast. Rich, full-bodied, often off-dry to sweet, with honeyed, smoky, stone fruit character — peach, apricot, sometimes a hint of spice. It can even be made as a late harvest wine with intense sweetness.

HOST_B: So the exam question "describe Pinot Gris" requires you to clarify: which style? If you just say "neutral and light" you're describing Grigio. If you say "rich and smoky" you're describing Gris from Alsace. Both answers are correct depending on context.

HOST_A: The key point the examiners want: same grape, climate and winemaking creates radically different styles. That understanding — that geography shapes style — is central to the whole WSET Level 2 syllabus.

HOST_B: Gewürztraminer. Name means "spiced traminer" — Gewürz is German for spice. And appropriately, it smells intensely of lychee, rose petals, Turkish delight, and a distinctive floral-spice combination. Very aromatic. Often rich and off-dry even when made as a dry wine.

HOST_A: Low acidity — that's important for the exam. Despite being so aromatic and intense, Gewürztraminer has quite low acidity. So it can feel heavy or almost oily in texture. It's very distinctive, very love-or-hate.

HOST_B: Key regions: Alsace — home of the best Gewürztraminer in the world. Germany, Austria, northern Italy in smaller quantities. When you smell lychee and rose in a wine, Gewürztraminer should be your first thought.

HOST_A: Viognier. This one's Ryan's nemesis. Rich, full-bodied, very aromatic. Hallmarks: white peach, apricot, blossom, violet — a very distinctive floral-stone fruit combination.

HOST_B: The key thing about Viognier is that it's naturally low in acidity, like Gewürztraminer. So despite being so aromatic and almost luxurious in its richness, it doesn't have that refreshing, zippy quality. The body is often full, the alcohol can be quite high because the grapes ripen easily.

HOST_A: Home of the greatest Viognier: Condrieu in the Northern Rhône of France. Very small, very expensive. The grape is also used in parts of Côte-Rôtie — a red wine appellation in the Northern Rhône where a small amount of Viognier is co-fermented with Syrah to add perfume and colour-stabilisation.

HOST_B: New World Viognier — California, South Africa, Australia — tends to be even riper and more full-bodied. Remember the key descriptors: stone fruit, blossom, low acid, full body. And for the exam, always mention Condrieu as the prestige region.

HOST_A: Okay! Red grapes. This is a big section and we're going to go deep. Start with Cabernet Sauvignon because it's arguably the most important red grape on earth for the exam.

HOST_B: Cabernet Sauvignon is a late-ripening, thick-skinned red grape. Those thick skins mean it produces deeply coloured wines with high tannins. High tannin, high acidity, and a very characteristic aroma: blackcurrant. Cassis. That's the French word the WSET likes. Black fruit, cedar, sometimes green bell pepper especially in slightly cooler vintages.

HOST_A: Think of Bordeaux. Left Bank Bordeaux — Médoc, Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant grape. These wines are blended with Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Firm tannins, structure, and because Bordeaux is a moderate climate, the wines have great aging potential. Classic descriptors: blackcurrant, cedar, pencil shavings, tobacco, dusty tannins.

HOST_B: Then Napa Valley in California — same grape, warmer climate. More ripe blackberry, plum, jam, chocolate, vanilla from new oak. Higher alcohol. Softer tannins because the grapes ripen more fully. Often full-bodied with a generous, opulent quality.

HOST_A: Australia — Coonawarra in South Australia is famous for Cabernet Sauvignon grown on terra rossa soil — a distinctive red soil over limestone. Wines from here can be medium to full bodied, with mint and eucalyptus notes alongside the classic blackcurrant. That eucalyptus note is really distinctive.

HOST_B: Chile — Maipo Valley, Colchagua — produces excellent Cabernet at a price point that represents great value. Still shows the classic blackcurrant character, often with some green capsicum, medium-full body.

HOST_A: For the exam: Cabernet Sauvignon key words. Blackcurrant, cassis, cedar, high tannin, high acidity, full body. Cool climate adds green pepper and structure, warm climate adds plum, chocolate, jamminess.

HOST_B: Merlot. The second Bordeaux grape you must know. And I'd describe Merlot as Cabernet Sauvignon's softer, friendlier cousin.

HOST_A: Right. Lower tannins, lower acidity, softer and rounder mouthfeel. The aromas shift from blackcurrant to plum, black cherry, chocolate — darker, plummier, less austere. In Bordeaux's Right Bank — Saint-Émilion, Pomerol — Merlot is dominant rather than Cabernet.

HOST_B: Pomerol, which contains the famous Pétrus estate, produces what some people consider the greatest expression of Merlot on earth. Rich, velvety, complex. The soil there — clay over iron-rich gravel — helps Merlot retain its freshness.

HOST_A: For the exam, the contrast between Left Bank Bordeaux (Cabernet-dominant, more structure, firmer tannins, more austere) and Right Bank (Merlot-dominant, softer, rounder, more accessible young) is a common question.

HOST_B: Merlot is also very widely planted in Chile, California, Washington State. The 2004 film Sideways famously made some people temporarily anti-Merlot, which is one of the great wine culture moments. The character Miles declares he will not drink Merlot. Meanwhile he's guzzling Pomerol, which is Merlot. Classic.

HOST_A: You might not need that in the exam but it's a good story. Key Merlot points for the exam: plum, black cherry, chocolate. Softer tannins than Cabernet. Dominant on Bordeaux's Right Bank. Can be very high quality — Pomerol, Saint-Émilion.

HOST_B: Pinot Noir. The hardest grape on the planet to grow and make well. And Ryan, you said something interesting to me before we recorded today—

HOST_A: I did, yes. Pinot Noir is the grape where students most often misidentify because they're expecting big and bold and red, and Pinot Noir gives you pale, translucent, subtle, and haunting.

HOST_B: That's exactly right. Pinot Noir has thin skins. So: low tannin. Lighter colour — pale ruby, sometimes almost translucent. The aromas are primarily red fruit rather than dark fruit: raspberry, strawberry, cherry, red plum. And then with age it develops this incredible earthy, almost barnyard quality — leather, forest floor, mushroom, truffle.

HOST_A: Burgundy is ground zero for Pinot Noir. The Côte d'Or — which includes the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune — produces wines at prices that are genuinely jaw-dropping. Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée, Chambolle-Musigny — these are names worth knowing.

HOST_B: Why is Pinot Noir so difficult? The grape is genetically unstable and prone to mutation. It buds early which makes it susceptible to frost. It's thin-skinned so it rots easily in humid conditions. It's easily over-cropped, which dilutes quality. And it's very sensitive to terroir — the exact combination of soil, aspect, and microclimate — which is why a Burgundy plot ten metres from another can taste radically different.

HOST_A: For the exam, Pinot Noir descriptors: red fruit (raspberry, cherry, strawberry), earthiness and spice with age, low tannin, moderate to high acidity. Key regions: Burgundy (France), Willamette Valley in Oregon, Central Otago in New Zealand, Yarra Valley in Australia.

HOST_B: Oregon Pinot Noir — especially Willamette Valley — is often described as the closest New World expression to Burgundy in style. Earthy, complex, not overtly fruity. New Zealand Pinot, especially Central Otago and Martinborough, tends to be riper and more plummy but retains lovely freshness.

HOST_A: Syrah and Shiraz — same grape, different names and different styles depending on where it's grown. And this is a perfect illustration of how climate changes everything.

HOST_B: Northern Rhône in France — Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage — is where this grape probably originated. These are cool climate expressions. The wine is darker, more structured, peppery and meaty. Black fruit — blackberry, blueberry — with notes of black pepper, smoked meat, olive, and sometimes violets.

HOST_A: The pepper note comes from a compound called rotundone, and it's specifically associated with cooler growing conditions. When grapes ripen slowly in a cooler climate, rotundone concentrations are higher.

HOST_B: Now move to Barossa Valley in South Australia. Hot climate. Very ripe, almost jammy dark fruit — blackberry, prune, chocolate. Heavy, plush, full-bodied. Often very high alcohol, sometimes reaching fifteen percent. Less pepper, more sweetness and opulence. Vanilla from American oak, which is often used in Australia.

HOST_A: For the exam: Syrah in Northern Rhône = black pepper, smoked meat, dark fruit, structure, elegance. Shiraz in Barossa = jam, chocolate, vanilla, full body, high alcohol, ripe dark fruit. And you need to know both names refer to the same grape.

HOST_B: Grenache or Garnacha — same grape, French and Spanish names respectively. And this is a warm-weather grape. It thrives in hot, dry conditions and produces wines with high alcohol, low tannin, and red fruit flavours: strawberry, raspberry, red cherry, sometimes white pepper and herbs.

HOST_A: In France, Grenache is the dominant grape in southern Rhône appellations: Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Vacqueyras. Often blended with Syrah and Mourvèdre in what the industry calls GSM blends.

HOST_B: In Spain, you'll find it as Garnacha in Rioja (usually a minor component) and more importantly in Priorat and in Aragón where it makes the headline wine. Also in Sardinia as Cannonau.

HOST_A: Key characteristics for the exam: high alcohol — can be fourteen, fifteen percent — low tannin, bright red fruit, warm spice. If a wine smells like raspberry and herbs, tastes round and warm with low tannin, Grenache is a good guess.

HOST_B: Tempranillo. The great Spanish red grape. This is a bit of a grab-bag of styles because it's grown across so much of Spain in very different conditions, and it's aged in very different ways.

HOST_A: Young Tempranillo: medium to high acidity, medium tannin, cherry, plum, leather, tobacco, sometimes earthy notes. The fruit isn't as intensely dark as Cabernet or Syrah.

HOST_B: The key is the oak ageing. Spain has traditionally loved American oak — which gives you strong vanilla and coconut notes. And the ageing categories in Rioja — Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva — tell you how long the wine has been aged in oak and in bottle.

HOST_A: For the exam: Crianza is the youngest, then Reserva, then Gran Reserva being the most aged and complex. Rioja and Ribera del Duero are the two most important regions for Tempranillo.

HOST_B: Tempranillo aromas: cherry, plum, leather, tobacco, cedar, vanilla from oak. Medium acidity. Medium to firm tannins. This is one of the more "student-friendly" grapes to describe because its flavour profile is quite classic and recognisable.

HOST_A: Sangiovese. The great Italian red grape. Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Rosso di Montepulciano — all Sangiovese.

HOST_B: Key characteristics: high acidity, firm to high tannins, medium body, distinctive cherry and plum with a savoury, often bitter-edged quality. There's often a kind of "dried herb" or "tomato leaf" note on Sangiovese — especially in Chianti. That slight savoury bitterness is actually a feature, not a bug.

HOST_A: Chianti is the most important region to know. Made from Sangiovese in Tuscany. Chianti Classico is the heartland zone. The wine can be quite austere when young — high acid, firm tannins — but develops beautiful complexity with age.

HOST_B: Brunello di Montalcino is the prestige expression. Made from a Sangiovese clone called Brunello, aged for minimum five years before release. These are some of the most age-worthy red wines in Italy.

HOST_A: For the exam: Sangiovese = cherry, dried herbs, high acidity, firm tannins, Italian, Tuscany is the key region. The savoury quality distinguishes it from more fruit-forward grapes like Merlot.

HOST_B: Nebbiolo. Italy's most tannic, most acidic, most difficult-to-love red grape in youth.

HOST_A: Grown primarily in Piedmont in northwest Italy. The two prestige appellations: Barolo and Barbaresco. Barolo is often called the King of Italian wines.

HOST_B: Young Nebbiolo is almost undrinkable for some people. Very high tannins — grippy, drying, almost harsh. Very high acidity. The fruit is there — tar, rose, cherry, dried fruit — but the structure dominates.

HOST_A: With fifteen, twenty years of age, Nebbiolo transforms. The tannins soften, the fruit deepens, and you get this extraordinary complexity — tar, dried roses, leather, tobacco, earth, truffle. It's one of the great wines of the world when it hits its peak.

HOST_B: For the exam: Nebbiolo = very high tannin, very high acidity, tar and roses in terms of aromas, Barolo and Barbaresco are the appellations, long ageing potential. That tar-and-rose combination is the classic Nebbiolo descriptor that examiners love.

HOST_A: Malbec. The great success story of South American wine. Originally a Bordeaux blending grape — still grown in Cahors in southwest France — but Malbec found its true home in Argentina, particularly Mendoza.

HOST_B: Argentine Malbec: deep colour, full body, very ripe dark fruit — plum, blackberry, blueberry — smooth tannins, often with violet and chocolate notes. High altitude growing — some vineyards in Mendoza and nearby Luján de Cuyo are at two thousand metres or more above sea level — means intense sunlight but cool nights, which gives the wines great freshness alongside all that ripe fruit.

HOST_A: Cahors Malbec from France is quite different — more austere, earthier, firmer tannins, less obviously fruity. Good to mention in the exam to show you know the grape has a French origin.

HOST_B: For the exam: Malbec = dark fruit, full body, smooth tannins, Argentina and Mendoza, violet. That combination of plummy richness with smooth tannins makes it very approachable and commercially popular.

HOST_A: Okay — let's switch gears and talk about Old World versus New World. Because this distinction runs throughout the entire WSET syllabus and you'll see it in essay questions and in multiple choice.

HOST_B: Old World: Europe. France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Austria — the countries where wine has been made for thousands of years. New World: everywhere else. USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Argentina — countries where European settlers brought wine culture more recently.

HOST_A: And the key differences aren't just geographical. They're stylistic, and they're about how wine is labelled.

HOST_B: Let's start with climate, because this is the engine of style differences. Old World wine regions are typically in cooler climates — not universally, but the prestigious appellations in France, Germany, and northern Italy are in cooler climates. Cooler climate means slower ripening, higher acidity, lower alcohol, more restrained fruit, more "primary" character.

HOST_A: New World wine regions — especially Australia, California, Mendoza — are often in warmer climates. Warmer climate means faster ripening, more fruit concentration, lower acidity, higher alcohol, riper, more opulent wines.

HOST_B: There are exceptions everywhere — Central Otago in New Zealand is very cool, Barossa Valley in Australia is hot, the coast of Sonoma County in California is cool — so you can't make sweeping generalisations. But for the exam, the broad distinction holds.

HOST_A: Now labels. This is really important. Old World wines are typically labelled by region rather than by grape variety. If you see a bottle that says "Chablis" — you have to know that Chablis is made from Chardonnay. If it says "Barolo" — you have to know that's Nebbiolo. If it says "Sancerre" — Sauvignon Blanc. The region name implies the grape.

HOST_B: New World wines are typically labelled by grape variety. If you see an Australian wine that says "Shiraz" on the label, you know what grape it is immediately. Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. Californian Pinot Noir. The grape is front and centre.

HOST_A: For the exam, you need to know which grape varieties correspond to which Old World appellations. That's a list worth memorising: Chablis equals Chardonnay, Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé equal Sauvignon Blanc, Burgundy reds equal Pinot Noir, Burgundy whites equal Chardonnay, Barolo and Barbaresco equal Nebbiolo, Chianti equals Sangiovese, Rioja reds equal Tempranillo, Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie equal Syrah, Condrieu equals Viognier, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is mostly Grenache and Syrah.

HOST_B: And in the exam, if a question says "name the grape variety used in Barolo" and you write "Nebbiolo" — that's full marks. If you write "Sangiovese" — zero marks. These are factual and specific.

HOST_A: The question of "typicity" also matters. What makes a wine "typical" of its appellation or grape? If a Chablis lacks that characteristic lean, steely, mineral quality and instead tastes rich and oaky, it's not typical even if technically made from Chardonnay in Chablis. Typicity is one of the quality assessment criteria.

HOST_B: And climate really is the dominant force shaping typicity. Cool climate grapes retain higher acidity, develop more slowly, show more herbaceous and floral notes. Warm climate grapes develop more sugar, higher alcohol, more concentrated fruit, lower acidity.

HOST_A: There's also the question of winemaking intervention. Old World wines have traditionally used less new oak, less technology, less intervention. The philosophy has been to let the terroir — the place — express itself. New World winemaking has historically been more interventionist — more new oak, more manipulation of acidity, more fining and filtering.

HOST_B: Though the lines have blurred significantly. Many New World producers are now making "European-style" wines with restraint and elegance. And some Old World producers are using modern techniques. It's a spectrum now more than a binary.

HOST_A: For the exam, understand the general principles: cool vs warm climate effects on style, region-named vs grape-named labels, and the broad characteristics associated with each. Don't overclaim "all Old World wines are lean and all New World wines are opulent" — that's too simplistic.

HOST_B: Right. Alright — let's round out with practical exam tips. Because the most complete knowledge in the world won't help you if you don't deploy it correctly in the exam room.

HOST_A: First: the SAT in the tasting exam. You will likely taste two or three wines and produce tasting notes. Go through every single section in order. Do not skip body because you forgot. Do not skip finish because you're rushing. The examiner has a mark scheme and they are ticking off each element.

HOST_B: Even if you're not sure, make a reasonable attempt. If you're unsure whether a wine's acidity is medium-minus or medium, pick one and commit. An omitted assessment scores zero. A wrong assessment — if your reasoning is sound — still shows you understand the concept.

HOST_A: Second: learn the official WSET vocabulary and use it. Don't write "quite tart" — write "high acidity." Don't write "a bit tannic" — write "medium-plus tannin with fine-grained texture." The WSET has a specific lexicon and examiners are trained to look for specific terminology. Use their words.

HOST_B: Third: for essay questions about grape varieties, structure your answers. I always recommend: climate and region, key flavour descriptors, structural characteristics (acidity, tannin, alcohol), quality level or style range, and a relevant ageing note. Five points per grape, every time.

HOST_A: Fourth: memorise the key grape-region pairings. I made flashcards. Literally just "grape on one side, key regions on the other." And I did them every day for two weeks. It's boring but it works.

HOST_B: Fifth: practice tasting. And I know that sounds obvious but it is astonishing how many Level 2 students try to learn tasting from the book without actually tasting. You can read twenty times that Sauvignon Blanc smells like cut grass. The first time you actually smell it and think "oh, that's cut grass" — it cements in your brain permanently.

HOST_A: Set up your own comparative tastings at home. Buy two bottles: one Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and one Loire Valley Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé. Taste them side by side. The difference in style will tell you more about climate and region than any book. Same grape, radically different expression.

HOST_B: And compare Old World and New World Chardonnay. Get a Chablis and a California or Australian Chardonnay. The difference in oak, richness, and acidity will be striking and immediately memorable.

HOST_A: Sixth tip: for quality assessment, always justify. "This wine is good quality because it shows complexity, balance, and a long finish." Not just "good quality." The "because" is worth marks.

HOST_B: And finally — don't panic if you can't identify a grape blind. Many people can't, even professionals. What you can do is describe systematically what you actually taste and smell, note the structural elements accurately, and make a reasonable educated guess based on the evidence. "Based on the high acidity, red fruit character, and low tannin, I would suggest this is possibly a cool-climate Pinot Noir." That is a sophisticated, well-structured answer even if you're wrong.

HOST_A: And you know what, that kind of reasoning — systematic, evidence-based — is exactly what the WSET Level 2 is designed to teach. Not just "this is nice" but "here's why this wine is the way it is, and here's where I think it came from."

HOST_B: Which is a very wine-nerd way of thinking about the world, but we are wine nerds, so that tracks.

HOST_A: Before we wrap Part One, let me give you a super-fast grape recap you can use as a checklist. White grapes: Chardonnay — neutral, climate-expressive, lemon to tropical, oaky styles possible. Sauvignon Blanc — herbaceous, citrus, high acid, Loire versus Marlborough. Riesling — lime, petrol when aged, high acid, bone dry to TBA. Pinot Gris slash Grigio — Italian style light and neutral, Alsace style rich and smoky. Gewürztraminer — lychee, rose, low acid. Viognier — peach, apricot, blossom, low acid, Condrieu.

HOST_B: Red grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon — blackcurrant, cedar, high tannin, Bordeaux Left Bank, Napa, Coonawarra. Merlot — plum, softer tannins, Bordeaux Right Bank. Pinot Noir — red fruit, earthy, low tannin, Burgundy, Oregon, Central Otago. Syrah/Shiraz — Northern Rhône peppery and meaty, Barossa jammy and full. Grenache/Garnacha — red fruit, high alcohol, low tannin, southern Rhône, Spain. Tempranillo — cherry, leather, American oak influence, Rioja. Sangiovese — cherry, herb, high acid, firm tannin, Tuscany. Nebbiolo — tar and roses, very high tannin and acid, Barolo and Barbaresco. Malbec — dark fruit, smooth tannin, violet, Argentina.

HOST_A: That's your foundation. Learn this, know the SAT inside out, practice tasting, use the vocabulary, justify your quality conclusions — and Part One of your WSET Level 2 journey is in good shape.

HOST_B: In Part Two of this series we're going to go deep on the major wine regions — Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhône, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the key New World regions. The geography of wine.

HOST_A: And in Part Three we'll cover sparkling wines, fortified wines, and important winemaking concepts like fermentation, maturation, and closure types. Plus a full mock exam run-through.

HOST_B: Subscribe, study, and remember — if you smell something that seems weird in a wine, the right answer is usually "that's a descriptor, not a fault." Unless it smells like wet cardboard. That's always a fault.

HOST_A: Brilliant. I'm Emma.

HOST_B: I'm Ryan.

HOST_A: Crack the WSET 2 — see you in Part Two. Cheers.

HOST_B: Cheers.