WSET Diploma Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine

APPEARANCE
Clarity/brightness clear hazy / bright dull (faulty?)
Intensity pale medium deep
Colour white lemon-green lemon gold amber brown
ros pink salmon orange onion skin
red purple ruby garnet tawny brown
Other observations e.g. legs/tears, deposit, petillance, bubbles
NOSE
Condition clean unclean (faulty?)
Intensity light medium(-) medium medium(+) pronounced
Aroma characteristics e.g. fruits, flowers, spices, vegetables, oak aromas, other
Development youthful developing fully developed tired/past its best
CONCLUSIONS
ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY
Quality level faulty poor acceptable good very good outstanding
Reasons for assessment e.g. structure, balance, concentration, complexity, length, typicity
ASSESSMENT OF READINESS FOR DRINKING / POTENTIAL FOR AGEING
Level of readiness can drink now, drink now: not
for drinking / potential too young but has potential suitable for ageing too old
for ageing for ageing or further ageing
Reasons for assessment e.g. structure, balance, concentration, complexity, length, typicity
THE WINE IN CONTEXT
Origins / variety / for example: location (country or region), grape variety or varieties, production methods,
theme climatic influences
Price category inexpensive mid-priced high-priced premium super-premium
Age in years answer with a number not a range or a vintage
PALATE
Sweetness dry off-dry medium-dry medium-sweet sweet luscious
Acidity low medium(-) medium medium(+) high
Tannin level low medium(-) medium medium(+) high
nature e.g. ripe/soft vs unripe/green/stalky, coarse vs fine-grained
Alcohol low medium(-) medium medium(+) high
fortified wines: low medium high
Body light medium(-) medium medium(+) full
Flavour intensity light medium(-) medium medium(+) pronounced
Flavour characteristics e.g. fruits, flowers, spices, vegetables, oak flavours, other
Other observations e.g. texture, balance, other
sparkling wines (mousse): delicate creamy aggressive
Finish short medium(-) medium medium(+) long
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Copyright Wine & Spirit Education Trust 2012. The WSET Diploma Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine

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Notes for students:
For lines where the entries are separated by hyphens students must select one and only one of these options.
For lines starting with e.g. where the entries are separated with commas the list of options are examples of what
students might wish to comment on. Students may not need to comment on each option for every wine.
Dip SAT Wine 2012_Advanced_SAT 2 19/03/2012 13:59 Page 1
WSET Diploma Wine-Lexicon: supporting the WSET Diploma Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine

AROMA AND FLAVOUR CHARACTERISTICS

FLORAL / FRUIT
Are the flavours delicate or aromatic? Simple/generic or specific? Fresh or cooked/baked? Ripe or unripe?
Floral acacia, honeysuckle, chamomile, elderflower, geranium, blossom, rose, violet, iris, neroli
Green Fruit green apple, red apple, gooseberry, pear (peardrop/amylic?), custard apple, quince, grape
Citrus Fruit grapefruit, lemon, lime, (juice or zest?), orange peel, lemon peel
Stone Fruit peach, apricot, nectarine
Tropical Fruit banana, lychee, mango, melon, passion fruit, pineapple
Red Fruit redcurrant, cranberry, raspberry, strawberry, red cherry, plum
Black Fruit blackcurrant, blackberry, bramble, blueberry, black cherry
Dried/Cooked Fruit fig, prune, raisin, sultana, kirsch, jamminess, cooked, baked, stewed fruits, preserved fruits
SPICE / VEGETABLE
Under ripeness green bell pepper (capsicum), grass, white pepper, leafiness, tomato, potato
Herbaceous grass, asparagus, blackcurrant leaf, pyrazine
Herbal eucalyptus, mint, medicinal, lavender, fennel, dill
Vegetable cabbage, peas, beans, black olive, green olive
Sweet Spice cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla
Pungent Spice black/white pepper, liquorice, juniper
OAK / OTHER
Simplicity/Neutrality simple, neutral, indistinct
Autolytic yeast, biscuit, bread, toast, pastry, brioche, lees
Dairy/MLF butter, cheese, cream, yoghurt
Oak vanilla, butterscotch, toast, cedar, charred wood, smoke, acrid, resinous
Kernel almond, marzipan, coconut, hazelnut, walnut, chocolate, coffee
Animal leather, meaty, farmyard
Maturity vegetal, mushroom, hay, wet leaves, forest floor, game, savoury, tobacco, cedar, honey, cereal
Mineral earth, petrol, kerosene, rubber, tar, smoke, stony/steely, wet wool
FAULTS
Anisoles mustiness, wet cardboard, TCA
Brettanomyces animal, leather, meaty, sticking plaster, vinyl, farmyard
Oxidation caramel, toffee, staleness, sherry aromas, aldehydes
Volatile Acidity vinegar, solvents, nail varnish remover, lifted
Reduction mercaptans, cabbage, eggs, sweat, rubber, onion, garlic, blocked drains
Other beetroot/earth (geosmin), rot, mould
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
COMPONENT BALANCE
Sweetness austere, thin, drying
unctuous, cloying, sticky
Acid tart, green, sour, acidic, lively, refreshing, zesty
flabby, thick, heavy
Tannin (red) unripe, green, stalky: thick, dense, rough, sinewy, robust, harsh, bitter, hard, dried-out
ripe, soft: well-integrated, supple, rounded, resolved
Alcohol delicate, light, thin
warm, generous, hot, heady, spirity, burning
Fruit austere, severe, hollow, meagre, neutral
well-defined, soft, juicy, fruit-driven, forward, generous
TEXTURE
Tannin grain fine-grained: silky, talc-like, clay-textured, ripe, velvety
coarse: powdery, chalky, grippy, furry, dusty, drying, chunky
Tannin (white) waxy, bitter, drying, coarse
Viscosity watery, thin, fluid, supple
creamy, fleshy, mouthcoating, oily, rich, soupy, thick
Carbon Dioxide petillant, effervescent, prickly, bubbly
OTHER
Ripeness green, stemmy, cool-climate, refreshing
over-ripe, baked, cooked, jammy, hot-climate, warming
Freshness vivid, well-defined, expressive
evolved, tertiary, fading, dull, tired
Harmony well-structured, elegant, well-delineated, mellow, harmonious
shapeless, angular, clumsy, disjointed
DW-Version 1.0
Note to students: the WSET Diploma Wine-Lexicon is designed to be a prompt and guide for students. It neither needs to be memorised nor slavishly adhered to.
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