How to Practise Wine Tasting for WSET Level 2
Tasting is not formally examined at WSET Level 2, but it is the foundation that makes the rest of the course make sense. When you can feel high acidity for yourself, or notice the drying grip of tannin, the textbook descriptions stop being abstract. This guide walks you through the Level 2 Systematic Approach to Tasting, the SAT, on an actual glass of wine, so your practice sessions build the right habits from the start.
Set yourself up first
A little preparation makes tasting far more reliable:
- Good light and a white background. A sheet of paper or a white tablecloth lets you judge colour honestly. Coloured surfaces and dim light will mislead you.
- A clean, unscented space. Skip perfume, aftershave, and strong cooking smells. Your nose is doing most of the work.
- A proper glass, filled modestly. A clear, tulip-shaped wine glass filled to roughly a third leaves room to swirl and concentrates the aromas.
- The right temperature. Serving a wine too cold mutes its aromas; too warm and the alcohol dominates. Whites around 7 to 12 degrees Celsius, reds around 15 to 18.
- Water and somewhere to spit. If you are tasting several wines, spitting keeps your palate and your judgement sharp.
Step 1: Appearance
Tilt the glass away from you at about 45 degrees over the white background and look through the wine at its rim. Note two things. First the intensity: is the colour pale, medium, or deep? Then the colour itself. For whites the scale runs lemon, gold, amber. For reds it runs purple, ruby, garnet. A purple rim suggests a young red; a garnet or brick tinge suggests some age. You do not need to be poetic here, just accurate.
Step 2: Nose
Give the glass a gentle swirl to release the aromas, then bring it to your nose and take a couple of short sniffs. Ask yourself, in order:
- Is it clean? A healthy wine smells fresh. Wet cardboard, nail varnish, or a struck-match reek can signal a fault.
- How intense is the aroma? Light, medium, or pronounced.
- What do you actually smell? Group it. Fruit (and whether that fruit is fresh, ripe, or cooked), floral notes, herbaceous or green notes, spice, and any oak character such as vanilla, toast, or coconut.
Naming aromas is the hardest part and it comes only with repetition. Do not fish for a long list. Two or three honest descriptors beat ten guesses, and the point is to train your memory for what, say, Sauvignon Blanc or Syrah smells like.
Step 3: Palate
Take a decent sip, draw a little air through it if you can, and move it around your mouth before spitting or swallowing. Now read off the structural building blocks in order. This is the heart of the SAT.
- Sweetness. Dry, off-dry, medium, or sweet. Judge this at the very front, before acidity confuses you.
- Acidity. How much your mouth waters after you swallow or spit. More saliva means higher acidity. Low, medium, or high.
- Tannin. In reds only. The drying, slightly rough grip on your gums and tongue. Low, medium, or high. It is a texture, not a taste, so feel for it rather than trying to taste it.
- Body. The overall weight and fullness in your mouth. Light, medium, or full. Skimmed milk to whole milk is the classic comparison.
- Flavour intensity and characteristics. How strong the flavours are, and what they are. They often echo the nose but not always.
- Finish. How long the flavours linger after the wine is gone. Short, medium, or long. Time it honestly.
Step 4: Conclusions
Finally, step back and assess quality. The Level 2 scale runs faulty, poor, acceptable, good, very good, and outstanding. A good wine has balanced components, a decent length, and flavours that are pleasant and clear. Ask whether the acidity, sweetness, tannin, and fruit are in proportion, whether anything sticks out awkwardly, and how long the finish holds. You are not looking for a right answer so much as a reasoned one.
Build the habit
Two things turn tasting from a party trick into a skill. The first is order: always run appearance, nose, palate, conclusions, every single time, until it becomes automatic. The second is comparison. Taste two contrasting wines side by side, a cool-climate white next to a warm-climate one, and the differences in acidity and body that felt vague on their own become obvious. You will learn more from one good comparison than from three glasses tasted in isolation.
Keep notes. Writing the wine down in SAT order forces you to commit to a judgement, and looking back later shows you how fast your palate is improving. Store or share those notes however you like: the discipline of recording them is what makes the practice stick.
Practise the framework with Verdant
Verdant includes a guided tasting mode that walks the Systematic Approach to Tasting step by step, so the order becomes second nature, and it lets you save your notes on your device. Alongside it, short drills reinforce the vocabulary of structure and flavour that tasting depends on. The full app is free with everything unlocked, a one-time purchase of 4.99 removes ads, there are no subscriptions, and your notes never leave your phone.