What to do if you want to start the WSET Level 4 Diploma but are waiting on your Level 3 results

By Noelle Hale, Program Director, WSET Diploma

Many students hope to someday complete the WSET Diploma and be able to put the letters DipWSET after their name. Of course, a major hurdle is completing WSET Level 3. After you take the Level 3 exam, there is a long wait (up to 12 weeks) to receive your results before you can enroll in the Diploma. So if you’re motivated to continue on Diploma-level studies, how can you keep your study momentum up during the waiting period for your results? Here are some resources I recommend to students:

Reading

• Your Level 3 book. Yes, it may be the last thing you want to look at again after the Level 3 exam, but the better you know everything in those pages, the more prepared you’ll be for Diploma studies.
• Viticulture by Stephen Skelton MW is a comprehensive overview of general viticulture topics that you’ll cover in the first Diploma unit, but it’s still a user-friendly read.
• Understanding Wine Technology by David Bird is a similarly comprehensive book focused on a broad array of winemaking topics.
• The Concise Guide to Wine & Blind Tasting by Neel Burton is an excellent resource for tasting practice, which is one of the things students are always most excited (and nervous) about at the Diploma level.
• I Taste Red, The Science of Wine and/or Flawless by Jamie Goode. I always learn something new whenever I pick up one of Jamie’s books, and he does a fantastic job of making complex, scientific wine topics easier to digest. You can also check out his article for NVWA about wine aromas!
• And if you haven’t yet purchased the two indispensable reference books for higher-level wine studies, The Oxford Companion to Wine and The World Atlas of Wine, both by Jancis Robinson et al., now is a great time to do so.

Watching

Sometimes when you feel like you just can’t stand to read another page (we’ve all been there!), watching something wine-related is a nice change of pace. Plus, seeing winemaking equipment in use helps you understand how it works!

• Any of the documentaries from WineMasters (if you’ve purchased NVWA Membership access, you can watch them all for free!)
• The NVWA YouTube channel features a wealth of content from wine experts and lots of recorded webinars.
• The YouTube channel for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) also has a variety of videos, including some excellent overviews of wine regions and winemaking.
• “A Year in Champagne” and “A Year in Burgundy” documentaries
• The movie Sour Grapes

Listening

I spent several years as a wine sales rep doing a lot of driving, including while I was a Diploma student, and podcasts were invaluable study tools for me. I always learn something new from the following podcasts:

• Inside Winemaking
• I’ll Drink to That!
• Ungrafted
• Bottled in China
• Guildsomm
• Wine Scholar Guild
• Roadside Terroir
• The Color of Wine
• XChateau
• Sustainable Wine
• Wine, Work & Passion (hosted by NVWA’s own career counselor, Karen Wetzel!)

The wait time for WSET Level 3 results can feel like it stretches on forever, but using the time wisely can help you start your Diploma studies feeling confident!