The Diploma Podcast

Chapter 11 is not about memorising chemistry — it’s about learning the language of cause and effect .Every viticulture and winemaking choice ultimately shows up here, in alcohol, acidity, aromatics, texture and structure. If you can explain how a decision in the vineyard or winery changes these components, you’re already writing and thinking at distinction level. This is a public episode. If you'd...

Chapter 10 is your D1 “integration engine”: practice writing each scenario as a chain— environment → constraints → viticulture choices → yields/ripeness/health → style/quality → costs/price —and you’ll be ready for any applied viticulture question. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thesommpour.substack.com/subscrib...

For exam answers and real-world decisions, frame harvest as two linked choices: when to pick (numbers + tasting + weather risk) and how to pick (style requirements + vineyard design + cost/labor reality) —and always tie each option back to how it changes wine style and risk. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thesom...

Chapter 8 is high-scoring when you keep one thread: hazard → impact on vine/fruit → effect on yield/quality → management choice and cost trade-off . Don’t list; always explain why the option works and what it costs in money, labor, or risk. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thesommpour.substack.com/subscribe

Chapter 7 is really about vine balance through light management . For the exam, think beyond techniques and focus on why canopy decisions matter: how light interception, airflow and crop load determine grape composition, disease risk and the vine’s ability to perform sustainably year after year. Every canopy choice is a trade-off between vigor, yield, ripening and risk — always link back to balanc...

Chapter 6 is really one idea: soil health is the foundation , and water + nutrients are the two levers you keep adjusting through the season to control vigor, yield, ripening and risk . For the exam, don’t memorize methods as a list — group them by what they do : Build soil health (organic matter, humus, soil life, structure) so roots can access water + nutrients steadily. Nutrient tools : fertili...

Chapter 5 is about decisions that lock in outcomes. For the exam, focus on why site, soil and planting choices matter long-term — many cannot be easily corrected once vines are planted. Think in cause-and-effect terms: how site selection, soil preparation, grape variety, clone, rootstock and vine age shape yield, cost, risk and wine style over decades, not just the first harvest. This is a public...

Chapter 4 is about choices , not beliefs. For the exam, focus on why each approach to grape growing exists, the problems it is trying to solve, and the practical trade-offs involved. Sustainable, organic, biodynamic, regenerative and precision viticulture are not mutually exclusive — many vineyards combine elements of several approaches. What matters is understanding how each one influences vine h...

This episode completes the growing environment by covering the “supply side”: water, nutrients and soil , then zooming out to climate classifications , weather vs climate , and climate change . Listen for timing: why water early in the season builds canopy, why mild pre-véraison stress can help shift the vine toward ripening, and why too much or too little water near harvest can compromise concent...

This episode focuses on the “energy side” of the growing environment: temperature and sunlight , plus the natural site factors that shape them (latitude, altitude, slope/aspect, proximity to water, winds, fog/cloud, soils, diurnal range, and ENSO). Listen for the cause–effect chain: how heat and light don’t just determine whether grapes ripen, but how they ripen — especially the pace of sugar accu...

This episode walks through the vine growth cycle , stage by stage, to show why timing matters as much as conditions in wine production. As you listen, focus on how each phase places different demands on the vine — and how shortfalls or excesses at one stage often show up much later, sometimes in the following vintage. Notice especially the links between carbohydrate reserves, flowering success, ri...

This episode opens the D1 Audible Cheat Sheets series on Wine Production , starting where wine truly begins: the vine itself. It’s designed as an on-the-go foundation builder , not a passive listen. As you hear terms like buds, shoots, canes, roots, clones and rootstocks, notice how each structure links directly to vine growth, yield control, ripening, and ultimately wine style and quality . Liste...

This final episode of the WSET Diploma D2 Audible Cheat Sheets brings together Chapters 12, 13 and 14 , where marketing theory becomes operational reality. We move through the full marketing mix — product, price, people, place and promotion — and explore how these elements must work in alignment for a strategy to succeed. The episode examines how different promotional tools function at and away fr...

This episode covers WSET Diploma D2 — Chapters 10 and 11: Identifying the Target Market and Setting Marketing Objectives . These chapters sit at the strategic heart of wine marketing. They explain why even a well-made, well-priced wine can fail if it is aimed at the wrong consumer, or if the business has not clearly defined what success looks like. We explore how segmentation moves marketing from...

This episode covers WSET Diploma D2 – Chapter 9: Identifying the Product / Brand to be Marketed , one of the most quietly examinable chapters in the entire unit. Rather than treating branding as “marketing fluff,” this episode breaks down how wine products actually move from commodity to value, from anonymous to trusted, and from interchangeable to emotionally chosen. We walk through product life...

This episode covers WSET Diploma D2 — Chapter 8: An Introduction to Marketing Wine . Rather than treating marketing as promotion or branding alone, this chapter frames marketing as a profit-led management process rooted in understanding the target consumer and the experience they seek from wine — not just the liquid itself. We work through the core definition used by WSET, the five-stage marketing...

This episode covers WSET Diploma D2 — Chapters 6 and 7 . Chapter 6 focuses on the hospitality sector — bars and restaurants — and explains why hospitality represents a much higher share of value than volume in wine sales. We look at how specialist wine bars, general bars, and different restaurant formats each shape pricing, wine selection, margins, and producer suitability. Chapter 7 then widens t...

This episode covers D2 — Chapter 5: Reaching the End Consumer in a Free Market (Retail Sector) . We walk through the main retail channels — supermarkets, deep discounters, convenience stores, specialist wine retailers, hybrids, online retail, global travel retail, and wine investment companies — and the real D2 skill here is not listing them, but explaining fit : which channels suit which wines ,...

This episode covers WSET Diploma D2 — Chapter 4: Different Options for Getting Wine to the Point of Sale . It explores the main routes producers use once a wine is bottled — selling directly to retailers, appointing distributors, forming joint ventures, using brokers, and selling directly to consumers — and, more importantly, why each route makes sense in different contexts. Listen for the trade-o...

This episode covers WSET Diploma D2 — Chapter 3: Types of Business Engaged in the Production of Wine . Rather than treating “producer” as a single idea, this episode walks through the full spectrum of business models involved in wine production — estates, growers, grower-producers, merchants, grower-merchants, co-operatives, custom crush facilities, virtual wineries, and large conglomerates — and,...

This episode covers WSET Diploma D2 — Chapter 2: Factors that Affect the Price of a Bottle of Wine (Costs through the Supply Chain) . It’s an audible walk from vineyard to point of sale, focusing on what actually stacks into the final retail price: vineyard establishment and management, winery establishment and operating costs, maturation and cashflow, packaging, transport (including bulk vs bottl...

This episode covers WSET Diploma D2 — Chapter 1: Factors that Affect the Price of a Bottle of Wine (Supply & Demand). It’s designed as an audible cheat sheet — not to replace the textbook, but to help you hear the cause-and-effect logic examiners reward:how demand shifts, how supply is constrained or expanded, and why price moves differently for high-volume wines versus super-premium ones. Best us...

Episodes 13–15 form a complete, distinction-grade walkthrough of Rutherglen Muscat as assessed in the WSET Diploma D5 Fortified Wines unit. Episode 13 covers climate, grape growing, and vineyard foundations, explaining how warm continental conditions, diurnal cooling, long dry autumns, late harvesting, canopy shading, and old vines enable extreme natural sugar concentration while preserving Muscat...

Episodes 13–15 form a complete, distinction-grade walkthrough of Rutherglen Muscat as assessed in the WSET Diploma D5 Fortified Wines unit. Episode 13 covers climate, grape growing, and vineyard foundations, explaining how warm continental conditions, diurnal cooling, long dry autumns, late harvesting, canopy shading, and old vines enable extreme natural sugar concentration while preserving Muscat...

Episodes 13–15 form a complete, distinction-grade walkthrough of Rutherglen Muscat as assessed in the WSET Diploma D5 Fortified Wines unit. Episode 13 covers climate, grape growing, and vineyard foundations, explaining how warm continental conditions, diurnal cooling, long dry autumns, late harvesting, canopy shading, and old vines enable extreme natural sugar concentration while preserving Muscat...