The Diploma Podcast

You can read the written article here: https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/to-age-or-not-to-age-3a0 Pair this episode with my article FlightPlan , which shows how the 5-sip method anchors structure before evaluating ageing potential. Read it here: https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/day-17-the-mirror-test-tasting-is This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or ge...

Editor Note Pair this episode with FlightPlan , my 5-sip tasting method for tasting with structure and clarity. Read it here: https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/day-17-the-mirror-test-tasting-is You can also read my full article on Tannin here: https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/cracking-the-tannin-code-f2a This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get acces...

To deepen your tasting practice, pair this episode with FlightPlan , my structured five-sip method that connects D3 tasting to D3 theory. You can read it here: https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/day-17-the-mirror-test-tasting-is You can also read my article on mid-palate weight here: https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/the-mystery-of-the-mid-palate-92f This is a public episode. If you'd like to dis...

Read the full article here: Beyond the Exam: When the Diploma Gets Real https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/beyond-the-exam-when-the-diploma-a48 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

Read the full written guide: The D3 Ironclad Theory Playbook https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/the-d3-ironclad-theory-playbook 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

Full article: The Mirror Test — Tasting is Theory https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/day-17-the-mirror-test-tasting-is 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

This episode is part of The Sommpour Diploma Series , focusing on the WSET Level 4 D2 Wine Business unit. It draws on official D2 examiner reports from 2019–2024 and the current D2 textbook to translate business concepts into clear, exam-ready thinking. The aim is not to teach accounting or marketing theory, but to help Diploma candidates understand how wine moves through the supply chain, how cos...

This episode is part of The Sunday Essay Club — On Air , a new Sommpour series exploring how high-scoring Diploma essays are actually built. It brings the quiet discipline of the Sunday Essay Club into an audio format: one question, one structure plan, and a clear look at the reasoning examiners reward. This is not about memorizing facts — it is about learning to think on paper. If you’d like to w...

This episode is part of The Sommpour Diploma Series , focused on the craft of writing clear, accurate responses for the WSET D1 Wine Production exam. It draws directly from examiner reports and the D1 textbook to highlight what candidates consistently overlook: command verbs, weighting discipline, technical vocabulary, and relevance. The aim is to help Diploma students express what they already kn...

This episode is part of The Sommpour Diploma Series , focused on the craft of writing high-scoring WSET theory answers. It draws directly from the official D4 textbook and examiner reports, translating their expectations into practical guidance for candidates preparing for the Sparkling Wines exam. The aim is simple: to help you write with accuracy, discipline, and intent in a unit where small tec...

If this episode helped bring the structure of D4 into focus, you’ll find the written side even sharper. Inside The Sommpour Study Circles, I share the full set of D4 one-pagers, production logic maps, tasting playbooks, and examiner-aligned frameworks that I use to teach candidates how to write with clarity under pressure. They’re designed exactly the way you study — distilled, accurate, and ancho...

This episode is part of The Sommpour Diploma Series , created for candidates preparing for the WSET D5 Fortified Wines exam. It distills the structural logic behind fortified wine production and tasting—timing, ageing, and deduction—based solely on the WSET Diploma specification. For the full written set of D5 one-pagers and playbooks mentioned in this episode, you can join The Sommpour Study Circ...

This episode is part of The Sommpour Diploma Series , created for candidates preparing for the WSET D5 Fortified Wines exam. It distills the structural logic behind fortified wine production and tasting—timing, ageing, and deduction—based solely on the WSET Diploma specification. For the full written set of D5 one-pagers and playbooks mentioned in this episode, you can join The Sommpour Study Circ...

This episode weaves together two pieces from The Sommpour’s D3 Ironclad Series — Reading Isn’t Remembering and The 2-7-30 Method for Wine Study — alongside recent memory research on how the brain consolidates new information. If you’d like to read the original essays, you’ll find them here: • Reading Isn’t Remembering https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/reading-isnt-remembering • The 2-7-30 Method...

This Deep-Cut is built entirely from the WSET Diploma chapter on China, with every climatic mechanism, vineyard practice, regional distinction, business reality, and stylistic cue drawn directly from the text and woven into a narrative designed to help the details stay with you. If you want the full written strategy — past paper patterns, vineyard–winery–business frameworks, and how I’m approachin...

You’ll find the full written companion article for this episode — Day 49: New Zealand Exam Strategy — linked directly to this podcast. 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

This Deep-Cut is built directly from the WSET Diploma chapter on Australia, turning its climate mechanics, regional distinctions, and stylistic signatures into a story that feels intuitive to remember and easy to retrieve under exam pressure. You’ll find the full companion article — Day 47: Australia Exam Strategy — linked to this episode. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this wi...

This Deep-Cut is built directly from the WSET Diploma chapter on South Africa, shaped into a story that makes the region’s climate, viticulture, and styles easier to hold in your mind during theory. You’ll find the full written companion article, Day 46: South Africa Exam Strategy , linked to this episode. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access...

Everything you hear in this Deep-Cut comes directly from the WSET Diploma text on Argentina, shaped into narrative so the region becomes something you can see , not just memorize. For deeper strategy — past papers, predicted angles, and how altitude and irrigation sit at the heart of every answer — the full companion article is linked to this episode: Day 45: Argentina Exam Strategy . This is a pu...

This Deep-Cut interprets Chile exactly as the WSET text presents it — a country whose viticulture only makes sense when seen through the push and pull of the Pacific and the Andes. All technical details are drawn from the Chile chapter and shaped into a narrative that you can carry into theory questions with confidence. The companion written strategy — Day 44: Chile Exam Strategy — is linked with...

This Deep-Cut is part of my own D3 preparation — the way I walk through regions until they stop feeling abstract and start feeling like places with logic, tension, and identity. All technical details here come from the WSET Diploma text for Canada, brought into a story that I hope helps you understand both the environment and the way it shapes wine. If you want to go deeper into exam angles, past-...

This Deep-Cut explores the two most exam-relevant US wine regions beyond the West Coast giants: Washington and New York. These are places shaped by water — its absence in one, its overwhelming presence in the other — and by growers who built their industries against climatic odds. All technical details come directly from the WSET D3 chapters on Washington and New York, woven through my own revisio...

This Deep-Cut is my way of understanding Oregon through both its physical landscape and its cultural one — a place where cool winds, long summer daylight, and fiercely independent growers are as defining as soil type. All technical references come directly from the WSET D3 Oregon chapter, woven through my own study lens as a fellow candidate. If you’d like the written strategy — exam patterns, reg...

This Deep-Cut is my way of navigating one of the most sprawling, contradictory, and exam-dense regions in the Diploma syllabus. All technical details come directly from the WSET D3 chapter on California, woven through the lens of how I’m studying and making sense of this landscape myself. If you’d like the written strategy — the exam patterns, the regional comparisons, and how I’m prioritizing my...

This Deep-Cut is part of my region-by-region walk through the Diploma syllabus — this time across Portugal, where granite, schist, limestone, and clay all seem to be in constant negotiation with the Atlantic and the sun. All technical references here are grounded in the WSET D3 Portugal chapter and then shaped through my own study lens as a fellow candidate. If you’d like the full written breakdow...