CMS Blind Tasting Practice — 10 White Wine Scenarios

Last updated August 2026

Ten complete white wine tasting notes, written as an examiner would present them. Read the appearance, nose and palate straight through, commit to an answer out loud with your reasoning, and only then open the reveal. Each explanation names all three wrong options and explains specifically why the note excludes them.

Whites are where structure does most of the work, because the aromatic overlaps are severe — Viognier and Gewürztraminer both arrive oily, low in acid and high in alcohol, and telling them apart comes down to apricot against lychee. Alcohol is the other great discriminator: a wine at 8.5% with real sweetness and a wine at 10.5% bone dry are each pointing at almost exactly one place on earth. The deductive method walkthrough sets out the sequence these notes assume.

Scenario 1

Appearance. Pale lemon with a distinct green tinge. Low-medium intensity. Clear, bright.

Nose. Clean. Pronounced intensity. Fruit: lime, green apple, under-ripe white peach. Floral: white blossom. Other: wet slate, crushed stone. No oak.

Palate. Off-dry — clearly perceptible residual sugar, but weightless. Very high acidity. Low alcohol (8.5%). Light body. Lime and slate, the sweetness cut clean by acid. Long, mouth-watering finish.

What grape variety and region is this wine most likely from?

• Riesling, Clare Valley
• Riesling, Mosel Kabinett
• Grüner Veltliner, Wachau
• Chenin Blanc, Vouvray

Reveal the answer

Riesling, Mosel Kabinett

Low alcohol at 8.5% with genuine residual sugar and very high acidity is a combination almost unique to Mosel Prädikat Riesling, and Kabinett is where that balance sits. Lime and wet slate confirm both grape and place. Note there is no petrol here — TDN develops with bottle age, so a young Kabinett should not show it. Clare Valley Riesling is bone dry at 12–12.5% with lime and pronounced minerality but no sweetness. Wachau Grüner would be dry, typically 11.5–13.5% depending on the Vinea Wachau category, with white pepper and celery rather than slate. Vouvray could be off-dry but would show quince, wet wool and chamomile at around 12.5%, with a waxier texture.

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Scenario 2

Appearance. Pale lemon. Low-medium intensity. Clear, bright.

Nose. Clean. Pronounced intensity. Fruit: passion fruit, gooseberry, grapefruit, green mango. Herb: freshly cut grass, tomato leaf, green capsicum. Other: crushed shell. No oak.

Palate. Dry. High acidity. Medium alcohol (13%). Medium body. Explosively aromatic, tropical and green at once. Medium-plus length.

What grape variety and region is this wine most likely from?

• Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre
• Verdejo, Rueda
• Albariño, Rías Baixas
• Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough

Reveal the answer

Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough

The sheer intensity settles this. Passion fruit and grapefruit come from volatile thiols, and Marlborough produces them at concentrations no other region matches, sitting alongside pyrazine-driven cut grass and capsicum. That tropical-and-green combination at full volume is the regional signature. Sancerre is the same grape but far more restrained — white currant and gooseberry over flint and chalk, with tropical fruit largely absent. Rueda Verdejo shows fennel and bitter almond alongside citrus, with a characteristically bitter finish. Albariño would be citrus and white peach with salinity, and nothing like this herbaceous lift.

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Scenario 3

Appearance. Pale lemon, faint green core. Low intensity. Clear, bright.

Nose. Clean. Medium-plus intensity. Fruit: green apple, ripe lemon, white peach edge, under-ripe pear. Other: oyster shell, wet chalk, a faint saline note. Oak: none discernible.

Palate. Dry. High acidity. Medium alcohol (12.5%). Medium body, with real fruit weight across the mid-palate. Taut and stony, with a saline mineral finish. Medium-plus length.

What grape variety and region is this wine most likely from?

• Chardonnay, Meursault
• Chardonnay, Chablis
• Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie
• Assyrtiko, Santorini

Reveal the answer

Chardonnay, Chablis

Chardonnay grown cool and unoaked: green apple and lemon, high acid, 12.5% alcohol, and the oyster-shell and chalk character associated with Chablis. The fruit has real definition, which separates it from more neutral varieties. Meursault is the same grape some 75 miles to the south-southeast but would be medium gold with hazelnut, brioche and butter at 13.5%, having seen both oak and malolactic conversion. Muscadet shares the oyster shell and saline finish, so the call rests on fruit rather than minerality: Melon de Bourgogne is a far more neutral grape, giving a lighter, narrower mid-palate with little stone fruit, where this wine carries ripe lemon and a peach edge with genuine weight. Santorini Assyrtiko would be more overtly saline and volcanic with a firmer, almost bitter finish at 13.5%.

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Scenario 4

Appearance. Medium gold. Medium intensity. Clear, bright, viscous legs.

Nose. Clean. Pronounced intensity. Fruit: baked yellow apple, ripe pear, lemon curd. Oak: toasted hazelnut, brioche, sweet vanilla, subtle toast. Other: struck match and gunflint, warm butter, crushed oyster shell.

Palate. Dry. Medium-plus acidity. Medium-plus alcohol (13.5%). Full body, rich and creamy with a fine lees texture. Nutty, savoury, long.

What grape variety and region is this wine most likely from?

• Chardonnay, Meursault
• Chardonnay, Chablis
• Chardonnay, Napa Valley
• Sémillon, Barsac

Reveal the answer

Chardonnay, Meursault

Barrel-fermented Chardonnay with malolactic conversion, lees ageing and a reductive struck-match note — hazelnut and brioche over baked apple at 13.5% with medium-plus acidity retained. Struck match is very much a feature of modern top Meursault rather than a fault or a New World marker. Chablis would be pale lemon, unoaked or lightly so, leaner and more overtly stony at 12.5%. Napa Chardonnay would push riper — pineapple and yellow peach, more overt sweet vanilla and coconut, 14% or above, and lower acidity. Barsac Sémillon would be sweet, with botrytis honey and saffron.

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Scenario 5

Appearance. Medium gold with a faint pink-copper tint. Medium-plus intensity. Clear, viscous.

Nose. Clean. Pronounced intensity. Fruit: lychee, ripe yellow peach. Floral: rose petal, orange blossom. Spice: ginger, allspice. Other: Turkish delight, a faint bacon-fat richness. No obvious oak.

Palate. Dry to just off-dry. Low acidity. High alcohol (14%). Full body, oily and broad. Perfumed and faintly bitter on the finish. Medium-plus length.

What grape variety and region is this wine most likely from?

• Viognier, Condrieu
• Gewürztraminer, Alsace
• Torrontés, Salta
• Muscat, Beaumes-de-Venise

Reveal the answer

Gewürztraminer, Alsace

Lychee, rose petal and ginger with low acidity, high alcohol and an oily full body is Gewürztraminer, and the pink-copper tint comes from its pink-skinned berries. Alsace is where it reaches this weight while staying essentially dry. Condrieu Viognier overlaps on low acid and high alcohol but leads with apricot and honeysuckle — no lychee, no ginger. Salta Torrontés is far lighter and higher in acid at 12.5–13%, with rose and citrus rather than this oily breadth. Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise would be sweet and fortified at around 15%, with grapey orange-peel intensity.

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Scenario 6

Appearance. Medium gold. Medium intensity. Clear, viscous.

Nose. Clean. Pronounced intensity. Fruit: apricot, white peach, ripe tangerine. Floral: honeysuckle, orange blossom, acacia. Other: a faint musky, almost oily note. Oak: barely perceptible.

Palate. Dry. Low-to-medium acidity. High alcohol (14%). Full body, oily and glycerol-rich. Stone fruit and blossom with a soft, broad finish. Medium-plus length.

What grape variety and region is this wine most likely from?

• Gewürztraminer, Alsace
• Chardonnay, Mâconnais
• Marsanne, Hermitage Blanc
• Viognier, Condrieu

Reveal the answer

Viognier, Condrieu

Apricot and honeysuckle carried on an oily, low-acid, high-alcohol frame is Viognier, and Condrieu is where it is at its most concentrated and floral. Apricot in particular is the anchor marker. Alsace Gewürztraminer shares the weight and low acid but would give lychee, rose and ginger instead of apricot and honeysuckle. Mâconnais Chardonnay would be crisper and more citrus- and apple-driven at 13%, with higher acidity and no blossom. Hermitage Blanc Marsanne would be waxier and nuttier with almond and quince, and typically less overtly floral.

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Scenario 7

Appearance. Pale lemon. Low-medium intensity. Clear, bright.

Nose. Clean. Medium-plus intensity. Fruit: green apple, white grapefruit, lime zest. Vegetal: celery, fennel frond, fresh garden pea. Spice: white pepper, distinct. Other: wet stone, crushed lentil.

Palate. Dry. High acidity. Medium alcohol (12.5%). Medium body with a faintly textured, peppery grip. Savoury and mineral through the finish. Medium-plus length.

What grape variety and region is this wine most likely from?

• Grüner Veltliner, Niederösterreich
• Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre
• Pinot Grigio, Alto Adige
• Chardonnay, Petit Chablis

Reveal the answer

Grüner Veltliner, Niederösterreich

White pepper alongside celery, fennel and a lentil-like savouriness is Grüner Veltliner and very little else. The pepper is rotundone — the same compound responsible for pepper in cool-climate Syrah, and Grüner is one of the few white varieties in which it is well documented. Sancerre would show gooseberry and white currant over flint, with a green herbaceousness rather than this peppery, vegetal savour. Alto Adige Pinot Grigio would be more neutral — pear and almond, lighter, without pepper. Petit Chablis Chardonnay would give green apple and chalk with no vegetal or peppery character at all.

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Scenario 8

Appearance. Pale lemon. Low-medium intensity. Clear, bright.

Nose. Clean. Medium-plus intensity. Fruit: lemon, grapefruit pith, ripe white peach, apricot skin, faint nectarine. Floral: white blossom. Other: sea spray, crushed shell, a subtle yeasty lees note. No herbal or resinous character.

Palate. Dry. High acidity. Medium alcohol (12.5%). Medium body with a slight textural grip. Citrus and salinity, faintly bitter on the finish. Medium-plus length.

What grape variety and region is this wine most likely from?

• Albariño, Rías Baixas
• Chardonnay, Chablis
• Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough
• Picpoul de Pinet, Languedoc

Reveal the answer

Albariño, Rías Baixas

Citrus and white peach carried on high acid with pronounced salinity and a faintly bitter, textured finish is Albariño from Atlantic Galicia. The subtle lees note is common in the style. Chablis would be more overtly apple-and-oyster-shell, leaner and less peachy, without this stone-fruit weight. Marlborough Sauvignon would be far more aromatic, with passion fruit, gooseberry and cut grass at pronounced intensity. Picpoul de Pinet is also coastal, saline and high in acid, but stays firmly in lemon-and-lime territory with a leaner, simpler mid-palate — it would not give this ripe white peach and apricot-skin weight.

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Scenario 9

Appearance. Medium gold. Medium intensity. Clear, bright.

Nose. Clean. Pronounced intensity. Fruit: lemon curd, lemon marmalade, candied citrus peel, dried apricot. Other: buttered toast, beeswax, honey, a faint smoky note. Oak: none — no vanilla, no coconut, no spice.

Palate. Dry. Very high acidity. Low alcohol (10.5%). Light-to-medium body. Intensely citric beneath the toast, with a long, taut, mouth-watering finish.

What grape variety and region is this wine most likely from?

• Chenin Blanc, Savennières
• Riesling, Rheingau
• Sémillon, Hunter Valley
• Chardonnay, Chablis Premier Cru

Reveal the answer

Sémillon, Hunter Valley

The diagnostic is the contradiction: pronounced toast and honey with no oak markers whatsoever, at only 10.5% alcohol with very high acidity. Aged Hunter Semillon is picked early, fermented cool in tank and bottled young at low alcohol, then develops toast, lanolin and honey purely from time in glass — one of the few wines in the world that tastes oaked and never saw a barrel. Savennières Chenin would sit at 13–14% with a broader, waxier body and a wet-wool, chamomile register, and would not build this dense toast-and-marmalade layer without oak. Rheingau Riesling would give lime and stone fruit with TDN petrol on age, and would not produce this toast character. Chablis Premier Cru would sit at 12.5–13% with green apple and chalk.

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Scenario 10

Appearance. Medium lemon-gold. Medium intensity. Clear, bright.

Nose. Clean. Pronounced intensity. Fruit: quince, baked apple, ripe pear. Floral: chamomile, acacia. Other: wet wool, lanolin, honey, damp straw, a faint chalky note.

Palate. Off-dry — noticeable sweetness balanced rather than sugary. High acidity. Medium alcohol (12.5%). Medium body, waxy in texture. Quince and honey through a long, fresh finish.

What grape variety and region is this wine most likely from?

• Riesling, Mosel Spätlese
• Furmint, Tokaji Late Harvest
• Chenin Blanc, Vouvray Demi-Sec
• Pinot Gris, Alsace

Reveal the answer

Chenin Blanc, Vouvray Demi-Sec

Wet wool and lanolin over quince and honey — at 12.5% with high acidity and this degree of balanced sweetness — is Loire Chenin in its demi-sec register. Lanolin alone will not identify Chenin, since aged Semillon can show it too; here it is the structural frame, the quince and the chamomile together that make the call. Mosel Spätlese Riesling would be lower in alcohol at 8–9%, with lime and slate rather than quince and wool, and a more weightless sweetness. Tokaji Furmint would bring smoke and flint alongside the apple and honey, with even higher acidity. Alsace Pinot Gris would be broader and lower in acid, showing baked apple, honey and smoke without the wool or chamomile.

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Now try the ten red wine scenarios, or revisit the deductive method walkthrough. For theory rather than tasting, the sommelier practice exams hub has free topic quizzes for both Certified and Advanced.