Updated December 2021
How to study wine online
When Shelter-In-Place began, we immediately began thinking of ways to take advantage of the extra time at home. With wine always on our minds, we dove into our favorite wine books and movies, and decided to further our education with the UC Davis program and taking a WSET class which is now offered online!
WSET courses are for wine enthusiasts as well as professionals! Learn about regions, varietals, tasting methods, and much more. Courses are now available online, and as a result of the COVID pandemic, tests are now offered online for the first time!
For those in the US we recommend Napa Valley Wine Academy. The academy offers WSET Levels 1 – 4 online, and now includes some sample wine tasting kits with purchase.
For individuals in Europe, the WSET headquarters is in London and is a bit less expensive but does not include tasting kits.
Which Level WSET should I take?
WSET 1: ~8 hours minimum study time
For beginners who want to learn more about regions, varietals, etc. If you’re a cork dork and go wine tasting often, this might be too elementary. Take this sample quiz to see if you should skip and go straight to Level 2.
WSET 2: ~30 hours minimum study time
I’ve tasted at many wine regions across the world, and regularly geek out on wine blogs. Therefore, I started at Level 2.
You’ll learn more about decisions in wine making, grape varieties, and the tasting method to identify the quality of a wine. Napa Wine Academy now ships limited tasting kits to its students so you can go through the tasting methods with the instructor. Sample Quiz of what to expect for content in Level 2
WSET 3: ~85 hours minimum study time
This course covers 80+ wines, so we’d recommend taking this one in person for the best chance to calibrate one’s pallette. However, the class is offered online with tasting kits available and dedicated teachers figuring out how to make this work!
Taking the WSET online
There are definitely pros and cons of taking this course online. It’s great to study at your own pace, and not sacrifice nights or weekends to travel to a classroom. However, with online courses, you miss the opportunity to taste a variety of wines provided in the classroom as well as the invaluable experiences and connections with peers.
Overall, I enjoyed the experience. Napa Valley Wine Academy shipped us textbooks, provided an online course with many multiple choice modules to test your knowledge and sent us free at home tasting kits; these were comprised of 6 wines and included some gems–there was even a 2007 Sauternes!
What you’ll learn in a WSET course
You’ll learn about viticulture, winemaking, and the most “important” wine varietals and the regions that made them famous.
The teacher also provided a list of suggested wines to purchase to aid with your learning, and a free shipping code for wine.com so that you could get them quickly. I purchased 7 wines through this and luckily have an amazing fiance who tasted through these with me from the comfort of our home.
The test is difficult as there is a lot of memorization of content, however you only need 55% to pass.
My main complain was that it took about 5 weeks for the administrator of the test to review and provide results.
Luckily if you’re doing this for a hobby and not for your profession, this should not be much of an issue. It’s a great learning experience, that you’ll hopefully be able to use soon as tasting rooms are opening for outdoor experiences.
Ready to enroll? We recommend Napa Valley Wine Academy for taking the WSET certifications online.
