d3: the aftermath

doing this in lieu of debriefing everyone in my life

I can’t believe I’m on the other side of the D3 exam. Two years of intense, high-level study and now…it’s over (hopefully).

Decompressing is difficult - more difficult than I had anticipated. I’m already so programmed to get up early and study. And now I don’t have to. It’s hard to break that pattern.

day one: theory

I’d slept horribly the night before. My nerves were shot. I chugged some coffee, and arrived to the school early and tried to go over some last-minute notes. That was an exercise in futility - my eyes glazed over with each page I turned. My prep about two weeks leading up to the exam had been much of the same - couldn’t focus on anything.

The theory day is broken up into two sections with an hour-long lunch break in between. The first section was 2 hours long and the second section was an hour and 20 minutes long. In the first section, you’re given four questions and get to omit one. In the second section, you’re given three questions and get to omit one for a total of five answered questions. You have to get a 55% on this section (all five questions combined) to pass theory.

The questions are below:

I omitted questions 4 and 7, as I didn’t feel confident in my ability to completely answer either of those.

You’re taught to allot about 40 minutes per question to outline and write your response. After the first section, my hand cramped up so much. I feel like no amount of preparation can touch the stamina you need to physically write everything needed in the timeframe given. After the second section, I nearly had a blister form from holding my pencil.

day two: tasting

For tasting exams, it’s important to set yourself up for success and not have anything that would skew your palate. So, I didn’t end up brushing my teeth with toothpaste until about 4pm that day. I had my coffee very early in the morning, then calibrated my palate with a Barossa Valley Semillon after breakfast. There wasn’t really anything to study at this point - just do the damn thing.

Like theory, the tasting portion is broken up into two sections. The first section were the grape variety and country flights. After an hour-long lunch break, the second section started with the regional and mixed bag flights.

The exam wines (released a day after the exam) are below:

The first section had me feeling great. I nailed the grape variety and country flights. I stuck my nose in the first three wines and when I got to wine 3, I knew it was Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Wine 2 had to be Napa because it had some evidence of oak. I called Wine 1 Bordeaux Blanc instead of Pouilly-Fumé - not a bad miss.

Again, smelled the whites of the country flight before the red. Wine 4 smelled like lime and petrol (classic for Clare/Eden Valley Riesling). Wine 6 smelled incredibly familiar - just like the wine I’d calibrated with in the morning. I was like “this smells like a car tire….OH THIS IS HUNTER VALLEY SEMILLON.” Truly a gift. The Cab had that classic eucalyptus note that brings me to Australia. Another fun fact - I was blinded on that exact Coonawarra Cab about a month before the exam.

So, felt great after those two flights. Had lunch. Then had to lock in for the last two flights.

At this point, my mind was slowly losing focus. It’s difficult to stay that focused for that long over a span of two days. The regional flight gave me trouble, and this is truly where I started to unravel. The alcohol felt high and I was getting a ton of red fruit but not much of any carbonic maceration notes, so I started my deductive reasoning process. I landed on Veneto and called them all Valpolicella wines. Maybe not a bad miss as I likely picked up points in my descriptions of the wines.

The mixed bag is rough because it can be anything. Wine 10 felt like an Albariño to me (not a bad miss from Vinho Verde). I nailed the Rioja Reserva. And honestly for shiggles, I called Wine 12 Xinomavro - I mean I wasn’t going to call it Valpolicella because I’d just called that in the regional flight. I was struggling with placing it, and given the structure, it felt like Xinomavro to me 🤷🏽‍♀️

Hopefully I’ve picked up enough points to pass both theory and tasting. I don’t find out results till January, so I’ve got to put all of this in the back of my mind and learn to enjoy the free time I now have.

I came home to many congratulations and celebrations. I am so incredibly thankful for the community of folks around me who have helped me to get here. I am so humbled by everyone’s support and encouragement.

Here’s to passing these exams and becoming a dipWSET in January,

- j