The WSET Level 1 Award in Wines is a beginner qualification assessed by a closed-book exam of 30 multiple-choice questions completed in 45 minutes, marked out of 30 with a pass at 70 per cent. Questions follow three learning outcomes weighted 6, 18 and 6: grape growing and winemaking; the types, characteristics and styles of wines from the principal grape varieties; and the storage, service and food pairing principles. Study the learning outcomes in the official Specification, Issue 1.2 (2022), practise with its five sample questions, and enrol through a WSET Approved Programme Provider, since all courses and exams run through them.
What the Level 1 Award actually assesses
A beginner qualification for people with little or no prior wine knowledge, tested entirely by one multiple-choice exam against three learning outcomes.
The WSET Level 1 Award in Wines is intended for people starting from scratch, including staff who handle wine as part of a wider beverage range in retail and hospitality. WSET states that successful candidates can explain key stages in grape growing and winemaking, list the principal types and styles of wine, describe the key characteristics of wines from the principal grape varieties and other named examples, and apply the key principles of storage and service.
Everything is assessed against three learning outcomes: grape growing and winemaking; the types, characteristics and styles of wines from the principal grape varieties and other examples; and storage and service of wine, including food pairing. The tasting framework taught on the course, the WSET Level 1 Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine (SAT), is a course skill rather than an exam question type, and the exam itself contains no tasting.
This guide follows those three outcomes in order, because the specification tells providers and candidates to use them to plan study: the exam is specifically set to test them.
- Learning Outcome 1: know the key stages in grape growing and winemaking.
- Learning Outcome 2: know the types, characteristics and styles of wines from the principal grape varieties and other examples of wines.
- Learning Outcome 3: know the key principles and practices involved in the storage and service of wine.
Official sources: WSET Level 1 Award in Wines - Wine Courses & Studies | Wine & Spirit Education Trust — Qualification page: what you'll learn, delivery, assessment, entry requirements; WSET Level 1 Award in Wines Specification, Issue 1.2 (2022) — Learning outcomes and ranges, recommended tasting samples, SAT grid, examination guidance, sample questions, examination regulations
Entry, study time and languages
No entry restrictions, a minimum of six hours of guided study including the exam itself, and no barrier if you cannot taste alcohol.
There are no restrictions on entry and no prior knowledge or experience is required. If you are under the legal minimum age for purchasing alcohol in the exam country, or you choose not to taste alcohol for health or religious reasons, you will not be allowed to sample alcoholic beverages during the course, but this is explicitly not a barrier to completing the qualification.
The Total Qualification Time is six hours, all of it guided learning with a WSET Approved Programme Provider (APP) in a classroom or online. That six hours includes the 45 minutes of the exam, so this is a compact course rather than a long study programme. Delivery details vary by provider, and WSET lists thirteen available study languages, from English and Spanish to Japanese and Turkish.
The qualification is regulated by Ofqual, the UK qualifications regulator. Enrolment always runs through an APP, which delivers the course and administers the exam on WSET's behalf.
- Minimum study time: 6 hours, all guided, including the 45-minute exam.
- Study routes: classroom or online with an Approved Programme Provider.
- Available in 13 listed languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese (Traditional).
- Under-age or non-tasting candidates can still complete the qualification.
Official sources: WSET Level 1 Award in Wines - Wine Courses & Studies | Wine & Spirit Education Trust — Qualification page: what you'll learn, delivery, assessment, entry requirements; WSET Level 1 Award in Wines Specification, Issue 1.2 (2022) — Learning outcomes and ranges, recommended tasting samples, SAT grid, examination guidance, sample questions, examination regulations
Exam format and how the marks are distributed
One closed-book paper of 30 multiple-choice questions in 45 minutes, one mark each, no penalty for wrong answers, pass at 70 per cent.
The exam is closed book: no reference material of any kind, and answers go on a computer-readable sheet. Each question has exactly one correct answer worth one mark, and marks are not subtracted for incorrect answers, so you should answer every question even when unsure. The pass mark is 70 per cent, and results are graded Pass or Fail only.
WSET publishes the exact weighting: all questions are based on the published learning outcomes, and the recommended study materials contain what you need to answer them. Results are issued through your course provider, first as an electronic grade list and then as posted letters and certificates.
This weighting should shape your revision time. Learning Outcome 2 alone carries 18 of the 30 marks, so varieties, styles and example wines deserve the largest share of your six study hours and any extra self-study.
- 30 multiple-choice questions, one mark each, answered in 45 minutes.
- No negative marking, so never leave a question blank.
- Pass at 70 per cent or above; Pass or Fail only.
- Results issued by WSET Awards via your Approved Programme Provider.
| Learning outcome | Focus | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Learning Outcome 1 | Grape growing and winemaking | 6 |
| Learning Outcome 2 | Types, characteristics and styles of wines from the principal varieties and other examples | 18 |
| Learning Outcome 3 | Storage, service and food and wine pairing | 6 |
| Total | 30 |
Learning Outcome 1: grape growing and winemaking
Six questions on grape structure, the growing cycle, climates, fermentation and the ordered production stages for still white, red and rosé wines.
The specification's assessment criteria ask you to name the main parts of a grape and what they contain: the skin, which gives colour and tannin, and the pulp, which holds water, sugar and acid. You also need the key stages in the annual cycle of grape growing, including what happens during ripening, and the two named climates, cool and warm, which you must be able to define and connect to their effect on grape characteristics.
For winemaking, memorise alcoholic fermentation in two columns: it requires sugar and yeast, and it produces alcohol and carbon dioxide. The production stages lend themselves to an ordering task, because in the specification's outline the three styles differ in sequence, not just in grape colour.
The specification names the climate topics without listing each effect in the retrieved ranges, so collect those details from your provider's study pack. The stage sequences below, however, come straight from the specification.
Practice exercise
Using the specification’s introductory production outlines, put these six red-wine stages in order. Identify the stage omitted from its rosé outline, and state where pressing appears in its white-wine outline: fermentation, crushing, bottling, draining, maturation, pressing.
Show answer
Red wine: crushing, fermentation, draining, pressing, maturation, bottling. In the specification's outline, rosé follows the same sequence but omits pressing. White wine, made from white grapes, is pressed before fermentation: crushing, pressing, fermentation, maturation, bottling.
These sequences are the specification's introductory outline of still wine production, which is what Level 1 asks you to order. In that outline, red and rosé are both made from black grapes and both are drained after fermentation, but only red wine is then pressed; white wine is pressed before fermentation, so its juice ferments without the skin contact that gives red wine its colour and tannin. Treat this as the syllabus sequence to memorise rather than a rule about every real winemaking decision, because a simplified course outline can leave out steps that producers use in practice.
- Parts of a grape: skin (colour, tannin) and pulp (water, sugar, acid).
- Annual cycle: key stages include flowering and grape ripening.
- Climates: cool and warm, with their effect on grape characteristics.
- Alcoholic fermentation: needs sugar and yeast; produces alcohol and carbon dioxide.
- Production: know the ordered stages for still white, red and rosé wines.
Learning Outcome 2: types, varieties and example wines
The 18-question core: wine types, the characteristics behind styles, the four principal white and four black varieties, and named example wines placed into the right category.
Start with the framework. Wine types are still, sparkling and fortified. Style characteristics are colour (white, red, rosé), notable structural characteristics (sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body) and typical aromas and flavours (fruit, oak, other). A wine's style is a combination of these characteristics.
Then learn the eight principal varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and Riesling for whites, and Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Syrah/Shiraz for blacks. The specification requires you to identify the characteristics and styles of their wines and to link example wines back to the varieties behind them.
The example-wine list is where candidates lose easy marks, because it is pure recall. The specification names Sancerre, Chablis and white Burgundy as white wines from principal varieties; red Burgundy and Bordeaux as reds; Champagne as sparkling. Under other examples it lists Sauternes (white), White Zinfandel (rosé), Beaujolais, Côtes du Rhône, Chianti, Rioja and Châteauneuf-du-Pape (red), Prosecco and Cava (sparkling), and Sherry and Port (fortified). Learn each name with its category, and check your provider's materials for the characteristic detail of each variety and wine, which the retrieved specification ranges name as topics without spelling out.
The official sample questions show the style of this outcome: one asks which variety produces red wine, with Cabernet Sauvignon correct against Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Chardonnay; another asks what kind of wine Chablis is, with dry white correct.
Practice exercise
Sort these ten wines into sparkling, fortified and still, and for each still wine state its colour: Champagne, Prosecco, Cava, Sherry, Port, Sauternes, Chablis, Beaujolais, White Zinfandel, Chianti.
Show answer
Sparkling: Champagne, Prosecco, Cava. Fortified: Sherry, Port. Still white: Sauternes and Chablis (the official sample questions confirm Chablis is a dry white wine). Still red: Beaujolais and Chianti. Still rosé: White Zinfandel.
Every wine here appears in the specification's example ranges with its category: Champagne, Prosecco and Cava under sparkling; Sherry and Port under fortified; Sauternes and Chablis under white; Beaujolais and Chianti under red; White Zinfandel under rosé. The specification places each name in its category; the style detail behind it, such as how a wine actually tastes, belongs in your provider's study materials, which the specification says contain the information needed to answer the questions. If any pairing felt uncertain, that wine goes on your revision list, since example-wine questions sit in the 18-mark core of the paper.
- Types: still, sparkling, fortified.
- Structural characteristics: sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body.
- White varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Riesling.
- Black varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah/Shiraz.
- Memorise every named example wine with its category before exam day.
Learning Outcome 3: storage, service and food pairing
Six questions on ideal storage, preserving opened wine, service temperatures, serving procedure, and how food components change the taste of wine.
For storage, the specification's conditions are temperature, light and the position of the bottle, and opened wine is preserved with a vacuum system or a blanket system. For service, you need the opening procedures for still and sparkling wine, glassware, and the checks on the wine's appearance and nose when serving.
Service temperatures are given as descriptions rather than degree figures, and the specification's wording is worth memorising exactly, because the exam asks you to identify the recommended description for each style.
Pairing questions test interactions, not dish memorisation. The specification's list of food components covers sweetness, umami, salt, acidity, flavour intensity, fat and chilli heat, acting on wine components of sweetness, acidity, bitterness (tannins, oak), fruitiness and alcohol. WSET's own pairing guidance explains the direction: salty food can make tannic wines smoother, acidic food softens highly acidic wines, and umami-rich dishes such as ramen tend to make wines taste more bitter while dulling their fruit.
The official sample questions include a pairing item in exactly this true-or-false form, and it is a good self-check on whether you have the directions right.
- Ideal storage: temperature, light and position of the bottle.
- Preserving opened wine: vacuum system or blanket system.
- Serving: opening still and sparkling wine, glassware, checks on appearance and nose.
- Food components that affect wine: sweetness, umami, salt, acidity, flavour intensity, fat, chilli heat.
| Wine style | Specification service temperature description |
|---|---|
| Sparkling wines | Well chilled |
| Sweet wines | Well chilled |
| Light- and medium-bodied white and rosé | Chilled |
| Full-bodied white | Lightly chilled |
| Light-bodied red | Lightly chilled |
| Medium- and full-bodied red | Room temperature |
Official sources: WSET Level 1 Award in Wines Specification, Issue 1.2 (2022) — Learning outcomes and ranges, recommended tasting samples, SAT grid, examination guidance, sample questions, examination regulations; Wine food matching essentials | Wine & Spirit Education Trust — Pairing principles: salt, fat and acidity softening tannic wines; umami effect; How to pair wine with your favourite takeaway meals | Wine & Spirit Education Trust — Food component effects on wine, including umami-driven dishes making wines taste more bitter
Tasting on the course: the Level 1 Systematic Approach
The SAT structures tasting notes under three headings, and you taste three reds, two whites and one sweet wine or rosé during the course. No tasting expertise is assumed.
The WSET Level 1 Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine is taught and practised in class, not examined in the multiple-choice paper. Its structure is deliberately simple: appearance with colour (white, red, rosé); nose with aroma characteristics such as fruit, oak or other; and palate with the notable structural characteristics of sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol and body, plus flavour characteristics.
If structured tasting notes feel intimidating, remember that this qualification is intended for people with little or no prior knowledge of wine. The SAT works as a fill-in framework rather than a free-form skill, so you record what you sense under fixed headings while your tutor talks the class wines through, and the only graded assessment remains the 30-question paper.
Recommended tasting samples are three red wines and two white wines from the principal grape varieties, chosen to display contrasting notable characteristics, plus one sweet wine named in Learning Outcome 2 or one rosé. Your provider selects the actual bottles.
If you want extra practice, sorting your own observations under the three headings for any wine you drink at home is a reasonable optional routine; it builds the vocabulary the written questions rely on without changing what you are graded on.
Practice exercise
In class you taste a wine and jot these plain notes: it looks pink; you smell strawberry and a touch of oak; it tastes slightly sweet, with a freshness that makes your mouth water; there is no drying, bitter grip; the alcohol gives a gentle warming feeling; the wine feels light in the mouth; the flavour is red fruit. Sort every note under the three SAT headings and the structural characteristics listed in the specification.
Show answer
Appearance: colour — pink, so rosé. Nose: aroma characteristics — fruit (strawberry) and oak. Palate: sweetness (slightly sweet); acidity (freshness that makes the mouth water); tannin (none, because there is no drying, bitter grip); alcohol (a gentle warming feeling); body (light); flavour characteristics — fruit (red fruit).
The Level 1 SAT gives you three headings — appearance (colour), nose (aroma characteristics) and palate (structural characteristics plus flavour characteristics) — and five structural characteristics to cover: sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol and body. The wording of your own observations is up to you; at this level the specification supplies the headings and the characteristic list, not a fixed intensity vocabulary. Naming all five structural characteristics, even when one is absent, is what keeps the note complete.
- Appearance: colour (white, red, rosé).
- Nose: aroma characteristics, for example fruit, oak, other.
- Palate: sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body, plus flavour characteristics.
- Recommended samples: three reds, two whites, and one sweet wine or rosé.
How to prepare, and what to practise with
Study the published learning outcomes, use the five official sample questions because WSET releases no past papers, and lean on your provider's materials for variety detail.
The specification tells candidates to plan study around the learning outcomes because the exam tests exactly those, and it states that the recommended study materials contain the information needed to answer the questions. Build a one-page checklist: write out each assessment criterion, then mark it can-do or needs review and return to the matching outcome rather than rereading your notes.
Past papers do not exist for candidates: WSET does not release them for this qualification. Your realistic practice set is the five official sample questions in the specification, plus any materials your APP supplies. Work through the samples once early, map each to its learning outcome, and again in your last week as a timed check.
Two honest scope notes. First, the specification ranges name the climate topics and the variety characteristics without stating each detail in the passages retrieved for this guide, so treat specific variety hallmarks and climate effects as provider-material content to confirm rather than as facts this guide can teach. Second, a topic list on this site mentions 'Social Responsibility and Health', but the retrieved specification sections do not name it among the three learning outcomes; check your provider's study pack before spending exam time on it.
Given the 6-18-6 weighting, a simple split works: one short session for Learning Outcome 1, the largest share for the varieties, styles and example wines of Learning Outcome 2, and one session for storage, service and pairing, finishing with a mixed review of all three.
- Write each assessment criterion on one page and track it as can-do or needs review.
- Do the five official sample questions twice: once at the start, once timed at the end.
- Give Learning Outcome 2 roughly three times the time of either other outcome.
- Confirm variety hallmark details and climate effects in your provider's study materials.
- Use the site's free practice questions and study-guide collection as supplementary drills.
Exam day rules you agree to
Photographic ID, no devices or dictionaries, no leaving in the first 15 minutes, and papers are never returned.
These are published conditions candidates agree to when they sit the closed-book exam, so knowing them in advance avoids surprises on the day. Your invigilator runs the room and their instructions are binding.
On results: if you are unsuccessful you may resit, with no limit on attempts, but candidates who have passed are not permitted to retake to improve their grade. If you need a re-mark or feedback, you request an Enquiry and Feedback Form through your APP.
- Bring photographic ID and show it to the invigilator at the start.
- No electronic devices, no dictionaries of any kind, no reference material.
- Phones switched off and out of sight, never on the desk.
- No leaving the room during the first 15 minutes; a start more than 30 minutes late is normally not permitted.
- Question papers and answer sheets stay in the room and are not returned to candidates.
- Unlimited resits if you fail; no retakes after a pass.
Official documents and further study
Use the Level 1 qualification page and the Specification, Issue 1.2 (2022), as your official sources; for further study, the specification recommends progressing to WSET's Level 2 wine qualification.
Everything in this guide traces to two official documents. The Level 1 qualification page on wsetglobal.com covers what you will learn, course delivery, assessment and entry requirements, and links to the downloadable specification. The Specification, Issue 1.2 (2022) contains the learning outcomes and ranges, recommended tasting samples, examination guidance, the five sample questions and the examination regulations this guide follows.
On progression, the specification states that the Level 1 Award, or an equivalent level of experience, is recommended for entry to the WSET Level 2 Award in Wines and Spirits. That qualification now appears on WSET's site as the Level 2 Award in Wines, so check the current course page and provider requirements when planning your next step.
Official sources: WSET Level 1 Award in Wines - Wine Courses & Studies | Wine & Spirit Education Trust — Qualification page: what you'll learn, delivery, assessment, entry requirements; WSET Level 1 Award in Wines Specification, Issue 1.2 (2022) — Learning outcomes and ranges, recommended tasting samples, SAT grid, examination guidance, sample questions, examination regulations
Official sources
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