Tasting Fortified Wines the WSET Level 4 way with Lauren Denyer

This show was published Friday, March 10, 2023

Overview

Lauren is a Level 4 tutor at WSET School, London Bridge. In this episode we cover how to taste fortified wines at Level 4. It is one of the weakest areas for students as people aren't necessarily drinking them regularly and so they are less familiar with the styles. A whole unit at Diploma level is devoted to fortified wines.

In terms of appearance it can be difficult to tell whether you even have a red wine or a white wine in front of you (e.g. a port, a sherry, madeira etc) but tasting it will of course give you a lot more clues about the wine by thinking about the sweetness level. This has a knock on effect when assessing the intensity of the wine. Alcohol can be a bit tricky to assess - the scale is different to still wines as the levels are much higher, but age can affect the alcoholic strength. Assessment of quality includes the integration of alcohol which becomes more integrated and balanced, the older the wine. Quality assessment also covers the balance of the wine, between sweetness and acidity and structural elements. We discuss how maturation and ageing affect the taste of various fortified styles.

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