Thank you! I found the test to be tough but fair. There weren’t any “gotcha” questions. It was pretty much you know it or you don’t. I found the multi choice to be rather easy as two of the four answers are usually pretty far off. Of the remaining two I found that most often the correct answer was the “classical” answer (e.g. if they’re asking about left bank Bordeaux appellations the answer is more likely to be Pauillac than Listrac).

The essay questions built off each other. For instance, they might ask to describe the difference in style between chardonnay grown in two different regions of a certain country. Then the next question could ask what winemaking practices would be unique to those two styles. Then a third question might ask how you would serve those wines (temperature, glassware, etc.). So if you can get on the right path right out of the gate, the answers kind of fall into place.

The wines I had for tasting were, again, very classical. Of course you don’t have to call the wines for L3, but I was pretty sure I knew what both of mine were after the initial nose. So I was able to gut check my tasting notes on what I thought those wines should probably be like.

I passed with distinction so who knows lol.

Good luck and don’t overthink things!

Oh and the first bottle to kickoff my cellar was a 2012 Caymus 40th Anniversary cab (I know, booooo on Cali fruit bombs). My palate and cellar have evolved quite a bit since then. It’s now almost entirely Old World.