WSET Level 3 Food and wine pairing: practice questions with answers
These are real questions from The Wine Goat bank on Food and wine pairing, written to the WSET Level 3 Award in Wines syllabus. Answer them, read the explanation, then practise the full set of 57 questions in the free app, where your mistakes come back until you know them.
Sample questions with answers
1 Which two food components make wine taste 'harder'?
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Answer: Sweetness and umami
Why: Sweetness and umami make wine more astringent, bitter and acidic, less sweet and fruity.
2 Which two food components make wine taste 'softer'?
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Answer: Salt and acidity
Why: Salt and acid make wine less astringent, bitter and acidic, sweeter and fruitier.
3 Generally, which has more impact on the other?
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Answer: Food on wine, and more often in a negative way
Why: Food changes wine more than vice versa, mostly for the worse.
4 What simple experiment lets you taste umami?
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Answer: Compare a raw mushroom with one microwaved for 30 seconds
Why: Cooking greatly increases umami. Umami usually appears with other tastes, e.g. with salt in MSG.
5 Which foods are high in umami but lack salt, so are hard to pair?
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Answer: Asparagus, eggs, mushrooms, ripe soft cheeses
Why: Cured or smoked foods and hard cheeses like Parmesan are also salty, so harm wine less.
6 Which wines can become surprisingly bitter with umami-rich foods?
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Answer: Low-tannin reds and whites with oak or skin contact
Why: In a balanced high-tannin red the extra bitterness does not unbalance it; in low-tannin wines it stands out.
Practise all of it in the free app
Your answers are saved to your profile, the app builds your day-by-day study plan up to the exam and brings back your weak points until you master them.
57 questions on this topic in the app
Frequently asked questions
How many questions on Food and wine pairing are in The Wine Goat?
The app has 57 multiple-choice questions on Food and wine pairing, each with an explanation, plus short written answer questions and flashcards on the same topic.
Is Food and wine pairing important for the WSET Level 3 exam?
Yes. The 50 multiple-choice questions cover the whole syllabus and the 4 short written answers often focus on one region or process, so every topic, including Food and wine pairing, can come up.
More WSET Level 3 resources
- WSET Level 3 practice questions with answers
- WSET Level 3 mock exam: free practice test
- WSET Level 3 short written answer questions: examples and model answers
- The WSET Level 3 Systematic Approach to Tasting (SAT): how to write a tasting note
- WSET Level 3 flashcards: grapes, regions, numbers and key terms
- How to pass WSET Level 3 first time: study plan and tips
WSET 3 questions by region and topic
- Tasting and the SAT
- Food and wine pairing
- Storage and service
- Wine pricing and the trade
- The vine and grape varieties
- Climate and environment
- Vineyard management and pruning
- Winemaking and maturation
- White wines
- Red and rosé wines
- Bordeaux
- Burgundy and Beaujolais
- Alsace and the Loire
- Rhône Valley
- Southern France
- Italy
- Spain
- Portugal
- Germany
- Austria and Hungary
- Greece
- USA and Canada
- Chile and Argentina
- South Africa
- Australia and New Zealand
- Sparkling: Champagne, Prosecco, Cava
- Sherry
- Port and fortified wines