WSET Level 3 The vine and grape varieties: practice questions with answers
These are real questions from The Wine Goat bank on The vine and grape varieties, written to the WSET Level 3 Award in Wines syllabus. Answer them, read the explanation, then practise the full set of 54 questions in the free app, where your mistakes come back until you know them.
Sample questions with answers
1 Which vine species produces nearly all wine grapes?
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Answer: Vitis vinifera
Why: V. vinifera is the main Eurasian species, used to make wine for several thousand years.
2 Why are American vines important even though their wines are not liked?
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Answer: They resist phylloxera and are used as rootstocks
Why: There are three important American species; vinifera is grafted onto their roots.
3 Why is a grape variety not propagated from seed?
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Answer: A seedling is a new variety, different from its parents
Why: To keep a variety's qualities, cuttings or layering are used: the new plant is identical.
4 Why do most growers now use cuttings rather than layering?
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Answer: Because of the risk of phylloxera
Why: Layering puts vinifera roots straight into the soil, exposed to phylloxera.
5 What is a clone?
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Answer: One or more vines of a variety with unique traits from a mutation
Why: Clonal selection propagates vines with positive mutations; clones remain the same variety.
6 How is a genuinely new grape variety created?
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Answer: By cross-fertilisation and planting the resulting seed
Why: Even with parents of the same variety, the seedling is a new, unpredictable variety.
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.
54 questions on this topic in the app
Frequently asked questions
How many questions on The vine and grape varieties are in The Wine Goat?
The app has 54 multiple-choice questions on The vine and grape varieties, each with an explanation, plus short written answer questions and flashcards on the same topic.
Is The vine and grape varieties 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 The vine and grape varieties, 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