Seven Sparkling Wines To Revisit Just Before Your Exams

Studying for the D4 Sparkling Wines of the World unit was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my WSET Diploma journey. I took the exam in January which meant the entire month of December was a festival of bubbles. I tell ya, homework was certainly not a chore!

So while we encourage folks studying for exams to try as many different kinds of sparklers as they can, when you get down to the final weeks before the test it’s time to prioritize. Here are 7 sparklers that we feel are well worth seeking out—either to revisit or, if you haven’t had them yet, to DEFINITELY make sure you’re at least familiar with before exam day.

Obviously, this list isn’t definitive and these shouldn’t be the only wines you’re practicing with. But they are ones that we feel serve a valuable place in your revision. These wines have shown up on past exams (often multiple times) with most having good distribution in both the UK and US. (Links go to Wine-Searcher.com with added Pix results where applicable.)

However, if you can’t find these particular wines, try to find examples close to the style and tasting objectives we describe below.

1.) Pol Roger Rich Demi-Sec (Pix results)

Why you want to taste this: Most people don’t regularly drink Demi-Sec bubbles so this absolutely should be a priority because this style shows up on exams fairly frequently. It’s a wine that catches a lot of folks off guard with most expecting it to be much more overtly sweet than it really is. While Demi-Sec will have 32-50 g/l of RS, the racy high acidity of Champagne and balance of the bubbles have these wines tasting more like Spatlese Rieslings than the BA or TBA kind of sweetness that you might have visualized.

(To get really sweet, you need to get closer to Doux Champagne, which is quite rare, at 50+ g/l RS. But even then, sweet Champagne is still going to feel much less sweet than the non-sparkling sweet wines we’re all more familiar with.)

But a big reason why you should prioritize tasting a Champagne Demi-Sec is to curb the instinct to jump to conclusions during the stress of exams. It is so easy for students to pick up on some sweetness and instantly think Sweet=Prosecco (playing up another stereotype—especially if you don’t drink a lot of Prosecco. See our wine recommendation #3) or even Riesling Sekt (I mean, hey, it’s Riesling so it’s gotta be sweet right??? We cover a bit of that in wine recommendation #4). Your brain could even panic jump to Moscato Spumante even though the aromatics won’t be very Muscat-y at all. This stuff happens during blind tasting exams all the time.

What you should look for: The tell-tale autolysis clues that are so key to Champagne’s style. While these clues (bread dough, toast, biscuits, etc) are easy to pick up with vintage Champagne and some NVs, with Demi-Sec the focus on fruit (apple, peaches, lemon) and subtle sweetness can distract us from registering them—especially, again, during the stress of the exams.

With many Demi-Secs, I find that the doughy qualities definitely fall more on the buttery brioche side (often with some honey) more than toast or digestif biscuits. These notes will be a big differentiation from tank method possibilities like Prosecco, Moscato Spumante and some Riesling Sekts.

This leesy quality will be even more evident with the long aging that many of these Champagnes see—usually much longer than traditional method Riesling Sekts. (For ex: the Pol Roger Demi-Sec spends over 4 years before disgorgement). This will build intensity which should be reflected in your tasting note, hitting multiple clusters, and support a higher quality level conclusion.

Wine #2 Nicolas Feuillatte Reserve Brut with Wine #5 Roederer Estate (Quartet)

Why you want to taste these: Now here I’m going to take some of my “What you should look for” advice from the Champagne Demi-Sec above and add a caveat of caution. Don’t use autolytic notes as a crutch!

What you should look for: Cool climate fruit vs California sunshine.

2.) Nicolas Feuillatte Reserve Brut (Pix results)

Why you want to taste this: Falling for the trap of using autolytic notes as a crutch plays itself out in two ways. One, some students will have an expectation that every Champagne is going to be dripping in dough and if you’re not being bashed in the face with brioche then it must be some other traditional method sparkler—a Cremant, Cava, Franciacorta, Trentodoc or New World sparkler.

But that’s not always the case and many non-vintage Champagnes like this Nicolas Feuillatte “Blue Label” (one of the top-selling Champagnes in the world) often emphasize more fruit and the textural components of long lees aging (3-4 years for the NV Blue Label, much beyond the minimum 15 months) rather than the in-your-face toasty, earthy bouquet that you’re more apt to see in Vintage Champagne.

The second way the “autolysis crutch” plays out is if the student is not picking up a lot of overt autolytic notes in a wine, they start to doubt themselves but then jot down a bunch of leesy notes anyways thinking that they simply MUST be there.

Throwing out phantom autolytic notes which aren’t in the wine isn’t going to earn you any marks. In fact, examiners frequently call this out in Examiner’s Reports. And with some very clearly, non-autolytic wines like most Proseccos, this could actually end up costing you marks if the examiners feel that you’re just grasping for straws and writing down things for the sake of writing something.

What you should look for: Picking out the “cool climate” nature of the fruit and acidity from Champagne which is going to be a big point of differentiation between sparklers from here and traditional method sparklers from warmer regions like California, Spain’s Cava zone, Franciacorta and South Africa. There will be richness and roundness from its time on lees and 10 g/l dosage which puts it on the “sweeter” side of Brut but don’t let that distract you.

Instead, look at the notes that that richness wraps around—the Granny Smith green apple (as opposed to Honey Crisp or Golden Delicious), lemon and spice pear with taut acidity that amplifies a chalky minerality that you see in a lot of Champagnes. The finish is often a big tell with Champagne vs warmer climate sparklers. For me, it reminds me a lot of the finish of Chablis which isn’t a shocker given their close proximity and similar soils. With warmer climate sparklers, the finish is often more on the fruit or overt autolysis notes. (A good comparison to note in a side-by-side with the #5 wine of this list—Roederer Estate Quartet from California)

3.) Bortolotti Prosecco Superiore Valdobbiadene Brut NV (No Pix results)

Why you want to taste this: Not every Prosecco is going to taste like La Marca or scream “Mimosa wine” which you need the tangy acidity of orange juice to balance the fruitiness. While many Proseccos are distinctly in that fruity, Extra Dry category (and those certainly do pop up on exams too), you need to make an effort to taste drier Proseccos that aren’t all about jubilant fruit.

This Bortolotti from Conegliano Valdobbiadene is an excellent example in the Very Good quality range. A true Brut with around 7 g/l residual sugar, some releases can contain as much as 10% Pinot bianco to go with the Glera. And there is a little vague Cremant d’Alsace character that I pick up with apple and pear notes. But this is still definitely a Prosecco with some tell-tale clues you should look for noted below.

What you should look for: Even with some Pinot bianco blended in (or possibly Chardonnay, Pinot grigio, Pinot nero, Verdiso, Bianchetta Trevigiana, or Perera up to 15%), the nature of Glera always leads the way with Proseccos. While it is considered just a “semi-aromatic” grape, it is still a fairly fragrant one which, in the moderately warm climate of the Veneto (where the Mediterranean climate gives way to continental more in-land), really shows up in stone fruit-led sparklers, particularly white peaches—both the flesh and the skin with a very Italian-like subtle phenolic bitterness that is most noticeable on the finish.

Though I called Prosecco a “Mimosa Wine” above, a better memory association is to think of the classic Bellini cocktail with peach nectar that originated in Venice. The original recipe from Giuseppe Cipriani used Champagne with raspberry puree along with peaches—and frankly, that works too as coming across a Prosecco with notes of white (yellow) raspberries is not unheard of. There is also often a white floral note which follows Glera around. It’s not super intense terpenes like you’d think of with Muscat or Viognier but there is definitely a fresh “summertime blossom” smell that is worth looking for.

However, the biggest tell for Prosecco (beyond the more moderate acidity) will always be from the tank method of production. The wine will see very little to no lees contact so your tasting note should be bereft of bread and biscuits. The focus will always be on the fruit & floral notes of varietal character rather than anything autolytic. There is also a mouthfeel difference that is best experienced by tasting DRY examples of a tank method vs traditional method sparkler side by. While for exams like WSET Diploma, you no longer have to comment about mousse, the aggressiveness or texture you’re geting are always worth making a mental note of.

With the tank method, the second fermentation takes place at higher temperatures (about 16 and 18°C) and is more rapid (around 30 days) than the long, slow and cool secondary fermentation that happens in the bottle for traditional method sparklers. Think about the cool 10-12°C caves of Champagne where this secondary fermentation takes place and how different that is from essentially a “pressure cooker” with the Charmat tank method. But the goal of the tank method is that speed and efficiency. That is one of the big “selling points” for producers making these relatively inexpensive wines. However, that “speed” is going to have an impact on the mouthfeel and how well integrated the bubbles are. Practice this and you’ll pick up on your own cues.

4.) Dr. Loosen Extra Dry Sekt (Pix results)

Why you want to taste this:

You think you know German Riesling? That’s great! But I’m telling ya, if you head into exam day imagining German Sekt as just “Rieslings with Bubbles” then you’re going to have some trouble.

You’ll especially run into trouble if the examiners give you a wine such as this Dr. Loosen which has been featured multiple times in the past.

That’s because this wine is bottle fermented so it’s not going to be as in-your-face RIESLING! as you’d expect from a tank method bottle (though those can show up on an exam too). And this isn’t some tricky “unicorn” bottle either. Many higher-quality Deutscher Sekt producers in the Very Good to Outstanding range will bottle ferment their wines which gives Riesling a whole other dimension that you really need to taste to understand.

This Dr. Loosen Sekt is sourced from the Mosel from early picked (so no botrytis influence) clean fruit that reaches just 12% alcohol even after secondary fermentation (which usually adds 1 to 1.5% ABV). It sees 15 months of aging on the lees before being disgorged via the transfer method (so no riddling) with an Extra-Dry dosage of 14 g/l.

What you should look for: Those little bells in your head that go off with how kinda but not quite Champagne-like it is. Bottle-fermented Riesling Sekt truly is its own deal, a unique wine, which can be a bit trippy for students. Despite tasting very cool climate “Champagne-like” with fruit flavors of green apple, lemon, lime and some toasty autolysis to go along with racy high acidity, there is something about the wine that often doesn’t feel like Champagne that is hard to put your finger on. That weird funny feeling it triggers could get your brain going to various Cremants like the Loire or possibly even considering cool-climate New World wines like Tasmania which you might also not have much familiarity with tasting.

But likely what those little bells are trying to clue you in on are some of the more Riesling-ish notes in the wine (often stone fruit like peach, apricot and nectarine—maybe even a little “minerally” petrol TDN notes) and that Extra Dry-level dosage that can be a bit of a godsend here in distinguishing this from Cremants and Champagnes. It won’t be as sweet as an Extra Dry Prosecco because of the balance of Riesling’s acidity and Germany’s much cooler climate than the Veneto but it will be vaguely off-dry.

These things are so easy to overlook during the stress of the exam which is why practicing with these wines are so key. In regards to getting the Extra Dry call here, it’s worth taking the time to really hold the wine in your mouth and think about if you’re picking up on any RS. Don’t sniff the glass, not smell anything that screams “sweet” and then go straight Brut/Dry under the auspice that most sparklers are that way.

5.) Roederer Estate (Quartet) California (Pix results)

Why you want to taste this: While just known as the Roederer Estate Brut in the US, this Mendocino, California project from Champagne Louis Roederer is a very good seller in the UK so it’s no surprise that it has been one of the go-to California sparklers (along with Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs) on many exams.

A very solid, well-made sparkler from the cool Anderson Valley (a bit more isolated and inland than Carneros in Napa/Sonoma with coastal fog sneaking up the Navarro River), elevations here go up to 600m. In contrast, Carneros running into San Pablo Bay is much lower with elevations from 7 to 120m. So this is California but it is distinctly cool California with sparkling harvests pushing towards mid-August into early September instead of the late July/early August norm.

Most years the wine will see little to no malolactic fermentation, helping to maintain ample freshness. The use of oak-aged reserves (about 10% of the blend) plus aging at least 24 months on the lees, as well as a generous 12 g/l dosage will add toasty, nutty roundness and creaminess to the wine.

What you should look for: The California sunshine. It’s tough because Roederer did such a great job picking out where to plant and then with the long aging and ample opportunity for Maillard Reaction goodness with its high dosage, it’s no wonder that this is a wine that fools many blind tasters. It’s really easy to want to go to Champagne here. There’s spiced pear pastry and apple tart with some hazelnut and honey drizzle brioche with those autolytic notes that want to take your brain straight to the Champenois Promise Land.

But to call this wine right, you have to pump the brakes on the autolysis=Champagne conclusion and focus more on the nature of the fruit. You want to practice tasting the Quartet alongside a Champagne NV (like the Nicolas Feuillatte) and go back and forth to really pick up the difference. Yes, there are the tree fruits of cool-climate Champagne—apple and pear—but think about how ripe those flavors are in the glass. In the Roederer Estate, it’s always going to be a riper, deeper level of fruit. Still fresh. But warmer, rounder, bigger body.

And going back again to my comment with the Nicolas Feuillatte, think about the finish. For me, the finish of the Quartet is on the spiced pear pastry. Not sweet but definitely led by the fruit and autolysis which is very different than the more savory, chalky, minerally finish that I get with Champagne.

6.) Anna de Codorniu Cava (Pix results)

Why you want to taste this: Before Prosecco took the world by storm, Cava was often the go-to choice for value-oriented bubbles. Okay, well maybe that’s true for the US but perhaps I should put “go-to” in scare-quote when it comes to the UK. Because even though the UK has always been an important market for Cava, the wine has had something of an image problem for many years even before Prosecco rose to prominence. I think this quip of London retailer Berry Bros. & Rudd from their producer profile for Bodegas Gramona (which has since left the Cava DO to become part of the Corpinnat consortium) sums up the stereotype of Cava really well.

”For those who associate Cava with earthy, almost rubbery flavours, the legacy of mass-market mediocrity…”

Earthy (mushrooms?), rubbery. Yep. For a lot of blind tasters, these are the tell-tale markers of Cava—driven largely by the use of indigenous grapes like Xarel-lo that lend themselves to those flavors coupled with very reductive, commercial handling in the winery which encourages rubbery sulfur compounds. With Macabeo and Parellada also lacking both the more familiar fruit and affinity for lees aging that the traditional Champagne grapes of Chardonnay, Pinot noir & Meunier have, it’s easy to see how these earthier flavors could be at the forefront of many tasters perceptions of Cava.

But times are changing and while some examples like the classic black bottle Freixenet may still hew to those stereotypes, many Cavas featured on exams aren’t going to smack you upside the head with rubber anymore. So you absolutely can’t use these notes as a crutch.

Anna de Codorniu Brut, while certainly from a mass-market producer, is a good example of a past exam wine that moves beyond the rubber. For one, in contrast to Freixenet, Codorniu has fully embraced the use of Chardonnay in their Cava (memory device - C for Codorniu, C for Chardonnay) with the Anna de Codorniu Brut typically being around 70% Chardonnay, 10% Parellada, 10% Xarel·lo, 10% Macabeo.

What you should look for: Without the distraction of looking for rubber (or overtly autolytic notes either as this wine, like many Cavas, doesn’t see much time on lees. Minimum is 9 months with the Anna usually seeing around 12 months), you can focus on tasting the warmth of the Spanish climate in the fruit and structure of the wine.

Ripe lemon and apple, even tropical fruits like grapefruit and pineapple can jump out—all reflecting a climate that is significantly warmer than many other traditional method regions like Champagne, Franciacorta, Trentodoc, Tasmania, etc. Plus the intensity and acidity will be more moderate too because of the warmer, more condense growing season.

7.) Cleto Chiarli Vigneto Enrico Cialdini Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro Secco (Pix results)

Why you want to taste this: I already touched on Lambrusco, and highlighted one of the Cleto Chiarli wines that has shown up on past exams, in a previous blog article: Take a Walk on the Red Side Part II - Lambrusco. But I wanted to tag this on at the end as another reminder to not forget about sparkling reds! While they may seem easy, far too many students don’t seek out these bottles to try before an exam and catch themselves almost doing a coin-flip between sparkling Shiraz and Lambrusco over which red bubbly they may have.

What you should look for: Beyond recognizing that Lambruscos today are not your Grandma’s Riunite, the biggest things you should look far are the acidity and savory red fruit character that distinguishes it from sparkling Shiraz.

As I noted in a recent IG Live about the blind tasting clues for sparkling Shiraz—the different approaches to harvest as well as climate between Emilia-Romagna and Southeastern Australia absolutely shows up in the glass. You can read about them and grasp the theory but nothing truly helps solidify those differences like actually tasting these wines.

And that’s our list!

Let us know in the comments if you have any go-to study wines that you’ve been practicing with.