Elevage Wine Coaching

Last Sunday was our favorite day of the year because we finally got to meet our Elevage coaching clients in person and toast their successful completion of WSET Diploma! 🥳

We hosted a celebration for students (& their support teams!) who were able to come to London for the graduation ceremony—complete with several bottles of wine representing all Diploma units. 🍷🍾

We’re alongside students throughout their Diploma journeys, supporting them through all the ups and downs, the stumbles, and the steady strides. 🤗 And we’re so thankful to celebrate their achievements and clink glasses together at the finish line! 🥂

Congratulations to all WSET Diploma graduates, and thank you to our Elevage cohort for letting us be part of your journey. Take time to savor this achievement! 👏🏻

Wine Students! Here’s a podcast to add to your rotation – one that has nothing to do with wine, but will help you immensely with your studies and exams (AND motivation if you’re lacking that right now!) 👏🏻

The podcast has TONS of suggestions for smart study habits, creative methods for retention of information and maintaining your enjoyment of learning. 🤓🎧

His recent series focuses on keeping a healthy mindset during your studies 🧘🏻‍♀️📚 (highly recommend episode 195 with for tips on managing stress and feelings of overwhelm!)

Here are a few others well worth checking out:

177 – Exam Technique: 3 Mistakes to Avoid
166 – Better Grades with Interleaving and “Desirable Difficulty”
147 – Overcoming Retrieval Resistance (this one’s for you WSET Diploma students who might find yourself dragging your heels to write out answers to practice questions!) 😉

I have yet to listen to an episode where I didn’t learn something valuable! 🤗

Last week was the annual graduation ceremony for WSET Diploma students - and we had 30 of our clients graduate from the program! 🍾🎓

We hosted an Elevage gathering at to celebrate their amazing achievement!! 🤩 After months of working together virtually, it was wonderful to finally meet these dedicated individuals in person and be able to clink glasses and toast to their success. 🥳🥂

A note to current (and future!) WSET Diploma students: each of these graduates was where you are Right Now. The same struggles and doubts. Wondering if they’d studied enough. But They Did It – and so will you!! 👏🏻💪🏻

You’ve Got This! 🤗

As wine students, we often purchase wine based on whatever exam we’re studying for in order to work on identification, assess structure, analyze quality, etc. 🤔 Exam preparation frequently dictates what we drink – and sometimes, it’s not the stuff we particularly enjoy (sorry White Zin! 😜)

But what about “non-study wines”? You know, those wines that you don’t plan to assess or analyze. The ones that may not even be “testable.” The wines you buy Just Because You Enjoy Them! 🤩

It’s been awhile since I had a haul like this that was Completely and Totally non-study wines! 👏🏻 They ranged from one of my favorite rose wines (Zweigelt from Austria) to an easygoing & uncomplicated Albarino to a Nebbiolo sparkling rose. And even some RTDs. 😉

It was refreshing to stock up on wines where my intention was simply to enjoy as opposed to evaluate.

What are some of your go-to “non-study wines”? 🤗
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We’re putting together our plans for 2025 and would LOVE your input! What type of content would be most helpful for your wine studies? 🤔 Would you like to see more quizzes and trivia? Webinar offerings on certain topics? IG Live sessions where we “examine the exams”? Tips for staying motivated and mindful with your studies? Something else?? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Unlike a wine exam – there are NO wrong answers! 🤣 Let us know with a comment below, send us a DM or email us: [email protected].

Thank you for helping us make our content as valuable as possible for wine students! 🤗

What do these two wines have in common? They’ve both been featured on WSET Diploma exams MULTIPLE times! 📝🍷

Reviewing past exam wines is a smart study strategy. 🤓 These wines are selected for specific reasons: they might show typicity of style, reflect winemaking or climate clues, or represent a certain quality level.

When studying past exam wines, go beyond asking yourself “how do I nail this wine?” and consider what type of analysis Examiners are looking for. 🧐 For example, these two specific exam wines are easily (and frequently!) confused with other wine styles. Being able to explain why the Maury isn’t a Ruby Port, or why the Roederer is from California and not Champagne, is likely to gain more marks than simply identifying the wine without “showing your work.” 👏🏻

Have you used past exam wines in your studies? ⬇️
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A delicious “Blind Tasting Study Group” session last night where we discussed possible Italian wines in a “same country” flight. 🇮🇹 We covered a LOT: palate calibration, quality assessments, and maximizing those suitability for aging marks. I also (hopefully!) alleviated some concerns about nailing the origin since, based on my own personal experience 😉, you can still pass even if you don’t call the country correctly! 👏🏻

Blind Tasting exams can be incredibly humbling – and nerve wracking. 😬 While we can’t predict the wines you’ll have in front of you on exam day, we CAN help you prepare a solid strategy 🤓 and build confidence 💪🏻 in your ability to accurately assess whatever wine comes your way . . . even if it’s an unoaked, neutral, high acid Italian white. 😜

If you have an upcoming wine exam, or are just looking to improve your tasting skills, we have three more online sessions coming up: New Zealand (9/29), Barossa Valley (10/2) and California (10/13). Visit our website to sign up or DM us for more information! 👩🏻‍💻
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How many of you wine students enjoy making mistakes? [cue the crickets] 😜🦗While we can’t say we particularly LIKE it when we make mistakes, we know for a fact that learning IS enhanced by error.

Engaging in the “process of learning” is more important – and more successful – than focusing on doing things perfectly the first time. 🤓🍷 And this “process of learning” includes making mistakes! A student who initially gets an answer wrong 🤦🏻‍♀️ is more likely to remember the correct answer ✅ (so long as they’re given constructive feedback!) than a student who tries to memorize rote facts to formulate a “perfect” answer. In other words, engaging with the material and not being afraid to make errors is more beneficial to overall learning and retention than memorizing “correct answers.”

So, the next time you make a mistake during your studies remember: this is part of the learning process! And having made the mistake NOW, it is less likely to happen on your actual exam. 👏🏻📝
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What’s your best study trick for remembering the 10 Crus of Beaujolais? St-Amour, Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Régnié, Brouilly, and Côte de Brouilly.

I came across this great blog post from and was reminded of a silly story that I came up with years ago while studying for my Certified Specialist of Wine exam to remember the Crus going North to South.

“On Valentine’s Day (St. Amour), Julie (Juliénas) was walking her dog, Chen, through the oak trees. (Chénas - chêne means oak)

Suddenly, she saw a great windmill (Moulin-à-Vent) next to a hill covered in flowers. (Fleurie)

But when she went to pick the flowers, she encountered Cher having some dreadful troubles (Chiroubles) fighting a monstrous Gorgon named Morgon.

Seeking help, she traveled south to speak to Queen Regina George (Régnié) of the Brouilly High School plastics at the heart of her coat-making empire. (Côte de Brouilly)”

And it worked! Completely silly and nonsensical but I still think of Cher having troubles fighting Morgon the Gorgon and Regina George having The Plastics run her illicit coat-making factory out of Brouilly High School with a map of the Crus popping in my head.

I decided to have some fun with ChatGPT/DALLE AI to see if it could make a comic illustrating my Beaujolais cru story. You can see the results in the pic roll.

But what about you? What is your go-to memory device for remembering the Crus of Beaujolais?

What’s your favorite trick for remembering the 10 Crus of Beaujolais? St-Amour, Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Régnié, Brouilly, and Côte de Brouilly.

I came across this fun post by and was reminded of the silly story that I came up with years ago to remember the Crus going north to south. Still sticks with me today!

“On Valentine’s Day (St. Amour), Julie (Juliénas) was walking her dog, Chen, through the oak trees. (Chénas - chêne means oak)

Suddenly, she saw a great windmill (Moulin-à-Vent) next to a hill covered in flowers. (Fleurie)

But when she went to pick the flowers, she encountered Cher having some dreadful troubles (Chiroubles) fighting a monstrous Gorgon named Morgon.

Seeking help, she traveled south to speak to Queen Regina George (Régnié) of the Brouilly High School Plastics at the heart of her coat-making empire. (Côte de Brouilly)”

I decided to have some fun with ChatGPT/Dalle AI to see if it could turn my story into a comic. You can see the results for yourself in the pic roll.

So how about you? What is your memory device?