Certified Wine
Professional – Foundation Level I Competencies
Students enrolling in the exam should have competencies in the following
areas:
Wine Knowledge
- Worlds major grape varieties, including where they
grow
- Worlds major varietals, including major
characteristics of those varietals
- Most widely planted premium grape varietals in California
and in the
United States
- Process of fermentation
- Meaning of alcohol by volume and average range of
alcohol by volume for standard table wines
- Meaning of fortify, residual sugar, filtration, and
fining
- Role of barrels in winemaking (what effect oak has on
a wine; the difference between barrel fermentation and stainless steel
fermentation)
- Main compounds that act as
preservatives in wine, allowing it to age
- Key physical requirements for growing vines
- Concept of terroir, clones,
scion, and rootstock
- Factors that must be considered in planting a new
vineyard
- Why and how harvest decisions are critical to the
final style and flavor of the wines
- World production trends, including the top wine
producing countries in the world
- Europe's major wine regions,
the wines produced in them, and the grape varieties from which those wines
are made
- Major New World wine regions,
the wines produced in them, and the grape varieties from which those wines
are made
Wine Sensory Ability
- A basic ability to describe and evaluate wine
professionally, including assessing a wine's color, aroma, flavor, body,
finish, and overall quality
- Describe the range of colors that exist in white and
red wines
- Tell apart, with a good degree of accuracy, the major
varietals/types of wine, in a blind tasting
- Assess, in a blind tasting, whether a wine is from
the Old World or the New World
and give reasons to support decision
- Differentiate, in blind tastings,
between a barrel fermented wine from one that is fermented in tank and between
young and older wines
- Identify TCA
Business and
Practical Expertise
- Ability to read and decipher wine labels from all the
major wine producing countries
- Basic understanding of correct wine service
- Importance of good wineglasses including the features
of a good wine glass
- General markup for wine in a restaurant and in a
retail store
Wine and Food
Comprehension and Pairing Skills
- General principles behind successful and unsuccessful
wine and food matches
- Concepts of complementary pairings and contrasting
pairings
- Names of and principles behind several classic wine
and food matches
- Ability to pair an appropriate single bottle of wine
when different entrées are ordered from a restaurant menu
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