WSET Level 2 Fortified Wine Quiz: 20 Free Questions
Free WSET Level 2 fortified wine quiz: 20 questions drawn from a bank of 34 covering Port, Sherry, and Madeira styles, production, service, and food pairing.
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20 questions drawn at random from the 34 in Sommo's WSET Level 2 bank that cover fortified wine. Explanations on every answer. Free, no sign-up, unlimited retakes.
Fortified wine is the block most candidates leave until last and then run out of time on. It is also one of the most efficient to revise, because the whole topic turns on a single question: when does the spirit go in?
Add it partway through fermentation, as in Port, and the surviving sugar makes the wine sweet. Add it afterwards, as in most Sherry, and the wine stays dry. Almost every style in this quiz follows from that.
Common questions
Because of when the grape spirit is added. In Port it goes in partway through fermentation, killing the yeast while sugar is still unfermented, so the wine keeps that natural sweetness. Most Sherry is fermented fully dry first and fortified afterwards, so any sweetness in the glass has been added later as a blending component.
Flor is a film of yeast that grows on the surface of the wine in the barrel, shielding it from air and giving a yeasty, almond, bread-dough character. Fino and Manzanilla age under flor, which is called biological aging. Oloroso is fortified to a higher strength that flor cannot survive, so it ages oxidatively instead.
Ruby ages briefly in large vessels that limit contact with air, so it keeps its deep color and fresh, fruity character. Tawny ages far longer in small barrels where slow oxidation fades the color toward amber and builds caramel, nut, and dried-fruit flavors.
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