WSET Level 1 vs Level 2: Which Should You Start With?
“Should I start with WSET Level 1, or can I go straight to Level 2?”
I get asked this all the time, and my answer is usually: it depends (I know, how incredibly noncommittal sounding…but I promise, there’s more to it!). What comes after ‘it depends’ is ‘how much you already know about wine, what you want to get out of the course, and how much studying you’re prepared to do.’
The first thing to clear up is that you do not have to take WSET Level 1 before Level 2. Level 2 has no prerequisite, and it’s specifically designed so that someone with little or no previous wine knowledge can take it. So don't think of it like conventional school, where you have to pass Year 1 before you're allowed into Year 2. Instead, think of Level 1 as a really good introduction to wine and Level 2 as the point where we start properly joining the dots.
If you're completely new to wine, don't know your Chardonnay from your Sauvignon Blanc, and terms like tannin and acidity don't mean much to you yet, I'd probably suggest starting with Level 1. If you're already interested in wine, you've picked up a bit of knowledge along the way, or you're the person who finds themselves looking at a wine list and wondering why Chablis tastes different from a Chardonnay you've had from Australia, then I'd normally point you towards Level 2.
Let me explain why.
What's the actual difference between WSET Level 1 and Level 2?
At Level 1, we're establishing the very basic fundamentals. What is acidity? What is tannin? What are the most renowned (I rather not say ‘main’) grape varieties? How is red wine made differently from white wine? What happens when we pair a high-acid wine with food? How should we store and serve wine? All incredibly useful information and in isolation, can tick many a box for those who are seeking out more information about wine initially.
At Level 2, we take those fundamentals and start expanding as well as asking more questions. Why does this Chardonnay have higher acidity than that one? Why might one Cabernet Sauvignon have more body, alcohol and ripe black-fruit flavours than another? What difference does climate make? What happens if a winemaker uses oak? Why does Pinot Noir from one region taste different from Pinot Noir grown somewhere else?
That's where wine starts getting really interesting.
WSET Level 1 vs Level 2 at a glance
WSET Level 1 vs Level 2 at a glance
A quick comparison to help you decide where to start.
45 minutes
60 minutes
The difference in study time tells you quite a lot. Level 1 has a total qualification time of six hours, including the exam. Level 2 has 28 hours, including 16 hours of teaching, 11 hours of recommended private study and the one-hour exam.
So when someone asks me, “Is Level 2 much harder?”, I'd say it's not necessarily harder — but there is a lot more to learn. You need to be prepared to do some work outside the classroom.
What will I actually learn at WSET Level 1?
Level 1 is about giving you a solid foundation without throwing the entire wine world at you on day one. You’ll be introduced to the basics of grape growing and winemaking, the ‘main’ styles of wine, how to store and serve wine, food and wine pairing, and — importantly — how to taste wine in a structured way.
You'll meet the eight principal grape varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Syrah/Shiraz.
You'll also come across some of the wine names you've probably already seen on restaurant wine lists or supermarket shelves: Chablis, Sancerre, Bordeaux, Rioja, Chianti, Champagne, Prosecco, Cava, Sherry and Port. Rest assured, at this level no one is expecting you to become an expert on all of them. The idea is to start giving you a framework.
Take something like acidity. Before studying wine, people often describe a wine as “sharp”, “crisp”, “fresh” or maybe just say, “I'm not sure, but I like it.” Level 1 starts giving you the language to understand what's actually going on in your glass. The same goes for tannin, sweetness, alcohol and body. Once you understand those basic building blocks, wine becomes much easier to talk about.
And that's one of the things I really like about Level 1. You can arrive knowing virtually nothing about wine and, by the end, you're already looking at a glass of wine differently.
What changes when you get to Level 2?
This is where we start digging deeper. At Level 2, educators don’t just want you to know that Cabernet Sauvignon tends to have tannin and black-fruit flavours. We want our students to start understanding what affects the style of that Cabernet Sauvignon. Where were the grapes grown? Was it a warm or cool climate? How ripe were the grapes when they were harvested? Did the wine spend time in oak? Has it been aged? How have all those decisions changed what we're smelling and tasting?
That's really the step up from Level 1.
We look in more detail at the vineyard, including things like climate, sunlight, altitude, slopes, soils, water and weather hazards. Then we look at decisions made by the grower and winemaker and how those choices ultimately end up affecting the wine in your glass. You're no longer just learning facts about wine - you're starting to build connections between them. Once those connections start falling into place, a lot of wine suddenly makes much more sense.
There's also quite a bit more geography at Level 2
This is something worth knowing before you book onto your course.. At Level 1, geography is fairly light. We use important wines and regions to illustrate the main styles you need to understand. Level 2 gets much broader. You'll still study the eight principal grape varieties, but you'll also add another 22 regionally important varieties. That brings you to 30 grape varieties in total.
You'll come across grapes such as Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Barbera, Malbec, Carmenère, Gamay, Grenache, Chenin Blanc, Albariño and Viognier, among others. Then we connect those grapes to the places where they're important. In total, the Level 2 qualification covers wines from more than 70 geographical indications.
Now, when students see that number they sometimes panic slightly. Please don't. You're not being asked to memorise every vineyard on the planet. What this course is doing is gradually building a map of the wine world and learning the important relationships between grape, place, climate, production and style.
For example, rather than simply learning that Chablis is Chardonnay, we can start discussing why a Chardonnay from Chablis might taste very different from a Chardonnay grown somewhere else. That's a much more useful way of learning wine than simply memorising lists.
What about tasting?
You taste at both levels, but the way we approach tasting develops as you move up. At Level 1, when I’m teaching this course, I'm getting you comfortable with looking at a wine systematically. What colour is it? What can you smell? What can you taste? Is it dry or sweet? Is the acidity low, medium or high? What about tannin, alcohol and body? It gives us a common language. And if you've never done structured wine tasting before, that's a really useful skill to learn. Ever freeze when ordering a bottle of wine at a restaurant because you don’t know how to describe at all what you like to the wait-staff or sommelier? This course can start giving you the tools to not recognise every wine on a list but it will help you to confidently say something like ‘I tend to like dry, white wines that have been aged in oak. What would you recommend?’
At Level 2, we become more precise. We start looking more closely at aroma and flavour intensity, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body and finish. We also introduce the idea of primary, secondary and tertiary characteristics and start assessing the quality of the wine. But don't worry if you currently smell a glass of wine and think, “It smells like...wine.” That's completely normal - we don’t expect you to turn up already knowing how to ‘taste’ in a systematic way. Teaching you ‘how’ to taste is part of the course.
Is the Level 2 exam much harder?
The Level 1 exam is 30 multiple-choice questions in 45 minutes. Level 2 is 50 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes, with a pass mark of 55%.
Neither qualification has an essay exam or a practical tasting exam (yay!). The exam format itself isn't the part I'd worry about when choosing between the courses. The bigger question is whether you're prepared for the amount of material.
Level 1 is designed to be manageable as a short introduction - attend the course and sit the exam, no outside revision required.
With Level 2, you'll need to do some revision. There are grape varieties to learn, regions to remember and — more importantly — relationships to understand. If you attend the course, engage with the material and put the recommended study time in, it's very achievable. But I wouldn't book Level 2 on the assumption that you can simply turn up, taste some wine and hope for the best in the exam.
And don’t forget, multiple choice questions are never completely a walk in the park even if you are confident with all the material. Taking the time to read the question thoroughly and making sure your answers match what the question is asking (and not falling for a trick option that is there deliberately to make sure that you are indeed reading the question correctly) is an important aspect of all multiple-choice exams.
Do I need Level 1 before taking Level 2?
No, and this is where I'd look at the individual student rather than the number written on the qualification. Imagine two people come to me asking which course they should take.
The first says: “I like wine, but I really don't know anything about it. I normally buy whatever label looks nice. I don't know what tannin means and I'm not really sure what the difference is between Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.” I'd say: start with Level 1. You'll probably enjoy it more because we're going to build the foundations first rather than expecting you to absorb a lot of new information very quickly.
Then another person says:
“I've been interested in wine for a few years. I know some of the main grapes, I've been to a few tastings and I know roughly what Bordeaux, Rioja and Chianti are, but I'd like to understand wine properly.” I'd probably say: go straight to Level 2.
You don't need Level 1 simply to tick a box before you're allowed to move on.
What if I know absolutely nothing about wine but really want to do Level 2?
You can still do it. WSET Level 2 is specifically designed to be accessible to people with little or no previous wine knowledge. The question I'd ask you is: how comfortable are you with studying?
If you're enthusiastic, happy to read around the subject, revise between sessions and accept that the first few lessons might involve quite a lot of new terminology, there's no reason a complete beginner can't succeed at Level 2. I've taught plenty of students who have started that way. But if you're thinking, “I'd rather see whether I actually enjoy learning about wine before I commit to all that,” then Level 1 makes perfect sense.
There's no prize for skipping Level 1. Equally, there's no prize for taking Level 1 if you already know the material and are ready for something more challenging. The aim is simply to put you on the right course.
So, who should book WSET Level 1?
I'd recommend Level 1 if you're a genuine beginner and want to build your confidence. Maybe you've recently started working in a restaurant or wine shop. Maybe you've become interested in wine and want to understand what you're drinking. Or perhaps you simply want to stop feeling completely lost when somebody hands you a wine list or you’re browsing the supermarket wine rack.
Level 1 gives you enough information to start making sense of wine without overwhelming you. You'll come away understanding the major styles, the principal grape varieties, the basic principles of food and wine pairing and how to taste using a structured approach. It's also a good option if you're curious about WSET but aren't sure whether you want to commit to further study.
And who should book WSET Level 2?
I'd point you towards Level 2 if you already have a bit of wine knowledge or you're a motivated beginner who wants to learn properly from the outset.
It's also the level I'd normally suggest to someone working more seriously with wine — perhaps in hospitality, retail, sales or distribution — because the breadth of knowledge becomes much more useful professionally. If you're the sort of person who wants to know why a wine tastes the way it does, Level 2 is where those conversations really start. You'll still learn the fundamentals, but we'll move through them and then go considerably further.
Also, if you're already thinking that you might eventually want to take WSET Level 3, Level 2 is the natural place to build the knowledge you'll need before making that jump.
Is Level 1 a waste of time if I'm planning to take Level 2?
Not at all. I've sometimes heard people describe Level 1 as something you should “skip”, and I don't think that's particularly helpful. For the right student, Level 1 is exactly the right course.
If you're new to wine, those six hours can give you a really useful foundation. When you eventually arrive at Level 2, terms such as acidity, tannin and body aren't new. You already know the principal grape varieties. You've already tasted wine systematically. That means you can concentrate on the new material rather than trying to learn everything at once.
On the other hand, if you've already picked up those foundations through work, tastings, reading or simply years of being interested in wine, then you may not need Level 1. That's why I wouldn't make the decision based purely on which qualification has the lower number.
WSET Level 1 or Level 2: what would I recommend?
If you were sitting in front of me asking which one to book, I'd ask you three things:
How much do you already know about wine?
What do you want to be able to do or understand after the course?
How much time are you prepared to put into studying?
If your answer is, “Very little, I just want to understand the basics and see where it takes me,” then book Level 1. If it's, “I know a little already, I'm genuinely interested and I want to build a proper understanding of wine,” then book Level 2.
And if you know absolutely nothing but you're keen, comfortable studying and want to challenge yourself? You can still start at Level 2.
The important thing is not to get too hung up on the numbers. Level 1 is an introduction. Level 2 is where we broaden things out and start understanding the reasons behind what we're tasting. Neither is the “better” course. They're designed for different starting points.
Choose the one that matches yours.
Written by Jimmy Smith: WSET Certified Educator · 20+ years in wine education · 6,000+ WSET students taught · Founder of West London Wine School, WSET Approved Programme Provider & WSET Global Educator of the Year