This episode is built to score highly under examiner expectations by sustaining continuous, explicit cause → effect → style/quality/price logic across three contrasting regions. For Dão, it emphasizes mountain shelter, altitude and granite soils as drivers of freshness, acidity, and moderated intensity, and connects the modern shift to shorter maceration and adjusted oak use directly to the historical issue of excessive astringency. For Bairrada, it foregrounds maritime rainfall timing as the central constraint and explains how Baga’s late ripening requires precise site selection, yield limitation, and evolving stem/whole-bunch choices, linking those decisions to tannin management and ageing potential; it also integrates the significance of Baga Clássico and VR usage as expressions of stylistic and philosophical positioning. For Alentejo, it connects hot, dry conditions, irrigation, mechanization and labor constraints to vineyard systems, production scale and price ladder, while clearly attributing stylistic outcomes to harvest timing and blending strategies for key grapes. All regulatory and business content is included only where it explains market outcomes, quality segmentation or producer behavior, keeping the narrative tightly exam-directed and free of unsupported detail.
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You’ll find the complete list of episodes, organized in syllabus order, here:
https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/wset-diploma-d3-wines-of-the-world
