This episode is constructed for Diploma-level exam performance: every region, district and ward included in the WSET text is addressed with explicit cause-and-effect logic linking growing conditions, farming choices and regulatory or commercial structures to wine style, quality and price outcomes. All numeric anchors provided by WSET (rainfall, altitude, vineyard share, export volumes, market percentages and certification uptake) are retained and contextualized, as these are frequent distinction-level markers.
Particular emphasis is placed on how South Africa’s sustainability and ethical initiatives (IPW, WWF-SA Conservation Champion Programme, Integrity and Sustainability seal, WIETA and Fairtrade) function as structural responses to environmental pressure, historical labor systems and export-market scrutiny, and how these initiatives directly affect cost, positioning and long-term viability — a common area of examiner reward.
The wine business section explicitly links the dismantling of the KWV, export liberalization, bulk-wine dependence and pricing pressure to current profitability challenges, ensuring students can articulate not just what changed, but why it matters in exam answers.
This episode can be used for D3 revision, comparison essays and short-answer questions on South Africa, provided students actively recall the cause → effect → exam payoff logic rather than memorizing facts in isolation.
Looking for all episodes in one place?
I’ve created an evergreen “Start Here” hub for this unit so you can access the full series without inbox overload.
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
