Telari Labs

Student

Back to discover courses

Public course

Vineyard Foundations

Vineyard Foundations helps us understand how growing conditions and vineyard decisions affect grape ripening, yield, grape composition, wine style, quality and price.

This course is designed for serious wine study, including material relevant to the WSET Level 3 exam. It does not try to provide all the theory inside each lesson. Instead, each topic sets objectives, points us towards the right areas to read up on, then asks us to answer in our own words and receive feedback.

The focus is cause and effect: how what happens in the vineyard appears later in the glass.

We should also use The Wine Atlas alongside this course to log and track wines as we taste. Where possible, use the structured SAT-style tasting framework while studying vineyard topics, so vineyard theory connects to evidence in the glass: acidity, alcohol, body, flavour ripeness, tannin, colour, concentration, quality and readiness for drinking.

Recommended study order

This is the best starting point in the Telari Wine Course suite.

We can enrol in all courses at the same time and work through them in parallel. For best results, start Vineyard Foundations alongside Winery Foundations. After the first few lessons, add Grape Varieties and Style Families. Tasting and Applied Judgement can run in parallel if we are tasting while studying. Regional Still Wines will make more sense once some vineyard, winery and grape/style logic is already in place. Sparkling Wines and Fortified Wines can be added later, once the core production concepts are secure. Review and Application should be used once there is enough material to consolidate.

This is a recommended pathway, not a hard lock.

Course-level objectives

By the end of this course, we should be able to:

Explain what vines need to grow and ripen grapes. Explain how ripening changes grape composition. Link climate, weather and site factors to wine style, quality and price. Explain how events during the growing season affect yield and grape quality. Identify major vineyard hazards and explain their consequences. Explain how vineyard management choices influence vine balance, ripening, yield, labour cost and quality. Discuss water availability and farming approaches without treating any approach as automatically superior. Connect vineyard economics to grape cost, wine quality and final price.

WSETWineViticultureL3

By The Wine Atlas

Learning on Telari

Created by The Wine Atlas, delivered through Telari

The course creator controls the material and assessment standards. Telari provides structured lessons, practice, feedback against those standards and a record of your progress. See how Telari works.

Enrolment

This course is currently free to enrol in.

AI access

AI access follows the settings chosen by the course creator and is confirmed before study begins.

Audio

No reviewed lesson audio is currently advertised for this course.

Lesson list

  1. What grapes needUnderstand the basic requirements for vine growth and grape ripening, then connect those requirements to grape composition, wine style, quality and price.
  2. Ripening and grape compositionUnderstand how grapes change as they ripen, and why ripeness involves sugar, acidity, flavour, colour and tannin rather than sugar alone.
  3. Climate and wine styleUnderstand how climate affects grape ripening and how this shapes alcohol, acidity, body, flavour ripeness, tannin and overall wine style.
  4. Weather and vintage variationUnderstand how short-term weather events affect yield, ripening, grape condition and vintage differences.
  5. Site factorsUnderstand how latitude, altitude, slope, aspect, water bodies and soil drainage create differences between vineyard sites.
  6. The growing seasonUnderstand the main stages of the vine growth cycle and how each stage can affect yield, ripeness and wine style.
  7. Vineyard hazards and disease pressureUnderstand major vineyard hazards and explain how they affect yield, grape condition, cost, quality and price.
  8. Vineyard choicesUnderstand how pruning, training, trellising, canopy management, yield control and harvest method affect ripening, labour, quality and price.
  9. Water and vineyard management approachesUnderstand irrigation, dry farming, drainage, water stress and farming approaches such as sustainable, organic and biodynamic viticulture.
  10. Vineyard economics and qualityUnderstand how land, labour, yield, risk, reputation, regulation and vineyard inputs affect grape cost, wine quality and final price.
  11. Vineyard Foundations practice bankLarge grouped question bank for repeated Vineyard Foundations practice runs. Covers vine needs, ripening, climate, weather, site, growing season timing, hazards, vineyard choices, water management, economics, quality and price.