How to Study for the CSW Test - Australian wines

I offered advice on studying for the CSW exam in this post from 2007: Certified Specialist of Wine Exam - How I Studied for the Society of Wine Educators CSW exam

In this post, I offered the following advice for learning about the different winemaking countries:

Read Wine Spectator and Go on Wine Shop Field Trips – I used the tasting notes in the back of issues of Wine Spectator to quiz and familiarize myself on wine regions, particularly Australian wine regions. I went to my local wine shop and looked at the different wine labels from around the world, particularly for Germany. The wines from those countries were unfamiliar to me, so the hands-on experience with labels and tasting notes helped me to learn geography and wine laws.

I recently received the following email from a prospective CSW:

I'm working toward becoming a CSW... I'm contacting you because I found your advice blog online about the exam and I had a question if you don't mind. The only information that I'm having trouble with are things like the soil, climate, and topography of the many many wine growing regions and wine zones of places like Australia, for example. I can remember places with unique characteristics ... I can't seem to assimilate the places with standard characteristics. Is this something I should be worried about or should I focus more on history, chemistry, major regions, etc?

I do remember very specific questions about wines and wine regions on the test, so this is an essential part of studying for the CSW exam. I learned about Australian wines by visiting wine shops and looking at the wines from Australia. For me, putting a bottle of Coonawarra wine in my hands and reading the back was a powerful way of associating the fact that the famous Cabernet Sauvignon wine grapes from this region on the Limestone Coast of South Australia are grown on "terra rossa" soil. A bottle of Riesling from the Clare Valley will remind me that the altitude of this wine region ensures cool nights even during the heat of summer allowing the fruit to ripen more evenly and slowly - which is why they can sucessfully grow Riesling!

In addition to touring a wine shop, I recommend watching the fun Youtube Wine shows from Wine Week. Danny and Brad talk about Australian wines, giving potential CSW's another chance to connect the wine regions of Australia with the wines they produce.

Do you have any suggestions for how to study for the CSW Exam?

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