It's Not You, It's Me

Hello readers!  It has been a whopping 5 months since I have blogged, and what a 5 months it has been!  When I started this blog my goals were twofold, to one, document and follow my WSET Diploma journey, and two, to help people become more comfortable with and to enjoy wine more.

I'm not going to sugarcoat it, but this Diploma journey has been far more laborious and difficult than I ever imagined, especially while working full-time.  Since January, I study (on average) 15-20 hours per week, in addition to my day job.  That makes for a very busy life.  My friends and family have known that from January until my final exam, I am pretty much unavailable.  I will attend major lie events (i.e. weddings, birthday parties, showers), and visit new babies when they are born, but after that I am holed up a my house in books, flashcards, grids, spreadsheets, etc.  Also add to the mix a study group and a tasting group per week.  Aside from work and studying, there is not much time for anything else.

My apolgies for leaving you all hanging.  It was never my intention, but such is life.  I recognized that my studies had to come first, and I made a deliberate decision to pause on this blog. 

The good news is that my FINAL WSET Diploma exam is Wednesday June 14th. After that I'll be home free!  Results don't come in for 2 months, and I can finally exhale come June 15th!

For those interested, the exam consists of 12 blind tastings, set up in flights of three.  One flight is the same varietal but different region, one is the same region but different grapes, one is a quality assessment (might be the same style of wine or wines from the same region, but with varying quality levels), and one is a mixed bag.  You get 1 hour for 2 flights, a 30 minute break, and then another hour for the 2nd pair of flights.  The doozy of the exam is the theory portion.  The theory portion consists of 5 essay style questions that you have 3.5 hours to complete. 

All this will be done in one day, June 14th, starting at 10am. 

That's all for now.  I wanted to acknowledge where I fell short with my audience and also set a new agreement that I will be BACK post-exam.  I am really looking forward to completing my studies, getting my life back and being able to blog on a regular schedule!

Back to my studies and thank you for all your support.  My friends and family have been there every step of the way and I have also been grateful to have the support from strangers who read my blog posts, comment on them, like my social media posts, etc. 

Cheers, and I assure you, there is more wine to come!