But the real awareness of the difficulties involved, are revealed during the exam, where each MW candidate has to write down 11 essays of around 1000-1500 words (my choices from this year 2013 exam are at the end of the post) and taste under blind conditions of course, 36 wines filling approximately 45 pages in total with hopefully relevant arguments. All these fun stuff take place in mid-June London with the results traditionally announced the first week of September. The time in between suits perfect for wine-study detox, relaxation and vacation.
But when the last week of August knocks at your door, anxiety and agony take over. For the final countdown has started. Friday 6th of September was the B-day with the result mail thought to arrive in the evening. Hence I was still cool in the morning having prepared my medium roast Illy espresso and was just about to surf the facebook and twitter waves when the evening expected mail popped up. My first thought was, fine we won't have to wait the rest of the day. No second thought followed but I felt my heart would explode from my chest. Then with no other delay I clicked on the link. Fortunately the mail included a Pass in Theory and from what I've been told it is quite an achievement from a non-native English speaking person, especially in the first attempt. It sure feels rewarding and encouraging, having immediately charged my batteries by 150% to keep going on. On top of that I have to admit that 75% of my effort was spent on the part of the chaotic theory leaving little bit behind the Practical. There, I was rather close to whites and further away in reds with a Pass in mixed-bag Paper 3 which this year included a demanding 6 non-fortified stickies.