Mouth Shut, Head Down
In case anyone wondered, I’m taking a ‘Mouth Shut, Head Down’ approach to study at the moment.
I love documenting the process of studying for the MW, and I’ll carry on as much as I can, but a low(er) profile is helping at the moment. Kinda taking the pressure off a bit.
Not passing the MW (yet?) has really made me stop and think what I’ve got to contribute. Plus, I’ve already documented my thoughts on Social Media Wine Influencers, and right now I feel like I’ve not really got much of anything to add to that melting pot full of people posting about what they’ve bought from Aldi either.
So, I’ve been digitally absent. And you know what? It’s fine.
Some housekeeping.
You can still pay to subscribe to this newsletter, however infrequent it’s become. 100% of your money does, as ever, go to funding the study process.
As I’ve said from the start, if you think there’s a fair reason for me to carry on and you wanna help chip in a little to keep me going, it really does help1.
BUT. You do not have to pay. If you don’t think you’re getting the requisite value in return for your £20, then you can stop paying whenever you like. Honestly, it would take the pressure off a little if you do.
There is some archive stuff that’s paywalled. You can pay for a month, read it all, then cancel for £5.
Ok.
A few years ago, I think perhaps in a moment of early-twenties post-rationalisation, I kinda realised that pretty much nothing in the whole world really matters. I settled on that.
In the grand scheme of things, my contribution to pretty much anything is just one in billions of other people thinking their contribution is equally as useful.
Whether I have a shower or not. Doesn’t matter. Honestly, whether I write this newsletter or not doesn’t either. Whether I pass the MW or not in the end, same.
Now, reading between the lines, this might feel like there’s some underlying issues that I need to work through2.
People often comment that I’m pretty laid back, nothing fazes me. Well, you might be quick to realise that it’s mostly because a lot of the time, I’ve got a subtle awareness that whatever is happening could just as easily not be happening, and that would be OK too.
The only real moments when I don’t feel like that is live music. There’s a sense that watching, listening and feeling whatever is happening in front of me could only really ever be that moment, right now, and somehow that, to me at least, is worth seeking out.
Until this year, the MW was one of the few things that I’d hung my hat on.
It’s been part of my identity (online and offline) for the past four years. I’ve said before that all the benefits I brushed to the side at the start of the process have pretty much become the purpose. New friends mostly, new work connections secondary, new knowledge somewhere up there as well.
Still. I’m having a damn good crack at it this year. Why not?
I’ve come this far.
As students we submit essays and answers to practical questions that get feedback from MWs, not as part of final grades. It is there to help us prepare for structuring our answers in the exams. There’s quite a specific essay structure, and a lot of precision about the use of examples to back up your insight and analysis.
So far I’ve got passing grades for the theory essays in general this year. I’ve spent more time just working through essay frameworks on syllabus-based topics. More focus on how and why the MW examiners want students to explore the question. You’d think I might have got the hang of it by now, but apparently not.
I’ve also designed myself a better essay planning process. An extra step between intro, body and conclusion, mapping out each paragraph in more detail as part of planning. The idea being that the typing up of the essays is largely a straightforward process, just fleshing out the broad topic and purpose of each sentence.
Slightly different tack for Practical.
My previous post on blind tasting is worth a read.
My approach to getting the wines right this year is a combination of not caring, and not worrying about the argument. Slightly more reliant on instinct.
I’ve worked through the Pinot Gris, Semillon, Chenin trifecta of trouble. I’ve consistently got Cabernet and Syrah the right way round. I can tell the difference between PX and Rutherglen from just looking at it3.
I’m doing more 12-wine blind papers than last year too. I’m routinely getting 8 or 9 wines out of 12, or more on occasion. Nine wines, with accurate analysis, is almost enough to pass the exam. The other thing is that I’m not being totally disastrous when I get things wrong. I’m normally in the right ballpark to pick up some decent marks.
I’ve said before I got 55%+ marks for 40% identification in last year’s exams. With 8 or 9 wines right, routinely, that’s potentially the bump in marks I need to get. 65% marks from 75% identification will do me just fine.
I refuse to get my hopes up just yet.
I don’t know if any of this really matters. I’m still here, still typing, still tasting.
Last night I was standing in a room full of strangers shouting along to Frank Turner, it felt like maybe that mattered. He plays every set like it matters. So I’m holding onto that.
Thanks for sticking around.
Study trips, travel, group blind wine tastings and such, as well as the periphery around the fees and such
There isn’t (really), but this is just broadly how I feel about most things.
PX is marginally less viscous, and more mahogany brown. Rutherglen is slightly gold-reddy-greener in colour, and much more syrupy.