Diary of an MW student – part 7

All MW students experience, at some point in their studies, the feeling that they are utterly incapable of ever passing the exam.

I, at least, certainly did during the recent seminar week for first year MW students at the Wine Academy in Rust, Austria (pictured). The intensive programme contains about 80 hours-worth of tastings, mock exams, field trips and lectures designed to give maximum preparation for the requirements of passing the exams. In so doing, it is inevitable that each person's weak spots are exposed.

Some of us were humbled, some daunted, some devastated: I felt all three at various...