Last week was our last classroom session for the WSET Diploma. Alas, I missed it because of illness. But it seems a good time to reflect on my not-quite-finished two years of fieldwork among the WSET. (With apologies to Evans-Pritchard.) Like most fieldwork, it seemed at times interminable, and at other times, to go by in a flash. There was culture shock and disorientation. Who are these people? Why do they do these things? There...
Read MoreLast week we had two of the ‘small’ (as WSET calls them) exams. These were the sparkling wine and spirits units. It would be a miracle if I didn’t have to resit the sparkling wine one. Spirits? Who knows. What happened? Simple – I blanked. I think the sparkling tastings went ok. I was correct on 2 out of 3, but then again, that’s only 2 out of 25 points each. The rest is description and justification. As readers will know by now,...
Read MoreApologies for not getting a blog post out in almost two weeks. Besides the WSET exams yesterday (more on those soon), I’ve been spoilt for choice. Yes, indeed. The silence isn’t the lack of something to say, but rather I have three blog posts in various states of unreadiness. Some are even on the research topic of Anthroenology – wine and sustainability. Speaking of sustainability – in the next week or so, the...
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