After submitting my application to the Institute of Masters of Wine in June, I spent the whole summer trying not to think about it and finally bursting into tears in a supermarket in Tuscany when I got the acceptance letter.

The first experience I had of a Master of Wine practical exam paper was at the Institute’s headquarters in Vauxhall. Twenty of us shuffled into a room and sat expectantly, waiting for the Master of Wine running the session to give us some instructions. We were each to collect twelve glasses, a spittoon and a water glass. A timer was displayed on the screen at the front of the room. Surely we weren’t expected to sit an exam now, I thought!?

It turned out that we were. I had imagined that this first day at the Institute would involve us being taught how to taste wine. Well, it turns out that MW students are expected to already be quite good at that! Quickly pulling myself together and pouring my wines, I got started. My identifications, to my great relief, were actually not that bad. I correctly identified four Sauvignon Blancs, putting them each in the correct region (New Zealand, the Loire, Bordeaux and Napa). I managed – to my own astonishment – to pick out a white Châteauneuf du Pape. Of course I made mistakes, and plenty of them, but this was a huge boost in confidence.

During these first few weeks I was also given my first assignment. An essay on the various nutrients required by the grapevine, to be done under exam conditions. I found myself digging out a periodic table for the first time in more than a decade, and studying hard. Coming from an arts background, the detailed knowledge of chemistry and biology demanded by the MW course is still one of the most challenging things for me.

At the point of writing this, eighteen months into the course, I am well and truly used to public criticism. As such, I don’t mind admitting that my first attempt at an MW essay was a total failure. This, at the time, was a nasty shock. I was used to doing well academically, and this absolute disaster of an essay threw into relief the amount of work I would need to put in to get up to standard.

My first month on the MW course was marked by extreme highs and lows. This trend would continue over the next eighteen months, and even now shows no sign of relenting – although I hope to end on the biggest high of all when I finally manage to pass!