My first blind tasting of 2024 was held at the Wine and Spirit Education Trust. This is a familiar building, located on Bermondsey Street in Central London – just a short walk from London Bridge station.

I arrived at the WSET school to some familiar faces. Setting out six wine glasses in front of me felt familiar – as did setting my timer and drawing out my tasting grid. This was a Paper One exercise – white wines. Putting my nose in the first glass, I noted down the aromas, flavours, levels of acidity and alcohol – everything I always do. But when it came to answering the question, my mind went blank. Totally empty. I knew I recognised the wine, but I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was.

This theme continued for the rest of the wines in the line-up. All seemed familiar, but I just couldn’t get to the answer. I dutifully wrote out answers to all the questions on my sheet, all the time knowing that I was completely wrong.

What made things worse was that after the big reveal, it seemed that everyone else in the group had found the exercise incredibly easy. There were mentions of ‘nailing it’, and what strong typicity all the wines had.

After this utter disaster I have no choice but to dust myself off and get back in the saddle. At least it can only get better!