OK, LET ME EXPLAIN…
I STARTED MY WSET EDUCATION IN 2022 WITH LEVEL 2.
My knowledge was minimal. I knew what Chablis was, I knew what grapes were most common in Champagne, etc, etc. I knew nothing about wine growing or wine making, much less laws or even how to blind taste! I finished WSET 2 in April 2022, then went straight into WSET 3 in the Fall of 2022. PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE do not do what I did. I thought that when the course started, they taught you everything in a class setting. I decided to sign up the day before the course started so I didn’t have the book yet. The course is basically 5 weeks of review, then you have the exam! You need to walk into that room ready to take the test. Anyway, I crammed for an entire month, took the exam and got a Pass with Merit. I didn’t sleep well, eat well, nor have any peace of mind for that entire period. It was bad. BUT I learned SO MUCH in that month about wine than anywhere else. My favorite thing about WSET is that you analyze wine for its structure, not for its price or reputation. I learned to speak of wine in an educated approach with analysis and theory. I do wish I prepared better for that exam.
Level 3 was stressful, so I didn’t want to do that again. Then I met a group of wine nerds who would end up becoming my best friends. Chelsea was about to finish the WSET Diploma (level 4). She didn’t ask - she declared that Jade and I would be taking the Diploma and we needed to start fundraising. She sent me materials to start studying. I was very grateful for this because none of this would exist otherwise. This was March 2023. I started outlining and reading. We all set up a fundraiser in August, along with Kelly. The diploma costs over $7500. You have to count the flights, hotels, wine samples and it’s over $10,000. We had a successful fundraiser thanks to our generous wine community and friends. We immediately started prepping for D1. Our first exam was set for December 2023. I did have a lot of job, financial, and relationship instability in 2023 that made prep for this more difficult. (More on that later) However, I CRUSHED that exam. I had 8 months to prepare, and I felt so great after that.
Ew this is a long background story.
Anyway, halfway through studying for D1, the first module, I was having a hard time internalizing information. It was A LOT. (There are 6 modules!) One night I drew some of the processes in the winery because I couldn’t visualize it. It was the wine faults, so I drew them: an evil-looking egg for reductive, a stick of butter for diacetyl, a banana for isoamyl acetate, and Fino Sherry bottle for acetaldehyde. I posted it on Instagram. Well, here we are now. So many viewers loved the visual version of the notes. It made sense better for others to see it. Others just wanted to see more. I created a separate Instagram account for my illustrated notes. With Kelly’s help, I came up with Drawn to Wine. Ever since then, studying and learning has never been the same. These are my notes and how I study, and they are helping others study too! I’ve made connections, more friends, and so many opportunities have grown from this. This website is a next step for Drawn to Wine. While the notes are helpful, they need to be organized and grouped, especially since I’m already in D5 (Fortifieds). I hope to share a little more of what I go through during this whole thing. I’ve got about a year left, assuming I pass the other modules. There’s more to this than just studying and taking exams. Stick around for the whole journey!
6/14/2024
