I've had my head in my books over the past few weeks so have only recently realised it has been over 2 weeks since my last post. Spurred on by an assessment of how much reading I still have to/want to do before Unit 3 in January I've been trying to up the number of hours I spend each week studying. It doesn't seem to have left much time for anything else except the occasional other post or comment on a blog.
Recently it's been South Africa (I SO want to go there now having read all about it), the North African countries, New Zealand and Australia. I do wonder how many students put in the full amount of hours for each unit, which is 300 for Unit 3, but I think for those of us who are not involved full time in the industry, and thus not exposed to wine on a day by day basis, need that many hours at least.
I've also managed a fair few hours listening to podcasts downloaded to CD and played in my car as I drive to work in Brighton. Best of the lot recently has been the one on Burgundy from Grape Radio. It was very educational so justified it's length which made it more of a feature length radio program rather than a podcast. I must check out Allen Meadows' Burghound site as I find Burgundy a very complex subject so need all the data and info I can get to help. I also thoroughly enjoyed the interview with Etienne Hugel of Hugel and Fils over at Winecast. You can also take part in a Twitter tasting tomorrow of his wines if you are so inclined. Rob over at the Wine Conversation and Andy from Spittoon are meeting up to do just that. Wish I could join them.
So it's been a busy few weeks and with the trade tasting events kicking off again next month in London I'm looking forward to lots of tasting practice although a new job contract may get in the way of me attending as many as I want to.
4 comments:
good luck with the studying.
you could consider our tasting "homework"
Hi Colin
Very much agree with your thoughts on the podcasts.They are very educational and ive been into the 2 you mentioned for some time now.Have you looked back on some of the older Graperadio and Winecast shows.There are some good ones with Alan Meadows there and Tim at Winecast has a great style.Also take a look at the UK wine show with Chris Scott which is very good too.
Just as a matter of interest how many hours do you think you are spending reading and revising during the week.
Robert
Im a diploma student as well what did you mean by tasting homework im in Devon and the chance of some tastings down this way are few and far between.
Cheers
Nigel
You are very dedicated. I just signed up to do Unit 5 (Sparkling) and will start Unit 3 in January. Reading your blog helps me to think about how to set up for Unit 3
But now the focus is on Unit 5 and getting books for Unit 3.
By the way, which books are you using from Unit 3? Are you using the ones from the recommended list?
Nigel, I spend anything from 2 to 10 hours per week although usually it's in the 4 to 6 range.
Marissa, best of luck with Unit 5.
I mainly use the OCW and Wine Atlas but also find Wine Report 2008 useful for topical matters and the huge number of industry and producer web sites helpful. The key for me as being recognising the enormity of the amount of studying required (300 hours) and planning what I'll study when to make sure I don't get behind.
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