The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry…..

After a year of saving, preparation and study, I won’t be applying to start the Master of Wine course this year after all. This may come as something of a surprise to those who know me in person, as it’s been a big part of my 2018/2019 plans, and I’ve talked about it often, including parts I, II and III of this series. Trips to both Argentina and Bordeaux left me with a wealth of examples to tie into my studies and practice to use as arguments in examinations, whilst monthly trips to London and continuous studies at home had left me with a good solid base to start the course with. So, what gives? Well, we bought a house.

This sounds like the sort of thing that shouldn’t really come as a surprise, but it really did catch me out! You see, myself and my wife have been looking at getting onto the property ladder for a couple of years now; uncontrolled, painfully high rents in Barcelona are the norm, and throwing 50% of my monthly pay-cheque into the hands of a landlord who denies any responsibility anytime anything breaks was becoming something of a hassle. The problem? Partly thanks to Spain being knocked silly by the 2008 financial recession and an incredible amount of tax to be paid on any purchased property, we would need 35% of the value of a property as a deposit. As first time buyers. Bloody hell.

I gave up after about 6 months of searching as a result; we weren’t even close to having the amount needed, despite years of saving. I focused exclusively on preparing for the MW course whilst working to build my skill-set, safe in the knowledge that I’d probably have to keep dumping money into thin air for another decade or safe. Ah, painful bliss. Fortunately for me, my resourceful wife kept on searching, visiting and ultimately, finding a lovely little flat we could almost afford! All it would take was for a stroke of luck and for the asking price to be lowered. Well, fast forward a couple of months and we’re now the proud owners of a small flat in Horta, Barcelona; hurrah!

Unfortunately, all the money I’d saved to begin the Master of Wine course went into the deposit as well, hence the delay. I could theoretically begin, but my entire financial planning revolved around the fact that the moment I had to start trying to keep up with studies and financing it in the moment, is likely the time when I would have a breakdown of some sort. As it’s been pointed out to me, the course will still be there next year and at 30 years old, I shouldn’t really be in any sort of hurry. Wise words, and besides, now I effectively have another year of preparation which, if used correctly, will simply stand me in better stead for the trials of the course itself, both in terms of knowledge and having the money for the first year ready.

So what to expect over the coming year in terms of a MW study reboot? Probably a quiet period over the early summer where I help to tear down walls, paint, clear debris and make the flat somewhat livable before we move in. Then a ramp-up of visits, tastings and study periods from September onwards, with the intention of applying to start in May 2020. en quite lax on the writing front recently but fear not, there are more articles in the works! A combination of the house purchase, as well as a great deal of travelling made for a difficult, busy period of time that I found it hard to balance. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and there will be more wine reviews, articles and general ramblings in the near future. Onwards!