So you wanna be a MW!

Just found this which was posted on a UK forum.

http://www.jbwpro.com/JBWpro/SOMM.html

...and I thought the intro somm test was demanding at the time. I might go for the certified or the advanced, but the MS - I don't think so.

I made a decision several years ago that I didn't want to be an MS...even though my company offered to fully finance it (with a relatively unlimited tasting budget) if I wished to do so.

And even though I have deep respect for MWs...as one should for anyone who achieves such status, for it takes long, hard work...I still don't wish to be an MW. I'll let other people occupy that niche.

Fast forward: Was doing some training in Atlanta for ITBers last week. Participant asked me if I knew X, who was an MW. I said I had met, but didn't really know him.

Participant said he had come in to talk about/teach wine to some people in retail. That he was knowledgeable, sure enough, but had no idea whatsoever of how to relate to anyone on their level, and pitched his comments at such a high level he was basically talking to himself. In other words, The Man Who Knew Too Much---and didn't know how to parse it out to tell the people he was being paid to educate what they needed to know. He couldn't differentiate.

You can have all the factoids in the world lodged in your head. You can also, perhaps, be a decent enough expository writer to pass an exam. Still doesn't qualify you as a wine educator or effective communicator of what you know vs. what they need to know.

The movie's about the MS exam, though, not the MW. Am I missing something?

Opps, good point Oliver. Big difference??

[David M. Bueker]

Opps, good point Oliver. Big difference??

Yes.

I have met and drank with one MW in my life (that I am aware of), and he was completely down to earth & a fun guy to hang with. We had some great discussions, drank well, though not spectacularly, and never once did I think he was pretentious in the least. He actually ran a wine shop in South Kensington, and I met him again about a year later. He recognized me, was very friendly, and we shared a few tastes while I was buying a bottle to take to an offline.

Opps, good point Oliver. Big difference??

Yes.

I have met and drank with one MW in my life (that I am aware of), and he was completely down to earth & a fun guy to hang with. We had some great discussions, drank well, though not spectacularly, and never once did I think he was pretentious in the least. He actually ran a wine shop in South Kensington, and I met him again about a year later. He recognized me, was very friendly, and we shared a few tastes while I was buying a bottle to take to an offline.

Well, I'd add Sandy Block to the list of MWs that I'd be happy to hang out with. He's a great, great guy. And he's currently running the wine program for Legal Seafoods. But then, he was that type of guy before he got his MW too.

I've been able to meet, and in some instances spend time with or be educated by, MWs. I'd classify them much the same as college professors. Some of them were both knowledgeable and wonderful teacher/communicators; some of them were perhaps knowledgeable but still blithering assholes....er, high on the ACI scale, I mean. One I met was on such a lofty perch of his own device that he was incapable of communicating anything except that he knew everything in the universe. Sturgeon's Law applies,as always.

And to MSs as well.

Opps, good point Oliver. Big difference??

Yes, Bob. MS is intended to qualify Sommeliers, MW qualifies people who work in the rest of the trade, broadly; retail or supplier. I am impressed by the level of knowledge that the MSs I've met have shown, although the tasting exam is much less difficult than the MW. (The MW tasting is three 2 1/2 hour papers of 12 wines each, brutal.)

MW qualifies people who work in the rest of the trade, broadly; retail or supplier.

Trade membership is not a criteria for MW study as far as I know. The Institute of Masters of Wine vision and mission statements says:
"A Master of Wine is someone who has demonstrated, by way of rigorous examination, a thorough knowledge of all aspects of wine and an ability to communicate that knowledge clearly. They actively encourage others in the pursuit of knowledge as well as seeking to bring wine communities together."
http://www.mastersofwine.org/

It helps if you have deep enough pockets to spend several years buying and tasting wines from all over the world prior to getting anywhere near an examination room. I personally know winemakers, viticulturists, wine judges and wine writers who have the title of MW after their names. All good, unassuming people, and not one is at all pretentious.

I've seen the movie trailer, and hope to see the whole film.
Yes, the film is about the Court of Master Sommelier's, MS exam

In the mean-time, I'm telling people that I have a front-row seat to the LIVE performance, as I have 2 really good friends in the Boston area who are going for the final MS exam I also have a few other friends going for the Court's Advanced exam and a couple friends in the MW program and numerous others in the WSET Diploma program.

Having been through WSET Diploma, I have a great admiration and respect for those who take their studies to an even higher level (MS or MW). In helping my friends around here, I've sat through practice rounds of both programs (both giving the exams and TAKING them too). The level of talent is astounding, and the examinations are brutal.

Neil,

You used to have to be in the trade to take the MW, no longer (obviously, since Jancis Robinson has been MW for some time). But I was referring to the way the syllabus is put together, who it's aimed at; probably the ideal candidate would be the buyer for e.g. Sainsbury's or the Wine Society, i.e. someone who buys estate-bottled fine wine but also buys 'own-label' wine. There is a lot of information about closures, SO2, traceability, QA/QC, all of which is very useful for direct relationships with suppliers. That said, I found my studies in the program an enormous help in dealing with my (mostly small) Italian producers, particularly when we have problems with e.g. corks or brettanomyces.

The tasting exams, as I mentioned above, are an extraordinary challenge: you have to taste 12 wines in IIRC 2 hours and 15 minutes, which essentially means you have 2 1/2 minutes to taste each wine and make your determinations with regard to variety, region, level of quality, winemaking, style, etc, the rest of the time being spent writing down the answers.

I met a number of MWs in the course of my studies and found most of them to be helpful and modest.