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So that's all folks... The end of my Mickey Mouse Degree.
Last week marked the graduation ceremony for Plumpton College (via the University of Brighton), and the award for my long awaited BSc. I managed to nail down a 2:1, something I'm quite proud of!
Three years of blagging lifts with friends, or commuting over 5 miles of boggy fields have ended. Countless lab reports and cold winter evenings baby-sitting gallons of juvenile wine are to be no more. It's au revoir to staring blankly at Tony Milanowski's equations, pretending like I understand them. Good-bye to Matthew Hudson's infectious enthusiasm and whit that made learning the intricacies of the global wine trade a complete joy. Ciao to Andrew Atkinson's chatty tutorials and his unrivaled 'walk-you-through-it' style of lecturing even the most challenging of stats and microbiology work. And hasta luego to quaking in my boots knowing that I'm next name on the register during the Chris Foss question hour.
I started Plumpton in September of 2012. Having worked in wine investments for a short period, and having all but aced my intermediate WSET exam I walked in like Billy Big-Balls, thinking the course to be nothing more than an extended WSET course. How wrong I was. The level of science and maths necessary was a true blow to the brain. Everybody felt the same. Quantum chemistry followed by applied algebra was not expected during my first term. This, however, was made somewhat more palatable knowing that tomorrows class would be tractor driving around a muddy obstacle course.
After some time we all found our feet and began reaping the benefit of the massive workload placed upon us. We all morphed from shy and trembling powerpoint presenters, to confident and comedic owners of the stage. Each of us can now adopt an unbiased view on the world of statistics and scientific reviewing, allowing us to find our own views on a range of subject matters. We can all work confidently and efficiently in laboratories without the aid of prior instruction, sourcing our own methodology by sifting through the latest literature. We can all determine whether a wine has a taint, microbial or chemical spoilage simply by using our highly tuned organoleptic skills. We can all debate organics vs inorganic viticulture. We can all manage a vineyard, or run a winery. We can all describe the metabolic pathway when considering L-malic to L-lactic acid conversion, and a host of other pathways to boot. We can can all determine the range of microbial life in a given sample simply by adopting a range of lab techniques. We can all write a dissertation.
We can all DO wine.
This is entirely down to the fantastic work of Chris Foss and his wine team at Plumpton, a true hub of wine for the UK. Somewhere certain to gain further ground with the recent opening of the Research Centre on site. Plumpton College oozes with an enthusiasm for wine, from the students up to the leaders of courses. If you're thinking of studying wine (production or business), you must seriously consider this place as your number one option.
And here is to the fantastic friendships made along the way... you all know who you are!
To the next chapter...
