Still Not Certified. Still Showing Up.
Hey. You, with the flashcards in your pocket.
The late nights. The lineup of bottles with scribbled notes and tired hands.
The fear that you’ll never “catch up.”
I see you. I was you.
There’s something no one tells you when you start studying wine:
It’s not just the content that’s hard. It’s the constant feeling that you’re behind.
I know what it’s like to whisper “I’m still in the process” and feel like the room gets a little quieter.
To see the certified, the badged, the “finished,” and wonder if you’ll ever arrive.
But let me tell you this — not as a guru, not as a gatekeeper — just as someone a few steps ahead:
You are not less because you haven’t passed.
The exam is one moment. You are many.
You are the bottles you’ve opened, the stories you’ve absorbed, the tables you’ve tended to when your own heart was breaking.
You are the study sessions, the humility, the grit, the grace.
Please don’t let a multiple-choice test shrink your brilliance.
Yes, study.
Yes, strive.
But don’t forget: the work you’re doing now is already the work of a wine professional.
When you pause to explain tannins to a guest who’s nervous to ask — that’s the real flex.
When you lift someone else’s confidence along with your own — that’s leadership.
When you show up for your team, bottle in hand, ego checked at the door — that’s mastery.
The pin doesn’t give you purpose. It affirms one you’ve already built.
And if you never get the paper? You’re still allowed in the room.
In fact, you might be the one holding the door for someone else.
