According to Margaret Rand, author, writer and former editor of Wine & Spirit and Wine magazines, being a wine lover isn't about vintages, prices and rarity, it should be more fun than that. Dan Traucki offers a modified Australian version.
"It's to be measured in bad bottles as well as good ones; in dropped glasses, in grape skins under the fingernails, in journeys and memories," she says.
Here is what I would like to add and give you my Aussie version of her list:
1. Learn to Decant
This couldn't be easier- just point the bottle at the decanter neck and pour. Keep a steady hand and pour slowly; creating turbulence in the bottle will defeat the object. You do not only have to decant for practical reasons: White wine and rosé look amazingly pretty in decanters.
2. Drink wine from your birth year
It helps to be born in a great vintage. Anybody over 40 should consider old Aussie reds, Bordeaux, Port or Sauternes. If you are under 40, go for Penfolds Grange.
3. Drink premium wine in a plastic cup
Try a Grange or a French first growth from a plastic cup with a takeaway
or at a sausage sizzle. Drinking wine out of a plastic cup was immortalised in the 2004 hit movie Sideways, when the protagonist Miles cracked open his cherished 1961 Cheval Blanc in a fast-food joint
4. Start a wine club
Very useful if you want to improve your tasting skills. Everyone brings a bottle; you take turns deciding the theme and price range.
5. Treading grapes at harvest
Try traditional vinification in parts of Portugal, It's a lot of fun:; and not only for wine enthusiasts.
6. Take a wine course:
Great edutainment – It’s fun and educational at the same time.
7. Try Ice Wine Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese have more complexity than ice wine (Eiswein), but ice wine wins on improbability. A number of Canadian ice wines are available locally (Australia)
8. Plan a dinner party around wines: They'd better be good - the
guests, that is. No point in opening your finest bottles if they are not going to be appreciated. Keep the food simple and don't let anyone get too snobby; wine is meant to be fun. But you must serve only wine.
9. Organise a magnum dinner
Each couple/pair should be asked to bring a good magnum (1.5 liters) of wine to match the pre-advised cuisine.
10. Drink your best bottles
Drink a wine when it's over the hill and you’d say, 'If only I'd opened it five years ago'. Open it a fraction too early and you will have the pleasure of watching it open and blossom in the glass. A wine that's still too young will be full of delight; one that's too old is a waste.
Cheers! Now go forth and make sure you try at least one of the things every wine lover should do.
Dan Traucki
Dan Traucki is the principal of Wine Assist Pty Ltd, a wine industry logistics and marketing consultancy. He started out as an accountant before joining the wine industry about 20 years ago. He has been the general manager of a medium-sized winery and CEO of a smaller winery. He shares our love for alternate varietals and is a fellow member of Wine Century Club. He may be contacted at dan@wineassist.com.au -editor |
