Poetry in a Bottle

"Wine is bottled poetry." -- Robert Loius Stevenson

My mother's love for tasting wine has left its significant mark on my own palate, and at 23 I feel almost comfortable professing my own keen interest and fascination with what the avid see as an art form. I could easily identify the variety of grape responsible for filling my tapered crystal glasses about the same time I was first allowed any alcohol at all, at the unbelievably legal age of 18.

Since then, I've tried to learn as much as time has permitted about wine, and just as readily forgotten the finer details of what I've learned. Most of us are so lucky as to have 5 senses with which to perceive the world, and yet, how many of us really embrace our sense of taste? I am determined to harness my tastebuds, and self-directed formal learning seems to work pretty well with me.

Yesterday, as I was trying to extol the virtues of an unwooded Australian Chardonnay to Mum as we pondered over a bottle to buy, I realized I needed a better way of consolidating what I'd learned, and maybe sharing it with people who might be interested too.

There are tomes of information out there, and for any beginner (as I consider myself) it seems far too easy to drown and lose the plot of things in fancy European house names or to reach much too general conclusions about a bottle of wine based on its country of origin and good marketing. Besides, wine is served at most social gatherings and it irks my sense of artistry till I feel almost personally smitten by the sight of commercial, cheap vile juice being gulped down by people who appear to have strong views about their capacity for discernment.

Such points of contention aside however, I hope this blog is of some use to me;and that just perhaps the occasional visitor who might stumble upon it by chance discovers a new love of their own too. Enjoy.