Sunday, August 8, 2010

Wine expert

One of my goals in life is to be able to understand wine. I enjoy going to dinner with my French colleagues as there is guaranteed to be a debate about the wine. They will discuss the relative merits of this or that grape and what will go best with their choices for each course. I sit there and nod sagely but its all Chinese to me. Coming from the North of England deciding on red,white, screw top or not is as far as it gets !
Over the years I have bought various books, been on numerous wine tastings ( no one ever learnt anything at one of these!!) attended wine festivals and have even bought cases of good wine based on what, I do not know. I am not by any means a stupid person but am just not able to retain any of this information. Am starting to think that this must be a cultural thing and that if you have not grown up in an atmosphere where wine is served with dinner from an early age then it is a goal that will forever remain out of your reach. Shame really because only this week I was reading how wine trading is a hugely profitable area. Apparently since the credit crunch the Liv-ex 100 index (which tracks trade in 100 of the worlds most celebrated vintages) has massively outperformed the FTSE 100 ( Independent July 4 2010). Guess thats another chance to become a millionaire out the window then!
What I have discovered though and what is keeping me hugely entertained on the internet is the world of wine according to Gary Vaynerchuck http://tv.winelibrary.com Through the medium of social media he has transformed his families small wine business to become one of the leading internet suppliers of wine and a foremost authority on wine in America if not the world. His daily internet shows are hugely entertaining and even I have learnt a thing or too! He does it all in a non elitest type format, spitting his wine out into a New York Jets bucket, using the same glass to try 3 types of wine but this is the beauty of the whole thing and the reason why he has become such a cult. If you have not seen him go check him out. Compulsive viewing!

2 comments:

  1. Ahh, I love anything with grapes - even a vinegar. Honestly, everything is about taste. I tasted few expensive wines and champagnes and I have to say I wasn't impressed. And now at 30 I know that if I want to celebrate I will pick Bohemia Sect Demi because I like the taste more than proper champagne. Every evening I drink white wine because red gives me a headache and if I am lucky it's the Picpoul Blanc. Unfortunately you can't buy it in Czech Republic so we always buy it in Lidl in France for around 1,50 EUR per bottle. So even though that my wines are not the best rated wines, I don't care, they are for me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well said! That is the best thing about wine because its not about trying to be 'in'. You like what you like and it does not matter whether it comes in a box,has a screw top or costs 1.50 from Lidl.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments.