What a week it has been! I rectified my lack of wine drinking from last week with a gorgeous evening at Punch Lane Wine Bar and another at Grub Food Van (review to come). I have had a bit of a case of new job blues – working a lot (like, A LOT) to upscale quickly coupled with that feeling of inadequacy you get when you don’t know everything 😉 Seriously though, as a chronic over-achiever, being a total rookie is hard for the psyche.
We had another lovely response to Winenot Wednesday last week with lots of great linkups and even some people joining in on social media.
The most popular post last week was from The Travelling Corkscrew with her 4 tips on how to become a better wine taster today. I particularly relate to smelling and thinking about the taste of fruit and vegetables as you eat them. Last year when i was working in a winery I was involved with teaching some Chinese salespeople how to taste wine. The first barrier we had to overcome was that many of the fruit and spice aromas described in wine, they had not tasted, or did not know the English word for. I ended up putting together tasting plates of fruit, vegetables and plants they might encounter (eucalyptus, sage, thyme) as well as spices like cinnamon and vanilla….I think it helped 🙂
Continuing the tasting theme (what can I say, I love a bit of a theme) was Pretty Mayhem‘s How to Taste Wine Like a Pro. She gives lovely explanations of all the steps and this helpful little info-graphic to boot.
I wish this post had been around back when I had my first wine tasting experience.
I am so jealous of Thomas from Australian Wine Reviews at the moment – he is touring around France drinking some wines that only exist for me as exalted names in textbooks. I am officially green (from excessive envy) after reading Three Bordeaux First Growths in one day.
Eat Quaff Laugh (@eatquafflaugh) also joined in via Instagram with some luscious Vintage Port-style fortified from the Barossa
Make sure you also pop over and check out Louise’s favourites.
Join in via social media
If you like to post tasting notes, or any wine-related pictures to social media, you can play along too. Please tag #Winenot and tag us on Twitter (@nicole_rouge and @louiserhodes), Instagram (@nicole_rouge @willungawino) or Facebook (Champagne and Chips, Willunga Wino). We will include our favourite social media post in the weekly roundup as well.
Over to you, what have you been discovering in the world of wine this week?
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I’m going to have to become more educated about the wines I drink so that I can sprout knowledgeable stuff here instead of, it tasted great 🙂 The tasting plate is an excellent idea, even without the language barrier I think it would be helpful xx
I don’t mind where people are at with wine, “it tastes great” works for me too. But yes, I hope this space provides some knowledge for those who would like to learn more.
Been getting into the reds… What a surprise! 😉
Certainly the weather for it 🙂 Although I regularly drink white in winter and (chilled to about 18C) red in summer.
Thank you for sharing my article and hosting this great link up party! I really enjoyed going through everyone’s posts 🙂
Thank you for linking up and joining in x
Hello, I loooove this link up. Yay!
Yay!
Your idea with the tasting plate is just genius! I totally get what you mean about the new job, it’s like we are living in parallel professional universes! That inforgraphic is ace and how good is port? We’re off to buy a bottle of something super fancy for a friend’s birthday. It will break my heart to give it as a gift because I’m a Port Monster!
Ahh thank you dear one. I feel quite proud of the tasting plate idea but got some bemused looks from the other staff.
Just discovered your blog from the rabbit hole linky. Will have to drop by more often as we have a few wineries where I live. One of my daughter’s friends is Chinese and her Mum doesn’t speak a lot of English (and I don’t speak any Mandarin). We find google and an iPad helps a lot and we do lots of tasting of each other’s favourite foods … it’s a good ice-breaker and we help each other learn.
Welcome! I would love you to drop by, and am checking out your blog as we speak. I love the sound of the relationship you have with your daughter’s friend’s mum. I love learning more about other cultures, especially when it involves food 🙂