Welcome to Winenot Wednesday 6. Gosh last week rushed past. I am still knee-deep in too much work and very sadly had to defer my WSET Spirits exam, because starting a new job with a huge learning curve and WSET Diploma exams are not friends. It means I will finish the diploma six months late but these things cannot be helped sometimes. Sanity is more important 🙂
I had a lovely weekend of wine at the Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show. I was treated to a session at The Chef’s Table with Frank Camorra (of MoVida) before spending the afternoon sampling a great selection of wines. My highlight was the Yealands range. I mentioned these guys in my post about The Wines of the Good Food and Wine Show, largely because I loved the sound of their sustainability practises and had heard stories about the miniature sheep that eat the weeds between the vines (avoiding chemicals) – they are too short to eat the grapes. I was already on-side, but after tasting the wines I am a huge fan. I don’t drink much Sauvignon Blanc, mostly because I just like other things better and I find so many of them taste so much the same now. However, the single vineyard range from Yealands is astonishing, with very distinctive characters from grassy and herbaceous; to quite vegetal; to a really elegant, floral (almost Sancerre-esque) style. They also do some smashing Pinot Noir and a range of aromatics (the Gruner Veltliner is stunning). Keep an eye out, they are widely available and very affordably priced too. #notsponsored 🙂
We had a great response to #Winenot last week and a few new linkers. I loved reading all the articles and am enjoying learning so much from all who participate.
The most popular post from last week was Pretty Mayhem’s introduction to Champagne with Champagne 101. You can see why this was so popular- a bona fide French girl talking about one of the most famous wines in the world.
Now for my favourites of the week:
The charmingly named Tiffin Bite Sized Food Adventures was a new linker this week with her post The New Barossa. The Barossa Valley is one of Australia’s most famous wine regions, largely because Robert Parker, the well-known American wine critic, heralded the rich, jammy, red wines of the region back in the day. While these wines are rich and concentrated they aren’t always that food-friendly or approachable (15% alcohol knockdown!). A number of winemakers are responding by looking for cooler sites and adjusting their winemaking to bring more elegance back to the wines of the region. I am not a huge fan of huge, high-alcohol wine with jammy fruit but recent experience of wines from the Barossa have been delightfully surprising; an experience mirrored by Fiona’s post.
Wine and vinegar and two liquids you don’t usually want associated. But what about turning your leftover wine into vinegar? I always wondered how it was done and it turns out there is a little more to it than collecting a stash of half empty bottles in the bottom of your pantry. Cybele from Blah Blah Magazine, always a guru of the ‘how to’, has written a great little guide to making your own white or red wine vinegar. SUCH a good idea! It reminded me of a fermentation workshop (by Trupp cooking school) I attended where we were told we should be eating 5 fermented foods per day for optimal gut health. This post tells you an easy way to get onto at least one.
On the social media front, Mel from @eatquafflaugh has again joined in with a lovely sparkling that is also supporting an important charity.
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. Use #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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Love your post this week. Sorry to hear about WSET, but there is no shame in going part time. Mr Wino is in year 5 of 6 of his part time winemaking degree. Now that is patience! Full time study just does not mix with full time & full on work.
I must try more Yealands, and perhaps get me a miniature sheep to keep our Italian sheepdog company!
Cheers, Louise
Good on you, balance definitely is key to enjoying life and the WSET will still be there in 6 months time. I know a few people who have been through it and it sounds super intense. Big ups to you and goodluck with the new job!
Yay for sanity! The extra six months will whoosh by (I must be old, I swear my grandma used to say that).
I really need to see these iddle biddle sheep too short to eat the grapes. I’m having visions of sheep measuring days and wishing there was a Larson cartoon about them.
Thank you for your lovely link up. I had so much fun and next time I have something wine related I’ll be back in a flash x
The WSETs are your own personal thing anyway. It’ll happen, there’s no time pressure
Miniature weed eating sheep – love it! I’d drink that wine purely for that reason, genius solution.
It’s all about the jammy wines for me. I must say though that having schooled my palate on bold Barossa Shiraz, it’s ruined any of the more delicate wines for me. Thanks for including me in your round up. I hope I can join in again soon, if not in a post, via social media. #winenot I say?!
Exactly 😉
I am a little the same. I always struggle to judge alcohol levels in tasting exams, having grown up on high-octane Aussie reds. I don’t even notice 14.5% alcohol.
Loved Bele’s post about vinegar, it was just genius. We had a cracking red during the week called Father In Law but I threw the bottle away and now we can’t remember what kind of wine it was! The moral of this story is always take a picture of wine labels you love!
And link them up to #winenot 😉
Father in law- pretty sure it’s Charles Melton, Shiraz. #winenerd