How I got into wine
In the beginning . . . . there was an island in the Mediterranean
Please raise a glass to Wine Flights - assuming you are not doing that awful dry January. I hope you will enjoy what I have to say about the fascinating world of wine.
Each of my posts will include a wine flight (unfortunately not a real one), detailing three wines. It could be anything from sherry to a cremant, a £5 Lidl Cotes du Rhone to a vintage champagne - it depends on my mood and whether I feel flush enough to open something decent.
I don’t work in the wine industry but have completed professional qualifications, so I feel educated enough to comment on a wide range of wine-related topics while retaining relative impartiality (but don’t expect me to promote natural wine any time soon). And, if you’re really lucky, there may also be some content about horseracing (the day job), film, books, music, running, football . . .
I have been into wine for a relatively short space of time when you consider my age (which will remain a mystery, at least for the time being), and there was never that epiphany moment for me that others have experienced, when upon tasting (for example) a vintage port from the 1940s the senses were transformed by the amazing liquid that had the power to captivate and transcend (and such like, you probably get the gist).
I first got into wine during a holiday in Sicily a few years ago, but it wasn’t as a result of trying the acclaimed wines from Etna DOC. I was drinking budget stuff in restaurants made from the island’s indigenous grapes grillo, inzolia and catarratto, accompanied by wonderful seafood overlooking the Mediterranean.
Wine always tastes better when you’re on holiday, and although I didn’t experience an epiphany (has anybody, truly, experienced one?), the combination of the sea, food, sun and wine led to a multisensory experience that resulted in relatively ‘ordinary’ wine tasting exceptional.
Wine and the senses
Victoria Moore touches on this concept in her excellent book The Wine Dine Dictionary. Perception of flavour, in food and drink, is also influenced by what we see and hear as well as taste and smell. So, drinking a white wine in front of the sea will make that wine seem more mineral, refreshing and delicious. ‘Flavour’ isn’t just taste and smell – it’s also influenced by vision, hearing and the somatic senses.
Pre-Sicily I drank lager and, if I really wanted to punish myself, Guinness. Post-Sicily, wine became a hobby - many would say an obsession.
I subsequently embarked on Wine Spirits and Education Trust courses and completed my Diploma last October.
My day job is horseracing journalist, but when I’m not doing that I spend a lot of time thinking and reading about wine - and of course drinking it (but only after 7pm – unless I’m on holiday, or it’s a special occasion, or if the sun is out, or if it’s raining . . .)
Flight 1
Vinos en Voz Baja Costumbres, Rioja Orientale 2020 (£16 Wine Society)
Made by Carlos Mazo from old-vine garnacha and eschews the traditional Spanish classification based on ageing that is a feature of most rioja. Fairly ripe red and black fruit with hints of rose and perfume with savoury edge and thyme and herbs. Forest floor also coming through as it starts to age. !4.7% abv gives it some warmth but nicely balanced (three and a half stars out of five)
Expression de Saint Mont, Saint Mont, Southwest France 2020 (£6 Lidl)
Not a great deal going for it - generic citrus and green fruit, tart. Doesn’t say which grape on the label although apparently it’s gros manseng according to this review. Okay, it’s cheap, so what should I expect? (Half a star out of five)
Penfolds Bin 28 Shiraz, South Australia 2020 (approx £30)
Pretty sure I picked this up for the above price at London wine shop Philglas & Swiggot early last year (Waitrose also stock it). Nicely made with ripe black fruit with some dried fruit coming through from ageing with sweet spice from American oak maturation. Not really my style but goes really well with steak (four stars out of five)