Wine knowledge - where to go

[Teisto]

Following on from the tell us about your wine collection, I thought I would follow up on another topic and that is where do you get your knowledge from? Looking at most peoples responses indicates that most of your cellar comprises Australian or NZ wine.

I am sure this would influence the balance of my cellar somewhat if the information and relevant tastings were available for me to get to.

For me I would love to delve more into French wine - I understand the main regions and the primary grape types but where do I go locally to understand more about the different producers and once again look for that all important producer I can go to without paying an arm and a leg to do so?

So would this influence your decision around what you keep in your cellar? Is it comfort in the information you can source easily around local wine that makes it more available to you?

Interested to hear people's responses and how you have garnered your relevant knowledge

[Craig(NZ)]

What I get to taste
What i enjoy
Supporting the local economy
F**k the frogs, they bombed a peace ship in our port. As such I will only buy their good stuff

[rens]

Every Christmas I get a yearly subscription to Gourmet Traveler Wine Magazine which does give you pretty good information. I also go to local tastings which are useful in finding what you like, then go to the web and look up the winery/region. This forum is useful for getting leads about good buys and good producers too.

[sjw_11]

If in Sydney worth checking out the weekly tastings at Ultimo and in Melbourne Europa Cellars (sorry Gavin for the plug for other retailers but to be fair I note they are free tastings of very ex-y wines and to be honest I often try and then sneak quietly out as too rich for my budget!)

[milky]

Here's a website I used to learn more about French wines:
http://www.thewinedoctor.com/
Quite informative!

[Mahmoud Ali]

The WineDoctor site is a good suggestion. Jancis Robinson's site is worth visiting even for the free articles and Decanter magazine is usfull for information about the rest of the wine world. I've found Decanter at some newsagents n Sydney.

In general, you should read as much as you can and taste whenever you get an opportunity. You never need to buy when you are tasting, even at cellar door. I think it is assumed that you may buy some other time, when convenient or back at your local bottle shop.

Supporting the local economy is good but that only makes a person parochial.

I recall making a comment about political decisions whn buying wine (the anti-Apartheid boycott was important in Canada and at my university) but was quickly told that such areas was off-limits in the Auswine forum. However being anti-French appears to be okay in this forum despite the fact that we can point to events in history that can "tarnish" the reputation of almost all countries including Australia. Donald Horne in "The Lucky Country" wrote that "in the early days of the settlement, not nearby people but the French were the most likely enemies; and for the most of this century, the Germans." He wrote that in the 60's and I know thiongs have changed considerably but I believe that this remnant of an adopted, colonial-based enemy still limngers on in the minds of many Australian judging by the amount of anti-French sentiment I hear, even when I visit Australia. In some ways though, the adopted enemyidea still holds true because it is now America's enemies that have been adopted by Australia (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan). In contrast, Muhammed Ali the boxer(Cassius Clay to the old-timers) refused to go to Vietnam because he said they never did anything to him, and by extension, he meant America. A useful idea when thinking about why we hate or go to war against people.

I undestand New Zealnd's antipathy to the French for the covert operation against the Rainbow Warrier and the underwater nuclear tests and they have also been firm against the United States when they refused permission for Nuclear armed warshiops entering Auckland (and paid the price). However, there are no shortage of Australians who use the nuclear tests and Rainbow Warrier issue against the French all the while ignoring that above ground tests were conducted by the British on Australian soil. Meanwhile the Americans removed people from their home to conduct tests at Bikini Atoll and the British removed the inhabitants (forcibly) from Diego Garcia just so the Americans could have an airbase in the Indian Ocean. [British courts have found in favour of the islanders right to return to Diego Garcia but the Americans don't want them there and the British government has argued that the return of the islanders poses environmental problems. I'll let people ponder that one].

So when CraigNZ says "F*** the Frogs" and connects it to an political event, what prevents others saying something similar about someone else and another event. The Rainbow Warrier was a covert operation not likely to have been vetted by French wine makers. The incident at Gulf of Tonkin was fabricated not by the American people but by certain levels of their government and it got them (and Australia) into the Vietnam war. The document purporting to show that the Iraqi government planned to purchase yellow cake uranium from Niger was forged but it was used by the Bush Administration to get Congressional authority to wage war. In these and many other instances it is the secretive elements in government that are responsible for deluding their public into supporting an action they might otherwise have opposed and the cosequences have been devastating.

I don't wish to say that people can't choose to buy whatever wine they want. I just get tired of this anti-French tirade that is based less on any consistent application of principles but on what appear to me to be a certain historical bias or myopia, and perhaps not a little jealousy of France's standing as one of the pinnacles of the wine world.

By the way, I would be equally defensive against French prejudice towards Australian and other new world wines. Style preferences aside, they mostly don't get to taste the better non-French wines and I think the same is true of Australians and New Zealanders, for reasons of cost and availablity.

I hope I haven't hurt any feelings, it was not my intention.

Cheers.............................Mahmoud.

[Michael McNally]

G'day Teisto

If at all possible go to wine regions and to cellar doors and talk to the staff (sometimes the winemaker) there.

Rens suggestion about visiting your local non-virtual retailer for tastings is a good idea. Geet to know the staff if they are knowledgable. The crew at my local (one of whom posts here) know their onions.

Read articles in newspapers and magazines on wine.

Read reviews (Halliday, Wine Front etc.) and when a review piques your interest, grab a bottle and see if you can see what they are talking about.

Go to tasting events based on regions or varieties or some of the big city shows - great way to taste a lot of wines and find out about how they are made from people who know (sometimes - sometimes it's wine reps with ittle knowledge of the wines [not a general slight on reps as many know their onions])

Most of all, don't take it too seriously. Wine is an experience to be enjoyed! A little knowledge can be interesting. A lot can turn you into a prat.

Cheers

Michael

PS If you want to get into foreign wine some of the above won't apply. I don't buy a lot of foreign wine as there is so much here to be getting on with and I have a limited budget.

[GraemeG]

Sites like Decanter and Jancis are all very well, but what's available in Oz doesn't begin to match what's readily available in the UK or US.
I'm inclined to think finding a local retailer who sells them is the way to go on an ongoing basis; which normally means only a few retail outlets in the big cities.

Mahmoud, I think the NZers are entitled to nurse a lingering resentment towards the French government for their actions.
Makes less sense for Australians (although should it have evoked the ANZUS treaty?)

The practice of manipulating populations to think certain things has a long sorry history, and these days is undertaken with more marketing expertise than ever, sadly.

cheers,
GG

[Teisto]

Thanks all for the feedback so far.

It is interesting to see the responses. Michael I agree with you re going to the relevant sites. I think I have been everywhere in Australia bar Coonawarra, Clare Valley, the deep south of WA and the Great Western, Heathcote and Northern Tas regions.

I try and get myself to as many tastings as possible, throw myself on websites and mailing lists. I managed to get on Yarra Yering's list and haven't bought a thing from them but still got sent one of the little badges recently

That's the good thing about being in my own backyard it is a lot more accessible

With regards to French wine - I do read what I can, go to the websites and look at what I can as well.

To date a lot of my exposure to French wine has been on the cheaper end and as such I think I can buy better locally for the value.

Not to say I have tried some great CnDP, Have some Armand Rousseau bought by my wife for me, have tried a 10 year old Bordeaux at a dinner at Becasse which didn't seemed to have budged and was overtly tannic.

I haven't had the exposure to enough tastings of reasonable French bottlings to make an informed opinion. Do I buy on prestige alone? If I am going to spend on Bordeaux, Burgundy am I not really going to be rewarded unless I cellar it for a long time? If I am looking for something to drink now am I doing the wine injustice as it's been built for the long haul?

[Mahmoud Ali]

Graham said:

"I think the NZers are entitled to nurse a lingering resentment towards the French government for their actions."


Yes, and I think I said that though it may have been drowned out by my little rant.

As for the Decanter and Jancis Robinson thing it was more to do with information and knowledge rather than wine selections. I learned about Australian wine long before the selections were available having read James Haliday's book on Australian wine. It gave me a sense of place and style and it emboldened me to cellar Australian wines if and when they became available, and for much longer. Some of the older wines that Halliday talked about were amazing special bin numbered wines, things I could only ever dream about tasting.

Cheers.......................Mahmoud