I like wine! A revelation that occurred at around the 23 years mark, but did I do anything to divert my ignorance apart from to develop my knowledge through indulgence of the senses? Nope, I did not. It is not until I ventured to faraway Australia that I started to figure out the types of grape that float my boat.
So as newbie on the topic of wine, I was more than excited to head to the infamous Hunter Valley during a recent trip. With dreams of becoming a sommelier in a day, unrealistic but we can but dream and I am nothing but optimistic, I threw myself nose first into the first glass and the 46 others that followed...
My boyfriend Tom had the rather splendid idea of doing the whole wine exploration by bicycle. If at first a little apprehensive about 'drink driving', I gathered my wits and accepted the challenge and so we booked our day with Grapemobile, located at the Pokolbin Brothers Winery in, you guessed it, Pokolbin.
The confident and possibly charming (I haven't yet decided) owner, Glen, picked us up from our campsite which was a nice touch, at $10 per person return, and drove us to his winery to begin our wine adventure in the Valley.
As soon as we boarded the 'Grapemobile' we were updated with owner Glen's life story, as I mentioned before, he was a confident man and not opposed to sharing the soap-opera like stories of his life, but all entertaining to two wine novices up for trying a day of the new. One fact about Glen that we found difficult to grasp however, was that he didn't drink that much wine. Hmm.. but you own a vineyard Glen!
Anyway, to the Winery we went and lots of wine we drank, starting as we meant to go on with a Sparkling Moscato, an affogato and a sip of…well something else. I can’t quite remember exactly but this is pretty much how it continued and 47 delicious wine tastings later, a few bottles safely stored in our bicycle baskets and a slight sway to our journey home we felt satisfied that we had done the Hunter Valley proud, and our senses, despite feeling a little over-used were tingling!
And what did I learn you ask? I discovered that I have quite a good nose in fact, having passed the ‘what can you smell?’ test question on a few occasions to the surprise of our hosts and that I actually quite like a Semillon, having not really enjoyed a dry wine before. I also found out that cycling whilst a tad 'bamboozled' is rather fun and quite freeing, if not a little terrifying at times, but mostly fun.
I am not going to bore you with the names of every wine we tasted (not that I actually remember) but I will say that if you are heading to the Valley, try a cycle tour, it’s a cheaper option but that’s not a bad thing, more cash to spend on delicious wines, plus it’s bloody good fun! And fear not, if you intend to buy ALL the wine, most of the wineries will deliver your tasty treasures to the start so you don’t have to wobble and wind your way back with crates of Verdelho and Shiraz hanging from your handlebars.
So I shall go on in my quest to learn all I can about wine, I will discover the wines I like, the ones I don't and I will do it with great vigor and a selection of fine cheeses.
"Here's to happy knowledgeable wining when dining!"
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