You approach the wine aisle in the supermarket. The bottles are neatly lined up and arranged into red/white and country of origin. You spend a few minutes reading the backs of labels, pretending to know what you are looking for. After placing the bottle back, you look down the long row of wine in front of you and take a deep breath. You want a great bottle of wine but you can't be sure why the £10.49 bottle on the top shelf is better than the £3.99 bottle two shelves below. Cheap means crap and expensive means good, right?
In the end, you spy the Jacob's Creek/Hardy's/Castillo de Diablo/Lindemans and opt for a wine you know, safe in the knowledge that it will be fine to drink, yet somewhere in the back of your mind you know you have passed over potentially amazing bottles of wine for the security of a guaranteed glugger! I know this is what you do because this is what I did too.
In the past few years I had an epiphany. I don't just drink wine, I adore it! I relish in the look of the label and the shape of the bottle. I love savouring the smell and taste of the first sip. I am interested in what grape the wine comes from, why it tastes different from one region over another and why a wine evolves and changes the older it gets. Not only that, I have started to read about wine, I discuss it with Julie my wife and I badger the manager of my local Majestic wine and really look forward to our Friday natters when she tells me what I should be buying for that weekend. I realise there is a lot of confusion in wine that does not need to be there and the overwhelming luxury of choice can also be off putting to the wine lover who simply wants a great tasting wine without all the pomp and ceremony.
This is where my blogs come in. Despite what I have learned about wines, I am by no means an expert. I am a novice, an amateur, an 'Everyman' if you will. My blogs will be reviews of wines and everything wine related, put into terms that the vast majority of you fellow wine lovers understand and appreciate. Coupled with a bit of know-how which will hopefully allow you to take a chance on a new bottle of plonk and provide you with an understanding of what it is you like about wine. I would also love to get your feedback, be it positive or negative. Afterall, the only thing I am really giving you is my opinion.
Don't get me wrong, the Jacob's Creek/Hardy's/Stowells/Lindemans(and many others) are fine to drink and do taste good. As for me I'm getting stuck in to the others, one bottle at a time. Fancy coming?
EMW.
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