Wine, She Said.

A liquid memoir.

[wineshesaid]

Tuesday 16th July 2013

[wineshesaid]

Tuesday 16th July 2013

More books about grapes Sacha?

  Yes.  Yes it is.  I have an addiction.  I get panicky if I don't have a consistent flow of wine or food based literature coming at me.  I get email apnea every time I go into my inbox and and see an email from The Book Depository or Amazon.

I'll divulge what i've amassed recently in another one of my addictions.  A LIST.

Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter by Phoebe

Lucky Peach - Issue 7: Travel  ✈ Spring 2013 by David Chang, Peter Meehan and Chris Ying

The New Spain: A Complete Guide to Contemporary Spanish Wine by John Radford

Authentic Wine: Toward Natural and Sustainable Winemaking by Jamie Goode and Sam Harrop MW

Wine Grapes: A Complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and José Vouillamoz

What to Drink with What you Eat by Andrew Dornenburgh and Karen Page

The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit

Secrets of the Sommeliers:  How to Think and Drink Like the World's Top Wine Professionals by Rajat Parr and Jordan MacKay

Food and Wine Pairing: A Sensory Experience by Robert J. Harrington

Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2013 no shit for who wrote that one.

Naked Wine: Letting Grapes Do What Comes Naturally by Alice Feiring

Sherry by Julian Jeffs

The Wines of Spain by Julian Jeffs

Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy by Joseph Bastianich and David Lynch

Gourmet Traveller Wine - Big Red Issue -  June/July 2013 edited by Judy Sarris

Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink edited by David Remnick

  I feel like i'm about to pass out.  I think I must have list apnea as well. 

[wineshesaid]

I was posing as an artist to justify my work as a waiter.

Service Included:  Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter by Phoebe Damrosch

[wineshesaid]

Tuesday 16th July 2013

[wineshesaid]

One sunny morning back in May.  COS masterclass at Cumulus Up wine bar.

[wineshesaid]

Thursday 20th June 2013

So, John Radford tells me in his The New Spain, "To understand any country's wine, it is first necessary to have a basic knowledge of its structure and geography." 

Now, I will continue to deny this, but my Mum continues to tell this anecdote of the time when I thought that Barcelona was in Italy...let's just leave it at that.  Clearly my knowledge of Spanish geography (and geography in general) could do with a swift kick up the arse.  

Yes, John, you are right.  It's time for a geography lesson.

Yesterday at the Best of Euro tasting at Longrain, I spotted one of those, for some reason, ridiculously difficult to come by, wine region maps.  This being at the Spanish Acquisition table, it just so happened to be of France.  

No.

"Do you sell these maps?"

"No."

"Hmm."

"They don't make this map anymore."

"Bummer."

Somehow, that brief conversation resulted in me leaving with said map to take to Añada.  Thaaaank you now Spanish Acquisition!

Following the format of the Añada wine list, these lessons will be split into seven climatic instalments  Green Spain, North Central Spain, Ebro River Valley, The Meseta, The Mediterranean Coast, Andalucía and The Islands.

I might even locate Barcelona.

[wineshesaid]

Thursday 20th June 2013

[wineshesaid]

Wednesday 12th June 2013

Too many, not so gentle, nudges today, to stop being lazy and get writing again.  Sharing a delicious bottle of Riesling (Dr. H. Thanisch, Riesling Kabinett, Mosel, 2010*) in the early hours of the day, a WhatsApp message from the homeland, reminding me of the apparent drought of liquor tales,  and then dinner with a bottle of fairly full on Australian Pinot Noir (Curly Flat, Macedon Ranges, 2010**).  Oh yes, and we come full circle to what prompted me to start whining on here in the first place.  The quest for 'The New Spain'.  I have it, in my possession.  ¡Hola Spanish learning. 

*I'll come back to you.

**And I'll come back to you.

[wineshesaid]

Wednesday 12th June 2013

[wineshesaid]

Thursday 23rd May 2013

It's been a while.   Well, not since there has been liquid consumption, but since i've penned....typed it.  There is a bit of a backlog.  The Pol Roger lunch at Cutler & Co tomorrow should do it. 

Do not come to work too drunk....

[wineshesaid]

Wednesday 8th May 2013

I'd always found pour lines on glassware a bit vulgar.  But then, I've spend the last eight years working in environments where you have to pour your liquid into a measuring jigger.  Which now, thinking about it, is quite depressing.  That aside, for me, glasses that had an ugly pour line, were synonymous with giant pub chains and boring wine.

 Only a year ago, a guy I was working with in an Edinburgh wine bar suggested we put a marker on our wine glasses.  I considered vomiting on him.

Now twelve months in time, i'm in Melbourne.  The line pour is RIFE. Now here is something I never thought I would say... it's far from offensive.  Actually, I like it.

My favourite so far, has to be the new arrivals at The Townmouse.  Elegant.  Cute.  Not a boring wine inside.

[wineshesaid]

Monday 6th May 2013

I started reading 'Authentic Wine', and well, it's really fucking good.  This book is so engaging, and reads like a dream.  I feel quite disappointed that I just used the phrase 'reads like a dream', but it just slipped out, and i'm not going to replace it, so deal with that.  

But anyway, it's been a fair while now, that I have struggled to hold my concentration, when it comes to many a situation, but in particular, when it comes to reading.  I have a hundred odd, half-read books kicking about.  So, to suddenly find myself wandering about the flat with half dried hair, make up on one eye only, and a cup of very stewed tea sitting in the kitchen because I can't leave this book alone...well, it's pretty exciting.  

I decided to pester the authors, Jamie Goode and Sam Harrop, with this information via Twitter, and they said it was both 'good' and 'great'.  Yes guys, hells yes it is.

[wineshesaid]

Monday 6th May 2013

[wineshesaid]

Sunday 5th May 2013

Woke up with the idea of getting my hands on John Radford’s “The New Spain”.  Google search.  Amazon.  New - $191.72 + $3.99 shipping.  Nah. Used - $23.95 + Free Super Saver Shipping.  More appealing.  Condition - This item has been gently used.  Stomach flip.

Quick search of various other online sellers…nothing.  And i’m not patient enough to scour.

Hmm.  Wonder if Books for Cooks has it.

Cut to me stomping down Gertrude Street and into their shop with inappropriate/loud/whydoifeelinclinedtoturnthisoffireallywanttolistentoitohitsprobablybecauseeveryoneisglaringatyou music blasting out of my headphones.  No ‘New Spain’ in sight.  I don’t feel like enquiring.

Instead, I buy these.  ’Authentic Wine: Toward Natural and Sustainable Winemaking’ by Jamie Goode and Sam Harrop MW, and ‘Liquid Memory: Why Wine Matters’ by Jonathan Nossiter.  My book hunger is assuaged.  For now.

[wineshesaid]

Sunday 5th May 2013

[wineshesaid]

Saturday 4th May 2013

Sitting at the bar, in The Attic at The Black Pearl, sipping on a beer, "You should start a wine blog." he said.