My first 6 months as a wine lover

It has only been 6 months since I seriously started going down the rabbit hole of vitis vinifera. I have been a wine drinker all my life but I never payed much attention to what I was drinking. I don’t know what actually sparked the change, but around December 2019 I asked myself which wines were considered “the best in the world,” and I looked at Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list. A couple quick trips at the local bottle shop later, and some google researches, made me realise that I knew close to nothing and 99% of the list was pure gibberish to me. I found out that some wines, even if well reviewed, had noticeable flaws for my palate. My curiosity and appetite for knowledge quickly grew into an obsession.

Close to the end of January 2020 I started going to weekly tastings at a local bottle shop. Fortunately, I found a friend who was quite passionate about wine too. We teamed up together and started feeding vicariously off each other’s enthusiasm. He actually ended up taking the WSET 2 and this deepened our connection to wine on a more academical level. His need to succeed with his studies interplaying with our lust for more wine.

When the COVID-19 pandemic started, we were forced to take a break and I ended up having quite some time alone in isolation. As you can imagine, I ended up buying a book - The World Atlas of Wine - and I travelled the globe many times over. I definitely have consumed content on wine at a higher pace than my ability to taste it. Since joining this forum, my views have made a 360 degrees turn. I now enjoy white wine almost more than red and truly appreciate Sparklers, as opposed to just sipping it because it’s “festive”.

Yesterday I uploaded all my consumed wines to CellarTracker, which I all saved on an Excel sheet, and I took a moment to rethink about my journey so far. Most of the wines were tasted at public wine tastings, or by visiting cellar doors. I was stoked to see that the total value of wines consumed to be $12.000 and the average value $72. When I buy I play in the $30-$40 range, so I consider myself lucky for having tried many wines well above my financial possibilities (note prices in A$).

I guess where I want to get to is this: it is totally possible for someone to pickup this hobby and, in a relative short amount of time, taste extensively, learn about the classic wine regions, and participate in a forum full of geeky nut-heads. The generosity and warmth within the wine community is truly special, and I happy to be part of it now.

If you wish, you can check out my CellarTracker here: CellarTracker (I don’t do tasting notes yet).
In roughly 6 months i was able to taste ~180 wines (average of 1 a day). Mainly coming from Australia 44.0%, Italy 24.0%, and France 17.7% (USA next with 5.7%). Top varietals: Pinot Noir 28.0%, Chardonnay 12.0%, Nebbiolo 9.7%, Riesling 5.1%, Red Rhone Blend 4.0%, Shiraz 3.4%.

My next avenue is to learn (and taste) more German and Spanish wines. I’m sipping on a Dr. Loosen estate right now.

A bit over 25 years ago, I took a wine appreciation class at the university where I worked at the time. I already had an interest but really knew very little going into the class. The professor said many times during the class that when the course was complete that we would know more about wine than 99% of the country and he was probably correct. But like many here that became my starting point not my ending point and there is still so much to learn. Since then wine has been a major part of my life. I’ve visited many wine regions/wineries, worked in a winery, and have had a home vineyard and been making wine for 15 years now and I still have so much more to learn. This hobby offers so many different aspects to pursue that it literally could be never ending. Enjoy your journey wherever it may take you.

Nice post and story, Jan. Bon Voyage!

Well said, Brian. The point is not knowing more than 99% of the country, but start your own path into the many facets of wine. The social/sharing aspect of wine is intertwined with the beverage and is beautiful. So is the history and culture. I wish we had a wine appreciation class at my university.

Merci, Jim!

Great post Jan and good luck.

I highly recommend that next you read a wonderful book giving an interesting perspective on how to approach wine - Kermit Lynch’s Adventures Along the Wine Route. Whether you agree or disagree with his perspective, it will change the way you think about wine.

I also recommend that you go through at least some of the threads pinned as “Hall of Fame” threads on the top of this board. While a few of the ones framed are about this board’s personalities, humor, etc., there are some really good ones that will teach you a lot about wine.

Good luck on your adventure.

Howard,

Thanks for the kind reply. The “Hall of Fame” was already heavily dissected and is an embarrassment of riches for a newbie like me

Regarding the book, it sounds great! It’s widely available over here and pretty cheap. I spent quite some time pinning wineries on the map in Europe and this is a great way to vicariously travel them.

Do note that the one problem with the book is that it is largely old by now and a number of the producers discussed are no longer alive. But, it still is a great book.

Tough to do in these times but I found group tastings invaluable for a multitude of reasons. You get to test multiple bottles and compare and contrast styles, flavor profiles etc. Also, I learned so much from hearing others peoples opinion. I was very lucky that Mike Pobega’s CLONYC group was active at that point. Those were incredible learning experiences

Taste, taste, and more taste. That’s the way to go. COVID is really a bummer though.

Kermit’s book was one of my first wine reads and very enjoyable. I second Howard’s recommendation.

To your question, can you participate? Absolutely…there isn’t an entrance exam here.

Is it possible to go from novice to expert in a short period of time…I would say sort of. You can accelerate your learning by studying, focusing on tasting to build a mental map of experiences, and paying close attention to what you are experiencing. You are physically only able to taste so much, so there is a limit to that acceleration. You are also not able to compress time…it is simply not possible to taste a wine at release and then again at age 5, 10, 15, 20, and so on until that time has passed. It is possible to taste the same wine from multiple vintages with similar vintage character to approximate this effect, but that’s harder to do when you don’t have the understanding or experience of what constitutes vintage signature versus site signature versus winemaker stylistic signature (winemakers do change over time). All of this comes with experience.

Probably the most important thing from reading your post is that you have transformed over the short period of time you’ve been at this, despite being a life-long sipper. Your palate will change as it becomes more educated and as you explore more fully. Expect it.


Cheers,
fred

Hi Jan. I love your story, and it’s similar to mine in the sense that this pandemic imposed quarantine has led to an increase in free time which has then led to a very accelerated and intense exploration of the wine universe (or multiverse, I dare say). In that sense I feel that this forum, if properly explored, is a more useful learning tool than just about any book or magazine subscription we can get our hands on. It’s a free of charge encyclopedia of practical knowledge and differing opinions, and there’s nothing like debate in order to dissect knowledge.

Like you, I’ve been a wine drinker for many years, but not someone knowledgeable in wine beyond my own borders (I’m Portuguese). Like you, a few months ago I would have found a list of great world wines to be virtually incomprehensible. Finding this forum led me to ask people just how I could improve my wine education and make it more thorough and globalized. I got a lot of great suggestions, but the most important one was simply ‘stick around and grab a seat’. It’s taken a lot less time than I thought in order to become familiar with concepts that were unknown to me months ago, and although I’ve spent a lot more money than usual on wine since the pandemic started, I feel it’s been worth it.

You’ve mentioned that most of your CT wines are Australian. My proportion of Portuguese wines was close to 100% before I found Wine Berserkers. I’m very happy with the way I’m dramatically expanding my knowledge of foreign wines, but I also try to ‘return the favor’ by posting about wines which most people here will probably not have heard of (and more is the pity, since they’re great and very affordable). Who knows, you might end up teaching almost as much as you end up learning.

I would recommend you keep tasting and tasting. Your palate will learn and expand. I started about 2 years ago and my wine preference has crossed the globe 2-3 times. I go from liking one region to shifting and liking another. When I first started I couldn’t stand chardonnay and now its mostly all I consume. Taste, taste, and taste more. Find a reviewer who’s palate aligns with yours and the possibilities are endless. I have probably learned the most from this board TBH. Cellartracker is also another great tool.

Welcome aboard, Jan. Great beginning and thanks for sharing.

Brian you have a HOME VINEYARD and make your own wine? Well you can’t drop that nugget and not share pictures of your vineyard and winemaking setup with us!

Hi Thomas,

I was wondering if you were going to participate in the topic. We joined the forum roughly at the same time and are close in age; it is great to have you on onboard and I always read you with pleasure. I agree with you that this forum is a like “free encyclopedia” and more worthwhile “than just about any book or magazine subscription we can get our hands on”. I have tried Decanter, Wine Spectator, and James Hallidays (Oz wine critic) subscriptions: they don’t even come close to value of this forum in my eyes.

I would love to give back to the forum in form of shared knowledge from a lesser known region. In my case, I am in the unique position of being an Italian living in Australia, where I deepened my connection to wine. I don’t feel any more knowledgeable about Italian wines than most on this forum, so I humbly sit back and try to learn as much as possible. In the case of Australian wine, I am fast-tracking my learning, and have visited a few regions already, and will probably start sharing in the near future. You have really valuable knowledge in that Portugal is not as closely followed as other more heralded regions, and you have an expertise in it, which makes you a unique contributor. I guess I can try to build a similar expertise in the wines of my local area - Victoria, Australia.

Keller,

it is quite a ride, isn’t it? I find it exhilarating how fast your own palate keeps evolving and shifting. You get addicted to new shiny things so easily! We are at the end just babies in palate terms

Thanks, Tran. And yes, Brian, you can’t drop something that big on us and not follow up with some pics! Don’t be shy!

Jan, it’s been cool getting to know you a little bit through the journey you have started. And, now that you are swimming around here inside the pond of Wine Berserkers, and also now in Cellartracker, you’re going to enjoy the swim, and we’ll get to learn something from you, too.

Keep tasting, keep posting and sharing. Look forward to seeing more of you here and on CT.

It’s nothing exciting but I will try to get some pictures taken and posted over the weekend.

weird 6 months to be starting on the journey for sure. but as someone who enjoys the academic side it sounds like, a very interesting one. If you haven’t yet, and if you still have COVID free time, make sure you check out the Ill Drink to That Podcast (prepare for a rabbit hole) and the Vinous Live interviews that have happened during the lockdown. the human and historical stories are what I enjoy so much about wine and these do a really great job helping you get to know the people behind the wines.

what kind of wines have you enjoyed the most? Levi’s podcast has so many episodes that it can be hard to figure out where to start, the board may be able to suggest some really good ones.

When I started this vineyard, there was very few growers in the area and those that were here were mostly growing hybrids, so I had little idea what would work. The intent was to put in a test vineyard and then graft over to what was working best after 7-10 years. I talked with a number of Virginia growers and also the viticulture expert from the University of Maryland and he is the one who suggested the 3x3 Spacing in hopes to reduce the vigor problem.

The vineyard ended up bigger than intended at 375 vines in three blocks with an additional section of head pruned vines. It’s also still a test vineyard. I attempted to graft over the Syrah with zero success so nebver tried again. Currently the vineyard consist of: aglianico, barbera, Sangiovese (2 clones), Syrah, Tannat, Mourvèdre, Cabernet Sauvignon (2 clones), Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel (4 vines only), Roussanne, Marsanne, Viognier, Petite Manseng (2 clones), and Chardonnay.

A cluster of Petite Verdot

Head pruned in April

Head pruned today

As a home vineyard I don’t have perfect conditions and shading as well as late season weather ended up making it a challenge to get quality out of my reds. There were a few that were good and the occasional really good wines but most were passable at best. However, it makes a good rose and more recently we have been picking early and sparkling with surprising results. We sparkled the entire harvest last year in four different blends.

Hi Matt,

Thanks you. In terms of IDTT podcasts, I have listened to the most obvious ones (de Villaine, Aldo Vacca, Roumier, Peter Liem, Benjamin Leroux, Jeremy Seysses, Jasper Morris) but find it hard to choose from the older ones since they also state a name and no topic. In general I’m interested in Burgundy, Piedmont, Loire, and Champagne, plus any good producer’s backstory from anywhere from around the world too. One of my favorite episodes was from this US somm who was given carte blanche for his first wine program, although I don’t remember his name. What I liked about it was his very personal and vivid storytelling.

Brian,

Thanks for sharing your photos!

House sparkler all the way