Afew months ago I stood in my home office and hung up my brand new Sommelier diploma . I laughed to myself and wondered how I went from Sawmill Creek to Sommelier in just 4 years . I realized a single glass of wine was the tipping point — Yarra Yering Dry Red # 1 .
There is nothing wrong with Sawmill Creek . In fact , a colleague of mine , whom I call Mentor , is quite right when she says that the two most important questions to ask yourself about any wine are : do you like it and are you willing to pay the sticker price ? Still , my own tastes have moved to different wines .
Getting into wine is a curious journey ; mine began by accident . Four years ago I was a stay-at-home mom with many years in the restaurant industry behind me . Instead of returning to the restaurant industry ’ s late nights , I found an ad for a job in a private wine store . Great ! I thought . With my restaurant background I was certain I had the wine knowledge needed . I got the job and I got two big lessons . The first was that my restaurant list wine knowledge represented a mere 1 % of the wine on the market . The second lesson : that one glass of wine can change the course of your life .
I would sit in tastings and hear people talk about how they were picking up blackberries , dark cherry , rose , tar , or forest floor and cigar box . Silently , I would sit there thinking , Really ? All I can smell is wine !
A PALATE UNFOLDING
Ateca 2006 Garnacha de Fuego Calatayud DO , Spain $ 15.99 This wine taught me that an apple is not always an apple . I have long contended that Grenache always tastes like tinned cherries to me . Then I tried this Grenache and POW , off my high horse I went . It is so rich and full of bright , bold , dark fruit notes with not a single tinned cherry to be tasted .
Burge Family Winemakers 2006 Olive Hill Semillon , Barossa Valley , Australia $ 42.99 Wow , how a few years can change a wine . I had the pleasure of doing a side-by-side comparison of the ‘ 02 and ‘ 06 vintages of this wine along with the enigmatic Rick Burge . In its youth , this is a medium-bodied delight , full of tropical fruit with a hint of honey and apricot . Give it a few years to mature and it explodes into a full-blown vixen , full of intense honey and lanolin . This is one seductive wine that you will want to drink over and over again .
THE FIRST ONE ’ S FREE When I started at Banville & Jones in October of 2004 , I knew one thing about wine : I didn ’ t drink reds . “ They give me a headache ,” I would say . Truth is , I had never enjoyed the red wines I had tried . They were drying in my mouth , often acidic and overpowering . Then , one fateful day I was handed a glass of wine and asked to try it . “ Thanks ,” I said , “ but I don ’ t really like red wine .”
Though it took some gentle prodding , I took the plunge . To this day I remember exactly what that wine felt like on my palate , the extraordinary fruit qualities it exhibited , and I can ramble endlessly about the incredible aromas it offered on the nose . I was hooked ! Often I joke that that glass of wine was my gateway drug . I had gone to the dark side ( or should I say the red side ?). I knew I had to try more wines like that . This article is my thank you to the person who encouraged me to try it and to winemaker Dr . Bailey Carrodus for having the vision and skill to bring me to Yarra Yering Dry Red # 1 .
After that fateful glass , I went home and began to read anything I could find about wine . I became fascinated with the winemaking process , awed by the multitude of
Tablas Creek Vineyard 2005Esprit De Beaucastel Paso Robles , United States $ 53.99 One quiet winter night , as I dined leisurely with a good friend at a chic Winnipeg bistro , I experienced the ultimate in decadence . A 6oz Kobe beef filet and a bottle of this gift from the gods . Rhone varietals grown in sunny California proved to be a stroke of genius , offering a wine full of ripe , dark fruit , sweet spices and a rich layer of chocolate . It is very drinkable immediately , but a little decanting goes a long way . I will surely be laying down several bottles of this baby in my cellar for the next 10 to 15 years . www . banvilleandjones . com 35