Harry Haddon’s Incomplete And Unofficial Guide To The Hedonistic Pleasures Of The Grape
Chapter Eight: The journey continues, one bottle at a time.
Here we are then, 7 chapters later, at the end of Harry’s unofficial and incomplete introduction into wine. There is so so much that has been left out. I never even got to tell you about how Champagne was once a red wine and used as medicine. I never mentioned Port, Noble Late Harvest, Sherry, all majestic, fun and delightful drinks that are inexplicably forgotten by most modern drinkers. Shame on me.
Thankfully this has not been a course, this is no Wine 101, you will receive no credits, diplomas, not even a single noddy badge. Nada. What I hope that I have given you is a little shove. A nudge to get you into the deep end, where you either learn or get drunk trying.
But I am not going to leave you without any armbands. In this final chapter I want to leave you with some practical tips on how to best progress with your wine lives. Lessons I have learnt from five years of heavy drinking.
The Practical Route
Look, this is so obvious it pains me to type it. The best way to learn more about wine is to drink the stuff. Drink it all the time. Drink it when you are happy, drink wine when you are sad; when you are hot drink chilled Chenin, when you are cold, a delicious glass of Port; drink when you are bored, drink when you are occupied, drink, friends, and be merry.
But – and this is a rather large one – drink differently. If you drink wine all the time but are keeping yourself to the few brands you know, well, it looks more like alcoholism than anything else. I am not suggesting you consume dangerous amounts of wine, I am saying you need to drink more kinds of wine more often.
Look for wine tastings that are being held in your area. Attend them. Don’t worry about not knowing everything, claim your ignorance, wine people are very – despite the horrible reputation given by some – welcoming.
If you are slightly misanthropic, but have a hefty budget even better. I’ll give you the details of my favourite wine shop that will be able to help you find new and exciting wines. Remember this, there is always a wine you haven’t tasted that’ll blow your freaking socks off. There will be until the day you shuffle off this mortal coil. That, friends, is one of the most optimistic things I have ever typed.
Don’t just drink, read. Anything written by Hugh Johnson is amazing, the book Grapes & Wines by Oz Clarke is fantastic, and one of the most useful and friendly wine books I have come across.
Fuck tasting notes. You shouldn’t be reading too many tasting notes, which is what pollutes so many wine blogs today. They are useful to a degree, but if you are going to read something on wine it should inform, inspire and give you a damn good thirst for a glass.
Wine is this fascinating, complex product. It has been around for thousands of years, the rich have always drunk it, the poor have always drunk it, the victors and the defeatists, the intellectuals and the revolutionaries, wine has crossed every border and almost every culture; those it hasn’t reached yet, it will in times to come. To get stuck on “wafts of vanilla with firm tannins and elegant structure”, is like reading and watching 1000’s of pitch reports at the start of a cricket match, but never seeing the game..
The Official Route
Today, it seems, there is only one real official wine course to do in this country. It is run by the person who happened to pour me those four different pinotages that sparked my life in wine, Cathy Marston, and it is the only internationally recognized wine qualification being handed out in South Africa today. Cathy’s WSET courses are the business if you are serious about studying wine.
I will not say a bad word about any other small courses, informal or formal, but if you are going to study wine ‘seriously’ it’s better to go with something that is internationally recognized. On top of that, Cathy is a great teacher.
That’s all folks. Remember that wine is just a drink. A brilliant drink, a fascinating, complex drink, a drink that seems at times to be so much more than just a thirst quencher; but essentially it is just that, a thirst quencher with a bit of fun thrown in.
In the name of Bacchus, I wish you good drinking.
Wine Cellar (Cape Town & Joburg)
My favourite wine shop in the country Wine Cellar ‘s a arilliant importer of superb international wines and have a great selection of top South African releases. They also hold some of the best tastings about, and as an added bonus, they will also cellar your wine for you.
Also, they know their shit.
Tel: 021 448 4105
http://www.winecellar.co.za/
@winecellarRSA
@WineCellarJHB
Wine Books
- A Life Uncorked by Hugh Johnson
- The Story of Wine by Hugh Johnson
- Grapes and Wines by Oz Clarke
- Champagne by Don and Petie Kladstrup
Honestly, if you read just these books, you are well on your way to becoming a wine expert (along with copious amounts of wine, of course)
Wine Tastings
Wine Cellar is great in Cape Town and Jo’burg. In Durban talk to Nkulu (
@nkulu81) he’s the new wine kid in the 031. (Sorry I can’t give more. Can’t endorse things I have not done myself)
Wine Courses
There are lots of small formal and informal courses about. None of them are bad. But if you are serious:
The WEST courses by Cathy Marston.
Harry.
