Reviewing wine can often sound a little too serious, there’s nothing serious about wine. It should be a fun, shared experience with friends and family, although if you’re like me and do enjoy indulging in the odd bottle on your own, there is also nothing wrong with that either! In fact, I’m writing this right now whilst enjoying a glass of Malbec from Cahors, if you’re considering reading on, I’d suggest you grab a glass too!
My interest in wine didn’t start too long ago, I remember the days when I was a child thinking wine was the worst drink on the planet, who would want an acidic, sharp fruit juice when there was a perfectly chilled Capri Sun in the fridge? Eventually, my taste buds developed and I started to enjoy the adult things in life, such as mushrooms, tomatoes, mayonnaise, and finally…. wine!
During my A Levels I lost complete interest in school and focused on “more interesting” aspects in my life such as earning money, girls and passing my driving test. I started working in a local hotel as a waiter and worked my way up to Restaurant Manager by the age of 18, my boss at the time was a big role model for me and encouraged me to stick out hospitality, as I was bloody awesome at it (not a lot to brag about I know, but you’ll see a pattern developing throughout this blog)! Everything came naturally to me, I thought it was a brilliant job, I was getting paid to just chat with people all day and bring them food every now and then. When I was registered to complete my WSET Level 1 in 2012, I was a little bit excited, I love being tested with exams and I also love doing better than everyone, on this occasion I obtained a score of 100%! At the time I was contemplating leaving hospitality and get into car sales, but achieving 100% spurred me on to get into wine.
After a few years of working within both hospitality and sales, I was offered the opportunity to work in Blaye, a small town on the right bank of the Gironde in Bordeaux. The opportunity arose on my 21st birthday when my girlfriend decided to surprise me with a trip to Bordeaux, when we arrived I was welcomed by a lovely South African bloke who owned the Villa we stayed in. After a while we got chatting and as it turns out Les was looking for someone to work for him in his glorious wine cellar! Obviously, I couldn’t say no to the opportunity and decided to move out in a heart beat, since then I have been living and breathing wine!
Hope you have enjoyed getting to know me a little, I shall try and post as often as possible.
