So off I go, corkscrew in hand!
well, not so much ‘in hand’ as ‘in hold luggage’
heading south of the equator ’til next August…

So what made me want to leave my job, a fun easy-going life running a wine shop minutes walk from my comfortable house, and embark on this year away, sleeping on mates’ sofas and bunk beds??

Well, like many people nowadays, I wanted to travel while I’m still young, and relatively free of responsibilities – and also keen to learn more about the wine trade, so combining the two I am going to intersperse my year of backpacking with vineyard visits, and hopefully some hands-on experience working in Australia and New Zealand.

Having spent the last 5 years selling wine, and studying it for various qualifications, I knew that no matter how many books and articles I read, there is no substitute for getting out there and seeing what it is that makes wine so special. Each bottle of wine’s flavours and characteristics will be affected by the environment and climate in which the vines grow, and how the winemaker then crafts the resulting grapes into a liquid we are often found waxing lyrical about at tastings!

Wine is not a manufactured product, it is crafted, and all of the hundreds of factors that change from year to year, from region to region and winery to winery, that go into making a wine taste and feel different to another are what I hope to begin to uncover over the next year…