How a grape first line lost its lustre
Wine writer RICHARD CALVER reveals the opening line to a column he didn't write in November, when he attended the Latin American Cultural and Gastronomic Festival, Edition VII. The facts got in the way.
Wine
To be complacent means that you are pleased with yourself or your merits and advantages or the situation you are in: basically, being self-satisfied, writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"Drinking mostly Japanese beer and sake with food wasn’t a difficulty, but for lovers of red wine though, expect to have to warm your glass to let the wine reach room temperature," writes RICHARD CALVER, home from a holiday in Japan.
"Confirmation bias occurs when a writer consciously or unconsciously cherry picks evidence that supports what they already believe to be true," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Wine
The local fiano that punches above its weight
"The Collector fiano was perfect to drink on a hot day: crisp, textural and with an element of preserved lemon. It is not a low-alcohol wine with a nudge above 13 per cent alcohol by volume," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Wine
Grim outlook for wine, but on the other hand…
"Maybe for our region, the increasing cost of land and the problems with issues of water supply will see a switch from growing grapes to more housing development," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Wine
Gem of a wine that unbuttoned the past
"I can remember tasting soave in a bar in Melbourne in the 1990s and noting that it should be avoided in the future. But this wine was a gem, especially given the price," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"The 2021 Wandering Vines Pinotage is the wine that we drank to see in 2024. Its plush taste and the fact that it resonated with the wonderfully relaxing break in the Bay of Islands made it a very special wine," writes RICHARD CALVER.
"I don’t use an ice bucket for white wine even if offered at a restaurant. It’s interesting to see how wine changes in taste as it reaches a higher temperature, especially the amelioration of acid," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"I’d never serve a sauvignon blanc with smoked fish. Rarely is this varietal 'sour' and often, especially if French, is not fruit forward," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER, who has a weakness for food flavoured by smoke.
"It is intriguing that there should be a fight over the name vampire that, I would suppose, has long been in the public domain," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Winemakers are looking to aluminium cans, plastic bottles and the humble goon sack to replace glass, which is the industry's main source of carbon emissions.
"The wines I tried with friends in the lead up to the festive season mark the wines that I love best," says wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Even wine columnists can be surprised. RICHARD CALVER was: "This feeling, the opposite of déjà vu, was triggered by my tasting the Saperavi varietal for the first time."
"Perversely, the Italians now appear to have the right to register the name prosecco as coming exclusively from north-east Italy," writes wine writer RICHARD CALVER.
Lisa Halgren is an assistant winemaker at award-winning Eden Road Wines. Wine writer RICHARD CALVER is curious about the 32-year-old's journey from bottle shops in Sydney to barrels at Murrumbateman.
Winer writer RICHARD CALVER feels he was inexorably led, by an almost supernatural force, to write about Nero d’Avola.
"There's been a muted cheer about the announcement that agreement had been reached to suspend the current World Trade Organization dispute while Beijing undertakes an 'expedited review' of duties on wine," writes columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Wine writer RICHARD CALVER attended a wine dinner on the Kingston Foreshore that he describes as "memorable".
