The Wine Way

A conversation with my friend at lunch last Friday:-

Friend: You don't smoke cigar?
- I don't. But I was reading something about cigar earlier, trying to know a bit more the taste and origin.

Ok, there are cigars from Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Honduras.
- Yea..

Cigars from Cuba is like Bordeaux wines.
- Ok... classic, with body..

Cigars from Dominican is like New World wines. Honduras ones are also like the New World wines, value-for-money ones.
- Ok... I see. I could imagine...

Haha... I never thought of telling something about cigars, thinking from the 'wine way'.

***
Thanks to friends, who are really considerate. This is not the first encounter, having someone explain something to me using the 'wine way'.

Seems like not only my life is (almost) all about wines, my mind is filled with wines, even my logic thinking is completely a 'wine logic'!

Drink List A-Z

Dedicated to my friend.

***
A - Amarone
B - Beer (Let's do... Corona?)
C - Chardonnay
D - Dolcetto
E - Espresso/ Evian (By this time... should need something either to wake you up, or to calm you down)

***
F - Finlandia (Mr. Naked V is here!!)
G - Gin
H - HELLO, ARE YOU STILL AWAKE? If YES - Let's have Highland Park (Scotch Whisky)

***
I - Shall we continue with whisky? Let's go to Islay? Laphroaig eh!?
J - Jen's Pick! You'll see.
K - Ketel One (Another Mr. Naked V!!)
L - Lemonade (You need something refreshing! Oh wait... you don't like bubbles... How about some Liqueur? Say... Bailey's Irish Cream?
M - Mojito!!
N - Nothing (in the mood of cocktail...)

***
O - OMG!!
This is NOT anything about drink list. Just an expression - meaning that... probably we need another day to start again. Let's do that, and we'll start from wine again...

***
O - Orvieto
P - Pinot Grigio
R - Riesling
S - Syrah/ Shiraz
T - Tequila
U - Ugni Blanc.. Let's go for Cognac!!
V - Vodka ABSOLUTely.
W - Water, please.
X - I could see a CROSS here, perhaps we should stop being this crazy.. though I had one recommendation here. Xarel-lo... so Cava, which is a bubbly.. you won't like. Let's SKIP the X.

***
Y - By now, I'm asking myself WHY is all this happening... thinking about A-Z Drink List... 想酒想瘋了～!? I want some sweet stuff now... how about Yquem? (Château d'Yquem - the famous Sauternes!)
Z - Zinfandel... but I don't feel like a typical red, I want White Zin though.

***
What a A-Z List to conclude my night! Thanks dear for your push.

Eszencia

Eszencia - This absolute rarity gained from the free-run juice of the aszú ("botrytized" in Hungarian) grapes is a unique nectar with a honey-like concentration.

Note:
"aszú-eszencia" is different from "Tokaji eszencia". The former is essentially a type of aszú wines, which have gone through maceration & pressiing (whereas the latter did not). The latter is sweeter and more concentrated than honey (over 800 grams of residual sugar is not that abnormal) and it is virtually everlasting.

Botrytis cinerea

Botrytis cinerea - The fungus known also as 'noble rot'. When it attacks healthy, ripe grapes, it weakens the skin, speeding up the evaportation of water from the flesh of the grapes and causing them to shrivel.

As well as concentrating sugars and acids, the mould adds its own unique flavours to the wine.

Note:
1) A combination of factors is needed to make these wines:
- a problem-free ripening period to ensure fully ripe, healthy grapes;
- damp, misty mornings to encourage the growth and spread of the botrytis mould;
- warm dry afternoons to speed the drying out of the grapes.
2) The above conditions are found in very few wine growing regions, and cannot be relied on to occur every year.

Serious wine lover｜認真酒徒

A serious wine lover
= historian + artist + chemist + biologist + traveller + sensitive to color + sensitive to taste + sentimental + storyteller.

***
認真的酒徒
＝　歷史學家＋藝術家＋化學家＋生物學家＋旅客＋對顏色敏感＋有敏銳的味覺＋感情豐富＋說故（事）人。

Climat

Climat - French, particularly Burgundian, term for a specific vineyard site defined by, as the name suggests, all of its climatological as well as geographical characteristics, otherwise known as Terroir.

Thus the Burgundian grower uses the word climat interchangeably with 'vineyard'.

Lieu-dit

Lieu-dit, French term used quite generally to refer to the local, traditional name of a small area of land, usually defined by topography or history. Such locally given names are also used more specifically, especially in Burgundy, to refer to a plot of land or vineyard within a larger appellation.

Cru

Cru - French specialist term for a vineyard, usually reserved for those officially recognized as of superior quality.

In English the word is often translated as 'growth'.

Hello, Australia!

Hello all,

FINALLY - I have arrived at Australia! Greetings from OZ!

Indeed, it is the first time I've ever been to this part of the World. I got really excited about this - especially that I am coming for the 'Wine Australia Travel Scholarship' (what a name! 'wine' + 'travel' --> isn't it that's ME!?). Since the interview last November, then got the confirmation on the day before my birthday last year - making it one of the biggest birthday gift ever in my life - I felt really wonderful to have got the chance to come over!

Actually, it's not just that because it's free - so I'm so happy & excited (yet, definitely one of the reasons though...). It's also because I got the chance to learn more hands-on things about wines - which I have become really passionate about. Probably I might not be that really talented to learn about wines and be a really really good taster, however, I still believe that for every kind of 'knowledge' - there are so many things to learn every single day. So, getting to know what I gonna go after, and how much I am passionate about the work I am doing & the knowledge I'm pursuing - that's definitely one of the biggest achievements I have ever had in my life.

Plus, this trip actually made me believe that if one sticks on to the passion one has, there should be some way out - and reward will come eventually. I'm not saying that the 'reward' is there now ('reward' be it "economically-sustainable" as one of my travel-mates was talking about during a open-discussion today, or be it "early-retirement", etc.) - yet for sure, I believe I'm on the right track! Sooner or later, I'll be there for the 'economically-sustainability'. Yet, meanwhile, I am so much enjoying and felt pretty much contented.

Before I left, one of my friends was saying to me - seemed like I didn't know much about my trip, and not even bothered with the packing and things, until the last minute. True - very true, I didn't care that much. The fact was I still got the 'alert' I got to be prepared, but just that every trip is so different - culture different, location different, basically even if I so-called prepared, it doesn't mean that everything gotta go really fine. So, just get myself prepared at the best as I used to, be prepared to have some 'surprises', that's fine already. Plus, probably I'm happy to stay FRESH for anything that could happen. Everytime I travel, that's another new learning occasion anyway. Learning for life, learning for living, learning for human touch...

Writing this note here, it's my 3rd evening here. In just these 3 days, there were (again) a lot of thinking and a lot of sharing I gotta do. From my experience, it's not easy for me to keep updating... I thought I could do my blog, and make a dedicated website for my trip - but after the first 'real day' for the scholarship started - I ANNOUNCED THAT 'I GIVE UP!' I don't think I could update that frequently, and write down everything I got in mind...

SO - excuse me for that - although I really wanna share... but the time I spent everyday for the tasting, travelling... already kept me busy & tired - so after I got back to room, I just wanna relax as far as I could, and get ready for the next day.

YET - I still try best to squeeze some time to keep writing a bit here, and post photos! Then all my dear friends reading here - you can have a glance of my days here! See you all soon!


With love,
Jennifer.