A collective palate that is positively bursting with educated taste buds; a well-established and blossoming craft beer scene; a borderline unhealthy addiction to caffeine and more eateries per capita than New York - is it any wonder that Wellington will now be the host to New Zealand's first ever natural wine festival?
So World Whisky day has come and gone, and yet has left an indelible impression on mind and palate thanks to one of Regional's more interesting and eclectic blind(ish) tastings, hosted by the one and only, Daniel McLaren Moon, a man never lost for an adjective.
This visual wine tasting diagram starts with the representation of aromas that grow through to flavours, with acidity, tannin body etc. represented by circles in the canopy. The size of the circles corresponds to depth/magnitude of flavour/aroma components.
What is it that wine and music have in common? Is it that, as with music, we struggle to put into words what it is that we feel when we drink wine, knowing simply that there is something above and beyond us...
In 1587 Francis Drake sacked Cadiz and returned to blightie with, amongst other spoils, 2,900 barrels of Sherry. Britain's love affair with sherry was launched, but it hasn't all been plain sailing...
As I stood on the Wellington waterfront in shorts and a T-shirt, basking under the cloudless sky in temperatures of around 28°C, the snow-laden grey of London seemed a dream-like distant memory.
I'm at the 2012 Champagne Bureau Tasting, and after a well staged and prolonged campaign I am in the throws of palate fatigue. It would takes something special to rally the troops now, and moving to the Dosnon & Lepage stand, this is exactly what I find.
