Wine festivals. Picture a huge room with a high ceiling and huge windows; women either embrace Old World Pinot Noir in style with subtly classic and fashionable outfits, or New World Pinot Noir – upfront fruit with upfront skin. Ninety percent of men are straight up masculine Cabernet Sauvignon being done up in a suit and tie; a small percentage of laid-back Carmenères put a smile on my face, whether they be clad in a sweater and jeans or all plaid everything. I’m somewhere in the middle like a Pinotage: a cardigan the colour of its juice (purple – close enough) with notes of leather (Doc Martens).
Needless to say, there were many events like wine minglers and seminars, but I only had time to go to one of the big trade tasting days, where, upon being surrounded by uptight suits and dresses, really just made me want to Harlem Shake with everyone in the room which would probably replace being born as the record for the messiest 30 seconds of my life.… read more
