After cathartically dumping on the joys of international travel earlier in the week, today it's a much less anger-inducing topic - what it's like to judge at an international sparkling …
It's now been 3 odd years since my last long-haul international flight, so why not start back with a bang? This week I'm in Anadia, Portugal, judging at the Concours Mondial …
Sorry everyone, I failed. Last week, I said that I'd try to post some tidbits from my time judging at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles in Beijing, China. Except I didn't …
It's great to be home. Great, in particular, to be back on my own pillow. Italian pillows fall into one of two camps - a) stunted lumps or b) shapeless fluff …
Australian Wine Review on Tour 2017 It's been a long time coming, but today I'm off for my first decent European trip in a good 18 months. For the next 3 odd …
So now that I'm back in Sydney, at the desk, it's time to start writing up a few of the producers I visited over the weekend in Orange. And what better …
I liked Verona. There's something beautifully romantic about this northern Italian city, the sentiment extending well beyond the tourists and tacky selfies in front of Juliet's Balcony. Romance, great food, and vines …
I came home to this. Not bad at all Sydney After 9 weeks, 10 countries, 35 hotel rooms (including the odd Airbnb apartment and such) and many many airports, it's genuinely …
I'm in Santorini at the moment, a Greek island that is seriously stunning. Yet despite the magic of the famous sunsets over the caldera, and indeed the quality of the local …
I've just landed in Porto, a city which seems even cooler than expected (if heaving with tourists). It was the detour here via Ribeira Sacra that was the most intriguing though. The …
Airport beers. They taste much better on holidays I know it's a given, but have you ever tried to use a full sized laptop in a cattle class airline seat? It's bloody …
I'm back at the desk today, successfully managing to make the second half of my Queenstown trip as much of a holiday as possible. Mostly (sorry family if I went too …
The late postcard: Etna Ever arrive home after a holiday and find that you beat your postcards home? Well that's me, except this postcard I never quite got around to sending. Now that …
Postcard: Sicilia Grapevines. Olive trees. Brown hills. Blue skies. The Med. That about sums up the vista on the southern Sicily coast this week, where the relentlessly warm 'bluebird' days roll on …
At 18, I started working in a small suburban bottleshop, largely to buy cheap beer. It was my first year of university, slogging through physics and chemistry, so a liquor shop seemed like fun. But then, I fell in love with wine and craft beer, and it took over my life.
Twenty three years later and I spend my days wearing many beverage hats and judge at wine shows around the world...Read more