Two benefits of eating alone while travelling are that the tout selling single-stemmed red roses doesn’t come near you, and you get to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. … more
New Ruby Press
Recent Articles
On Wine and Walking
I do hope that all roads lead to the top of the mountain, even the ones that meander through wine country. I try to walk around vineyards as often as I can, but as natural an activity as it may seem in the surroundings, it is not done as readily as you might think. To me, visiting vineyards only to gather information is like visiting rose gardens to learn only how to prune. … more
When Wine Stops Words
I cannot drink wine while writing and write anything worth reading. This feels like an appalling oversight from whoever assigned my passions and interests. Many wine writers revel in the consumption of wine while writing. The great gastronomical littérateurs had a down right orgy in it. … more
Wine and a Movie
Describing what happens in a movie when you watch it is easier than describing what happens in a wine when you drink it.
I contemplated this the other night as I sipped this lovely chardonnay. I thoroughly enjoyed this wine and thought you should know about it but I wondered how I might describe this very chardonnay, rather than describing any beautiful chardonnay. Unlike happy families, beautiful wines are not all alike. … more
Sunday Lunch
Inside, away from the spring drizzle, the restaurant was cosy and warm. Dark wooden tables were set for service, and hundreds of empty wine bottles lined floating shelves and sat nestled in nooks. Each bottle was showcased, like a trophy for a wine moment well lived … … more
Thinking and Drinking at the 2014 Melbourne Writers Festival
I am both excited and delighted to be part of this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival. The line up includes literary luminaries and wunderkinds such as Sir Salman Rushdie, Dave Eggers, Ruth Reichl, Emily Nussbaum and Helen Garner. … more
Profile: Fred Dame
“If you’re looking for a teacher to hug and kiss you and tell you you’re wonderful, I am the wrong guy. But if you want to succeed, then we have something to talk about.” … more
Explorers and Dreamers
The world of wine exists because of the many viticultural adventurers, explorers, innovators and dreamers; those men and women who were courageous enough to grow where others feared to plant. … more
Through A Sparkling Glass … in America
I am delighted to announce that Through A Sparkling Glass An A-Z to the Wonderland of Wine, is now available in America. … more
Autumnal Reds
Too often we think of red wines as being heady and heavy with depths like the abyss … … more
Everything’s coming up Rosés
Rosé, that pink wine made from red grapes, is one the vinous worlds most thirst slaking and refreshing wines. … more
Tasmanian Wine
It is not easy to pinpoint when Tasmania’s wine industry started. Of course there were the explorers who brought European ideas of agriculture and ownership, and in so doing, irrevocably changing the life and landscape of Tasmania forever. … more
Wine Communicators of Australia Awards
Hello. I am very pleased to announce that my book, Through A Sparkling Glass, An A-Z of the Wonderland of Wine, was awarded Best Wine Publication at the Wine Communicators of Australia awards. In addition, I was awarded the overall accolade of Wine Communicator of the Year. … more
Meeting Your Heroes
They say you should never meet your heroes. They’re human. They have moods. They’re not the character in the movie. They’re just people too, you know. … more
Drinking Well
In wine circles, we talk a lot about what qualities make a good wine. More recently, I have wondered what qualities make a good wine drinker? Writer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Tis the good reader that makes the good book,” referring to those personal traits we bring to the object in order to better appreciate it. … more
Drink to Me Only at the Bendigo Writers Festival
Please join Max Allen and me on Sunday 11th August as part of the Bendigo Writers Festival. In our session, Drink To Me Only, Max and I will discuss my new book, wine, writing and other ideas. Presented in a Q+A format, I’m guessing it will be a bit like Parkinson or Oprah. At least that’s what I’m preparing for. … more
Autumnal Drinking
Autumn is a beautiful in-between season and a time of great transition.
It’s amidst the hottest and coldest seasons, but neither hot nor cold; it’s part of the viticultural cycle but no longer flourishing and not yet dormant. It is the change when nature prepares to shut down for the long slumber of winter. … more
