A Little Passion For Wine

I was a nerd at school (and yes parts of that have carried through) aside from the odd swig of beer from Dad when I was a kid (that I couldn't stand the taste) I actually didn't drink until I was 18.  I started on "Stollies" (Vodka and Lemon) that was really all I could stomach.  A few months after turning 18 I went to stay with my Aunt and Uncle in Victoria.  My cousin was in Year 12 with me and my parents thought I needed a break in scenery and sent me down to study with him.  My Uncle was a huge Wine Buff.  I remember for dinner he opened a bottle of red and asked if I wanted a glass, I told him I was not sure.  He poured me some, I didn't like it.  He laughed and told me that red wine was an acquired taste and that I needed to stick with it and after several attempts I would be able to drink a full glass.

I do not know why, but it stuck and I did persevere with it.  Within a few weeks I could drink a glass of red.  In fact that was all I could drink, I wasn't even into white.  So while my friends started drinking 'Breezers' I was into the more finer things in life.

Sure enough as life went on, my palate for wine developed and I was off on day trips to the Hunter Valley educating myself.  Let me be clear though, for I want to establish that I am not one of those people.  The ones starting with a W, or a wine snob.  I just knew what I liked and what I didn't and I wasn't afraid to say it.  I was not carrying a notebook with me and standing in a cellar door bragging that I could make the distinction between American Oak and French Oak in the 2002 Shiraz.  No, I was the one that told the nice young man behind the counter that I prefer my white wines with balls.

Having altered our road trip Honeymoon to include a few wine tours, you could say that wine is a little bit of a hobby for me.  And I would have to agree.  So when it came time to pick a name for the newest member of our family I knew it would need to be a wine, just like Mr C.  We decided on Shiraz, Hubby only agreed to this because in public we could just yell out 'Raz' or 'Razzie'.  Although now that he has come into our lives I hear Hubby yelling out "Shirazie" all the time.  Seems someone else has turned into a little wine snob themselves.