G’day
My name is Aly and I am a keen connoisseur of anything alcoholic.
As a 23 year old Australian university student I have already had a monumental and accoladed career examining and extensively testing all the best (and cheapest) alcoholic beverages that this great nation has to offer. I found myself to be such an enthusiast that when I was 18 and the universe guided me to becoming an assistant sales person at my local bottle shop it would have seen as too rude to refuse.
Such began a lengthy career at reviewing, enticing (waffling on with old cobbers) and hard selling the many different beverages which the bottle shop had to offer. From vending slabs of emu export and vb to devlieving the extremely important information of which type of vodka was best for devouring in 50ml shots, I had found a job which I thoroughly enjoyed.
But I found myself with an unacquainted variety. Besides my huge repertoire of knowledge from which spirits to mix with orange juice to which crispy lagers that pleasantly complimented a sweaty shoe, (see shoey) I found I had a large gap of knowledge for a variety of ruby coloured beverages that took up almost 40% of sales at the store – Red Wine.
Now as a young lad I had many scrupulous nights of attaching a cask bladder to a clothes line and sculling as mucha humanly possible of the acidic clear liquid which the ‘in the know’ went by as ‘goon.’ But this immensely popular type of scarlett coloured wine came not in a silver bag but in a glass bottles with delightful and enticing labels ( alien to anything I had encountered before) which attracted a mix variety of demographics. And all who enjoyed this concoction had many bizarre and specific questions to which I had no answer.
So I had to step up. Take one for the team as it were and dive head first into the pool of vast varieties, types, pallets and colours. A new would to discover. A new world which I would soon call my own.
My first experience with this now known bottled elixir, wasn’t all that consuming/engulfing. Still having traumatic memories of the clear acid that came from a bag and smelt the same when it was consumed to when it was excreted. Layed down the path to try the other variety. The notorious red.
I had always been told by my many older (well experienced) customers at the liquor store that merlot was the red wine for the beginner wine drinker. As though it wasn’t the most popular variety that was being sold by the half dozen, I followed this advice and proceeded thusly. 1x bottle of George Wyndme 555 please my good sir.’ And that was the beginning of the quest. An unforeseeable step in the direction which I would never regret.
Today with my drinking habits described more as mature sipping wine scoff rather than the large quantity quaffer that I once was. I now think of my taste buds as more seasoned and focused on how a red wine balances on the pallet. I am now one for quality, not quantity. I still distance myself away from the menacing white, but hey I can’t be an expert on everything.
With over 5 years of working in the industry and imbibing on the products I now go by as the budget red wine specialist at my store in Fremantle, Western Australia. Helping like minded enthusiasts discover delightfully elegant red wine, for the ever cost effective oriented consumer.
I have decided to use this highly important vast of knowledge to help people with their own wine selection ( especially for the price conscious fella or shelia) to anyone in this world who stumbles upon this blog and doesnt think to themselves “what a load of bollocks.” So to this I dedicate this blog to my tongue in cheek tasting notes, satirical reviews and unique fun facts hopefully to entertain and allow people to pick up a budget red in confidence.
The Impoverished Oenophile 