interplay of a wine s sensual and structural elements.
...Ed Merrison is a freelance writer www.edmerrison.com interplay of a wine s sensual and structural elements.
...Ed Merrison is a freelance writer www.edmerrison.com I aginati n n W n ...Ed Merrison Imagination was the theme of Davis It s not about putting every drop McCaughey s speech when the that passes your lips under the Victorian Governor of the time opened the brand-new Stonierwinery back in 1991.
It was imagination that led to theplanting of grapevines in the hillsof Merricks, imagination thatdreamt up a building important for its function and a place of beauty in itself .
In that speech Dr.
McCaughey quoted British philosopher MaryWarnock, author of Imagination Time, and her assertion that the great end of education isto stop people being bored.
Iwonder what the two of them would have said about wine education.
You needn t be an expert to enjoy the stuff perhaps it s an indulgence too far to spend time studying it.
And what if an analytic approachwere to drain wine of its joy Orworse, turn you into the kind of winegargling know-all you go out of your way to avoid having a drink with Wine education is booming.
Everywhere you look someone s offering a masterclass, short course or meet-the-maker evening.
Then there s the formal side of things, from the multi-tiered Wine and Spirit Education Trust WSET awards to the revered Master of Wine.
WSET now offers courses in 17 languages across 62 countries.
Just shy of50,000 people sat for one of itsqualifications in the last academicyear, representing a fourfold increase over the past decade.
So why take the Plunge Len Evans, the late, great Australian wine evangelist, offers a typically blunt response You bother to learn about wine in order to enjoy it more.
Assessing wine from a technicalpoint of view is just one aspect ofthis, but it s an important one.
This means understanding the microscope.
But knowing whatyou like gets you nowhere.
Knowing why you like it is astep on the journey to morewine you ll enjoy.
The idea of a journey is animportant one, since history and geography are writteninto every detail of wine.
Where were the grapesgrown Why do they grow those varieties And why does the winetaste the way it does Already we re travellingthrough time and space, broadening horizons anddrawing a map to aidfurther exploration.
It s all the more pleasurable to explorewhen you move with self-assurance.
Let s face it wine can be intimidating, with its arcane language, traditionsand hierarchies.
Gaining a sense ofease about your palate leaves youto relish the prospect of choosingand sharing a bottle, with no heedto fashion or 100-point scores.
The rules of service can seem like another minefield, but seeing therationale behind convention - servingtemperature, stemware, food pairing -frees you from blind obedience.
Stick to rules that make the wine more enjoyable and ignore the rest.
If the fear persists that wine educationwill turn an exercise in fun into a dreary lesson in facts and figures, I say this education doesn t douse imagination, it ignites it.
And to return to Mary Warnock, imagination s the key if we re to go beyond witnessingbeauty to actually feel beauty.
The difference is this in feeling the beauty of objects, we enjoy not onlythe common, shared pleasures of thesenses, but also the private pleasuresof the imagination, peculiar toourselves, and such that we have tostruggle to articulate them.
Join us at one of our winery events throughout the year EASTER long weekend Cellar Door is open every day except Good Friday from 11am 5pm JUNE long weekend Pinot Pies at the winery on Sunday 8th June Regional cheese platters, winery tours and children s playground available.
For more information on our events please visit www.stonier.com.au As one of the original wineries on the Peninsula, Stonier has been a pioneer of the region for over 30 years, specialising in premium Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sparkling.
Open 11am 5pm daily closed Christmas Day,Boxing Day Good Friday 2 Thompson s Lane, Merricks P 03 5989 8300 E stonier stonier.com.au www.stonier.com.au www.visitor.com.au 093 .indd 1 31 03 14 1 13 PM