Spent the day driving around the valley tasting wine. Went back to a lot of the wineries that I liked when I was here six months ago and went to a few new ones. The Hunter Valley is by far the nicest place to taste in Australia (my opinion). The wines are good, the crowds low, and the people in the wineries are fantastic. It's not at all pretentious.
Wineries visited:- Tyrrell's Vinyard
- Mc Guigan Cellars
- Tamburlaine Wines: +61 (02) 4998 7570 (attn: Rhonda)
- Calais Estate: +61 (02) 4998 7654 (attn: Rita)
- Capercaillie Wine Company
- Ivanhoe Wines
- Petersons Wines: +61 (02) 4990 1704
Calais was my favorite for the wines, and Petersons for the people (also great wines). In total tried forty wines from seven winereies and spent a ton of money buying wine and then almost as much sending two cases home.
The Len Evans Theory of Capacity:- There is a awful lot of wine in the world, but there is also a lot of awful wine in the world.
- No sensible person drinks to excess, therefore any one person can only drink a certain amount in a lifetime.
- There are countless flavors, nuances, shades of wine; endless varieties, regions, styles. You have neither the time nor the capacity to try them all.
- To make the most of the time left to you, you must start by calculating your total ruture capacity. One bottle a day is 365 bottles a year. If your life expectancy is another 30 years, there are only 10,000-odd bottles ahead of you.
- People who say: 'You can't drink the good stuff all the time' are talking rubbish. You must drink good stuff all the time. Every time you drink a bottle of inferior wine, it's like smashing a superior bottle against the wall. The pleasure is lost forever - you can't get that bottle back.
- There are people who build up huge cellars, most of which they have no hope of drinking. They are foolish in over-estimating their capacity but they err on the right side and their friends love them.
- There also people who don't want to drink good wine, and are happy with the cheapies. I forgive them. There are others who are content with beer and spirits; I can't worry about everybody.
- Wine is not meant to be enjoyed for its own sake; it is the key tp love and laughter with friends, to the enjoyment of food, beauty and humor and art and music. Its rewards are far beyond its cost.
- What part is wine of your life? Ten percentum: Ergo, 10 per cent of your income should be spent on wine.
- The principle should be applied to other phases of life. A disciple kissed a beautiful young lady and she demurred. He was aghast, and said: "Don't get the wrong idea. I've worked out I can only make love another 1343 times. I'm bloody sure I'm not wasting one on you!"
Read at Petersons Wines.
