From The Beginning...

My parents have been big wine drinkers for a while now, 'big wine drinkers' in the sense that they will most certainly have a glass or two with almost every dinner serving.

Myself, being a young South African male, would rather have a beer!
That has recently all changed.

But back to how my love for wine began... I had just finished my degree in marketing, and finding a job that I would fit in to was seemingly getting harder. I even resorted to working for my dad in a software company for a short stint, and as some people know, my worst thing in life would be to sit at a desk, eight to five every day!!

My mother is a well-renowned journalist writing articles for various newspapers, magazines and the like. She writes about various topics, but her niche is on food and wine.
So thanks to her connections, I managed to get an interview with a wine sales and distribution company.
Thank goodness the interview went well without any problems and I managed to get the job.

Not knowing much at all about wine, bar the very basics that anyone who ever tasted wine would know... That there is red wine and white wine. Maybe I knew a few varietals but that was it.

I would be concentrating on the marketing and communicational aspects of the company.
But during my first few weeks on the job, I suddenly became fascinated about wine, where it comes from, the process it takes to make it and how to drink it. There's more to wine than just swallowing it to get pissed, which i do on occasion I must admit. The mass procedure of getting the wine into the bottle intrigued me.

By going to the various tastings and events that are held in Gauteng, and there are a lot, I familiarised myself with South African wines as much as I could and I began to know most of the varietals that this country has to offer, like Pinotage, a varietel unique to South Africa.

I also started doing wine courses through Cape Wine Academy, and these have broadened my knowledge about wines significantly. I have completed the South African Course, which is on the basics of wine, and the Wines Of The World Course, which gives you a good base on what wines are made across the world and how they differ to our wines. I am about to write the Certificate Course, which goes into far more depth on South African wine, the wine regions as well as how it is made, amongst a whole lot more.

My fascination for wine is continuing to grow, and I hope to do the Diploma and then maybe one day become a Wine Connoisseur/Sommelier in the not so distant future. Then thinking way ahead, even a Cape Wine Academy Master, and there a only a few of them! But I'm not getting too ahead of myself.

To finish off my first blog, here is a quote about wine that a quite enjoy:

"Compromises are for relationships, not wine." Sir Robert Scott Caywood