On the 1st of October 2015 yours truly will get on a Qantas plane and fly to Sydney. Why? Because I'm taking part in the Institute of Masters of Wine's Australia Trip. This is an intense, hectic trip, more or less non-stop for 12 days - you can view the itinerary to see exactly how gruelling it will be. Cricket on the beach? That's the way you do it, wine for nothing and your wines for free...
Except it isn't free. We each pay for our flight to Australia and then another GBP750 or thereabouts to cover the various costs along the way. Having said that when you get to see what we taste (I'll be blogging as often as I can) and where we get to visit (Hill of Grace, anyone? Steingarten?) the trip is remarkably good value.
Some 44 Masters of Wine (MWs) will be on the trip - that's 13% of the total active membership - and we can expect to taste between 500 and 800 wines or so. We start in New South wales and then rapidly cover Victoria before finishing up in South Australia. This will be my third trip down under - the first in 2001 was also an IMW trip, then Landmark in 2009 which is when I started blogging.
I hope to be able to post some interesting pieces about what we taste and see so check in regularly.
About Me
- DermotMW
- Dublin, Ireland
- Hi, I'm Dermot Nolan, and I became a Master of Wine (MW) in 1997, and resigned from the Institute of Masters of Wine in 2023 after being an MW for exactly 26 years. I opened a wine shop in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, called The Wine Library, which closed in 2018, and this is my personal wine blog. I will do my utmost to be fair and responsible in my posts – please read my Who Pays article in re the ethics of wine trips and writing. I have worked in wine education, retail, and consultancy since 1990. I was a Director of the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) from 2008 to 2014 and was also a member of the Events Committee, founder of the Trips Committee, and member of the Governance Committee. Having had problems with potentially libellous comments from unidentifiable posters, I now require that if you post a comment, you must identify yourself properly or it won't be published. Please note that I do not review products or services on request so kindly don't ask. I value my independence and I believe my readers (few that they may be) do so also.
1 comment:
Well, I guess you lose some to win some. The cost of the massive amount of wines that you get to taste is well-covered by the travel expenses you have to personally fork out. I think the calculation of the expenditures is to your favour and the trip was well-worth every cent spent. My staffs and I at the self storage enjoy wine-tasting too and we will try our best to go for any event together as a group.
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