Wine Writer - hard work or just an excuse to get drunk?

Would you like to be a wine writer? Spending your days flitting between (free) lunch and (free) dinner, drinking (free) wines and travelling the world (you guessed it, for free)?

For most people this sounds like the ultimate job, entailing an awful lot of entertainment and only some well crafted writing required to pay for it all.

The reality, however, is nowhere near as glamorous. In fact, the job of wine writer in 2011 is a genuinely hard, low paying slog, particularly as the traditional bastion of a wine writers income - the newspaper column - has withered away.

To make ends meet then what most wine critics now do is embrace versatility. They teach students how to appreciate the finer points of vino in wine appreciation courses, hold corporate wine tasting gigs for bankers/accountants/lawyers etc and do all sorts of odd consulting work on the side. In other words, they scrap and scramble and moonlight and slave.

Yet it's not all dirty work though. If you can sell a few copies of your book (like the king of Australian wine writing, James Halliday, does) or maintain a healthy subscription based website (like revered critic Jancis Robinson does) then the gig is made that little bit easier. The stiff reality though is that even the top wine writers would be lucky to make six figures in a year and the vast majority make half that (or less) from wine writing alone.

Beyond the dollars (or lack of) the other perils of the wine writers life are largely lifestyle related. All that wine does terrible things to your teeth (wine is highly acidic after all) and most wine writers are thus on good terms with their dentist (a full mouth of capped teeth for your sir?).

The other industrial hazard of course is that whole 'alcohol' part of wine, which can prove particularly hazardous to your health if abused. It may surprise many to hear it but there are genuinely few alcoholics amongst the top wine writers. All can drink, yet most actually do a lot of tasting and comparatively little drinking. There are exceptions of course, such as the legendary Mark Shield, who was renowned for both his lively writing and his lively thirst.

So what does a typical wine critics day look like then? Tasting. Lots of tasting. 50 wines before lunch is pretty normal. Then a lunchtime masterclass/winemaker tasting (hopefully somewhere nice) and then another tasting in the afternoon, before home to write well into the evening.

Ultimately, for all the glamour of eating/drinking at great restaurants and the promise of unlimited wine on tap, the reality is that wine writers tend to have to live and breathe wine to make it work. Wine must be your morning, your noon, your night, with all wine writers forced to realise that the money will never be great, but communicating about something as interesting as wine is truly satisfying.

Sound like something you could handle?

Andrew Graham

Drinking a bottle of really nice Australian Shiraz the other night got me thinking about the history and stylistic diversity of wines from Down Under.

A good drop is a good drop, regardless of what's written on the bottle. Many wine lovers periodically get together to open bottles and discuss them over a meal, and sometimes play games. I'm a member of the Second Tuesday Club, a loose gang of Sydney wine lovers, mostly professionals, who meet monthly and tastes wines they wouldn't normally be able to afford.

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Still on the fence about visiting a tasting room for the first time? Well it’s time to come down from your fence and open the gate to the world of wine tasting. For you I’ve compiled a list of five things to know before you go.

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For most of my adult life, I’ve kept it a secret. Only a few family members and close friends knew the truth. I suppose I was ashamed. But after celebrating my 50th birthday last spring, I decided it was time to come out of the closet. Or rather, out of the box.

For lovers of fine wine, March 1 is coming to mean only one thing every year: the annual release of Penfolds highly sought after Bin selection.

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I'm reaching out to other "info-obsessives" with a wee glossary of wine terms that I thought would be really helpful for those who want to sound a little more learned when with their flash friends this festive season.

Here is the annual review - albeit lightly - of how the last year shaped up or down, depending on whether you're a producer, a drinker or both.

Sémillon is grape that stars in improbable marriages: with sauvignon blanc in classic blends made in France and Australia; and with fungus botrytis cinerea in the Sauternes region of Bordeaux to create world's longest-lived unfortified wines.

As 2011 gets under way, it appears the goose that laid the wine industry's golden egg has been well and truly roasted. While wine drinkers feast on its carcass - the cut-price sauvignons that look set to continue through the coming year - there's been little cause for celebration among a growing number of wineries struggling to keep their heads above water.

Australians could be accused of being obsessed with mono-varietal wines - and with some justification. Just look through a local bottle shop and you'll see the labels mostly carry the name of just one grape, such as chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, riesling, shiraz or pinot noir.

In a tough year for the wine industry, Jeni Port rates her top drops. Farewell to another depressing year for so many involved in the Australian wine industry. It was cheered up only by the joy of a wonderful 2010 vintage and the chance to drink some excellent wines. Thankfully, there were many — here are my picks of the year.

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It's ironic that, while many of us spend hours preparing the great Christmas dinner, there's often little time, last minute, to organise the wine. Then danger lurks, because almost anything can end up on the table, even (worst-case scenario) weird bottles brought as a 'gift' by dodgy relatives, who simply insist on opening them as soon as the turkey appears…

A wine club can be the ideal way to expand your knowledge of wine, a drink with such a variety that keeping up with the subtle changes from year to year can often feel futile.

Picking the right drinks over Christmas can be tricky. Tony Love has it covered from brekkie to Boxing Day.

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Diversification is an important safeguard, says top sommelier. Zhang Hui, a State-level wine sommelier and also the deputy director of the Production and Operation Department of the COFCO Wines & Spirits Company, shares her views on collecting and investing in red wine during an interview with China Daily reporter Yang Ning.

If you’re looking for a creative way to entertain guests, skip the heavy dinner parties and been-there-done-that barbecues. Whether you have a deck that faces the sunset or a kitchen where your friends and family congregate you can create the perfect setting for guests to much on cheese and sip a little vino.

WINE buying has long been considered a male domain. Walk into a fine restaurant and the wine waiter is likely to hand the wine list to the male diner before the female.

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Spring has finally well and truly hit and what better way to celebrate than with a glass of chilled Rosé from your wine library. For the last decade or two Rosé has been in the wilderness. There were very few wines available and most were sweeter than a slab of chocolate cake

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Every year wine judges across the country sip, slurp and, most importantly, spit their way through thousands of wines trying the find the best wine label on offer. Often for two or three days a panel of judges wade through hundreds of samples with the best wines awarded medals (gold, silver and bronze) and trophies for a select few.

Dinner party time can send almost everyone into a bit of a spin with the pressure to serve up good food and wine matching, especially to the wine connoisseur. Perhaps the in-laws or the boss and his wife are coming over and you want to impress them with a masterful display of entertaining prowess.

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There are literally hundreds of ways to spend Australia Day. Whether a game of cricket with friends is on the cards or a day down at the beach, Australia Day is all about celebrating what makes this country great. So here are a couple ideas and, of course, a drink or two to make the day even better.

Well it is that time of the year again when all the family come over and it’s your duty to feed, and water, the masses with the best wine bottle labels you can find. So here are some tips to get you through Christmas day without any serious wine-related disasters.

Chinese is one of the great cuisines of the world. And we are spoiled with it here in Australia. Go to almost any city or town and you will be able to find an outpost or two serving Chinese food. Better still supermarkets are full of ready-made sauces that can bring the taste of China into everyone’s home. But the question is, what are the best expensive wines to serve with Chinese food?

There is a lot of concern these days about what we put in our bodies with more and more people turning to wine, especially for the benefits of red wine consumption. Fat and cholesterol are two things that we should all watch out for in our diet. Another is alcohol, although its effects on the body are complex and only just starting to be understood.

The first thing I look at in a café or restaurant is the winelist. Sometimes it might consist of a handful of wines scrawled on a blackboard while on other occasions it will come in a big leather bound folder, chock-a-block full of ancient vintages and great wines from around the world. Unsurprisingly, size is not everything with some of those massive lists of biblical proportions hardly worth the time it takes to wade through them while others, with a mere half dozen well-chosen wines, can be a tempting delight.

Different occasions call for different styles of wine, although discount wine tastes best of all. Most wines are quaffers; just made to sip and enjoy without too much thought. But then there are others that are there to impress, with their style and finesse, on special occasions. Sitting at the beach, a little quaffer will do very nicely indeed. But then as a gift for someone who likes a good drop of red, a bit more care is needed. The question here is how to find a good bottle out of the crowd?

Dinner party time can send almost everyone into a bit of a spin. Perhaps the in-laws or the boss and his wife are coming over and you want to impress them with a masterful display of entertaining prowess. Adding to the stress of what to cook is wine-matching, or the art of finding just the right bottle to go with every dish.

As far as journeys go, John Duval has certainly had his fair share. Once the creator of Australia’s most famous wine, Penfolds Grange, John was the globetrotting, all conquering ambassador for Australian wine, dining at the finest tables and serving up South Australian jewels he had helped create from scratch.

You might have heard the rumor around town that Australian wine is in a spot of bother. Exports heading South, international wine hacks dropping bombs left, right and centre with the Victorian bushfires and water shortages in the inland and engine room of commercial Australian wine certainly not likely to help the situation in a hurry with many wine varieties in a sport of bother.

Ten years ago organic food was the preserve of students and hippies while today whole sections of the community scour their supermarket shelves every week, or even a local farmers market, for anything free range or organic, or even wine for life.