As this event was timed from 10.00am until 5.00 pm this would seem, at first glance, to indicate a very involved and technically demanding day. How wrong could I be?

The entire day was enthralling, exciting and most of all, fun. The other attendees, other than those from The Aroma Academy were all there, as I was, to further their knowledge in the aromas associated within the whisky world. Whisky is a subject I have become intrigued with in the last year or so and how better to get to know more about the subject than a day long Whisky Aroma Master Class with none other than Dr George Dodd and Alan Gordon, the founders of The Aroma Academy.

Their knowledge of their subject is unrivalled and definitely opened everyone’s eyes, minds and more importantly their noses to the fact that smell is around 95% of what we taste. This fact makes you want to learn more and I am definitely booking again for the more advanced second day when it’s available. The entire subject of whisky (or gin, or wine) aromas makes you want to delve deeper and deeper to see what lies below to get to the final aroma of what you know in your memory but can’t quite name – this class points you in the direction to help you do this and the rest is up to you and, with practice, it can be done.

Although it is an involved subject, it can be fun matching the aromas to your favourite whiskies and if anyone cannot enjoy this experience then you’re definitely in the wrong frame of mind!

I thoroughly recommend the Whisky Aroma Nosing Kits and especially the one day Whisky Aroma Master Class should you get the chance to attend!

http://www.aroma-academy.co.uk/

This will potentially shock Bond fanatics as Martini has been the drink of choice for the movie character for the last 50 odd years. There’s an argument that this could be seen as a move with the times as people can relate more to the ‘everyday’ Bond actor Daniel Craig who isn’t bothered as to how his drinks are prepared. This is in comparison to the older generation of Bond actors, Sean Connery for example, who made great fuss to a Martini being shaken, not stirred.

We will have to wait and see whether this is highlighted in the new Bond film or it’s just brushed away and nobody notices!

The Rathfinny Estate, when fully operational, will endeavour to employ around 30 full time staff with an additional 200 workers required on a seasonal basis, harvesting over the summer and also pruning over the winter. The owners are hopeful of producing one million bottles a year and believe they will export up to 50% of these bottles with the remaining 50% remaining in the UK to be sold in British Supermarkets and to be offered in Restaurants, Hotels and Pubs.

This sort of investment, time and effort being literally ploughed into the UK Wine market can only be a good thing for the economy, but more specifically the UK Wine Industry. This will (and has) raised the profile of British Wine which is surely a good thing for everyone connected, and each day the UK seems to get a tad  nearer to maybe one day competing totally with our European wine neighbours, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal. The UK currently produces approximately three million bottles of wine each year and with ventures like the Rathfinny Estate this production is likely to be doubled by 2015.

For more information, visit: www.rathfinnyestate.com

All quality glassware manufacturers produce numerous ranges of glasses whose designs are slightly different but the basic similarity is that the various bowl shapes are specifically designed for the grape varieties of the wines they are intended to hold.

A few producers limit their ranges to a very basic Red Wine, White Wine, Bordeaux style, Burgundy style and Champagne and these then cater generally for most reds, most whites etc. The more expansive producers create a glass for most of the major grape varieties and you will find glasses for Bordeaux, Burgundy, Chianti, Zinfandel, Shiraz, Rioja and the list goes on.

The general ranges will adequately cater for most Reds or Whites, but if you really want to get into Rioja for example choose a glass specifically designed for Rioja and your taste buds will really reap the rewards. The reason for this is that the grape specific glasses are designed in such a way that the bowls of the glasses, when tipped to the mouth, will direct the flow of the wine to the part of your mouth which will appreciate that sensation the most.  There are sense areas in the mouth which allow you to taste sweetness, bitterness, saltiness and acidity and the glasses are designed so that the wine finds these areas and you appreciate the wine as it is intended.

Please note how the different shaped glasses make you tilt your head or strain your neck more in order to get the liquid into your mouth. In turn the liquid then finds different areas of the mouth because of the direction in which it enters.

Try it, it works!!

You’ll eventually find glasses that suit your needs for the types of wines you like and you should definitely enjoy your favourite wines even more than usual!

A fantastic evening containing seven different varieties showing the full scope of the different tastes and flavours was enjoyed by all of the 20 attendees and it also proved to me how well the Glencairn whisky glass is 100% suited to the nuances of the different styles of whiskies we encountered.

I was so taken with the tasting that I’m already booked for a visit to Whisky Live 2012 in London at The Honourable Artillery Company in London on 23^rd March 2012!!

One of the world famous malt whisky houses, Glenfiddich, had announced that they were to auction off for charity, one of their rarest ever bottles in aid of Walking With The Wounded. The Glenfiddich Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve is a 55 year old single malt honouring Janet Sheed Roberts who is the granddaughter of William Grant, the founder of Glenfiddich Distillery. Janet celebrated her 110^th birthday in August 2011 and is the oldest living person in Scotland. This whisky, the second one to be sold, is one of only 11 bottles of this rarest malt that will ever be released and each one commemorates each decade of Janet’s life.

The first bottle sold for £46,850 in late 2011 and this one was sold at Christies in London for £44,000 last Friday. There are 9 bottles to go and I’m just wondering how long I’ve got to save up to be able to bid for bottle No 11!!

Don’t get your hopes up just yet, as they’re only planning to roll this idea out in a few stores in California and Atlanta at the end of 2012.

The one good thing about January however, is the fact, if you’re like me; you’ve fortunately been given plenty of bottles of wine over the festive period! As everyone knows I’m into Wine in a big way and enjoy the occasional odd bottle (or two!!).  I tend to get given a few, what I would call, decent bottles, which is a bit of a result. I’m lucky though, because I’ve got a nice big traditional wine rack at home where I can place them all to drink in the coming weeks and months.

We actually always consistently see an upturn in sales of wine racks in January and February and we can only put it down to this situation in that customers have acquired numerous additional bottles over the Christmas and New Year period and then have nowhere to put it or lie it down in order to enjoy it whenever required in the future!

In other news this week, wine corks are now seemingly no longer loved by UK wine consumers. In a survey conducted by Wine Intelligence for its 2011 Closures Report, 85% of the UK wine drinking population has now accepted screwcaps compared to just 41% in 2003. That’s a massive growth in only 8 years and could spell the end of the rumbling through the door for a waiter’s friend corkscrew! Admittedly, it’s now much easier to open a bottle of a wine with a screwcap but there’s just something endearing and plainly just nice about uncorking a bottle yourself, hearing the pop and the ensuing aroma of wine pouring from the bottle.

So after 40+ games in one of the finest sporting nations in the World, the Rugby World Cup is coming to its climax. It’s been a fairly disappointing and quite frankly, laughable campaign from an English perspective what with allegations thrown left right and centre, a gum shield incident and then a swimming race! (Why is it always us?!) At least however, we’ve got two nations in the final that we can connect with in the wine world, the old fashioned and claret driven French against the white wine lovers and young red guns of New Zealand.

The French produce a vast amount of different bottles and vintages of fantastic red, white and sparkling wines, from the world renowned regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Rhone, Alsace, Loire etc. Their old, traditional habits are still visible and recognisable today and the stubbornness of certain regions not to join in with the modern ways of screw caps and to continue, in vast numbers, with corks, is one I agree with. Their production methods are becoming better every year and are based in the modern era, although traditional values are kept and are the equal of other wine producing nations as they pump out 7 to 8 billion bottles of wine per year.

Their Southern Hemisphere opponents New Zealand, most wine consumers think, play slightly second fiddle to their greatest rivals Australia a lot of the time and the Wine World is no exception. The Australians produce fantastic Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, whilst New Zealand takes the white wine option of perfecting Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Oz Clarke is big admirer of the Kiwi’s Sauvignon Blanc and has described it as “arguably the best in the world” and this area is undoubtedly 100% one of the world’s Premier Sauvignon Blanc producers.

So as we’re talking wine, I think France rule the world and therefore they win this battle by default, but if we’re talking Rugby I think New Zealand are going to tear the French apart and celebrate being the World Champions in their own back yard. I’m just glad the final wasn’t Namibia V Scotland!