Australia Day Tastings 2009: My Big Day!

Today was the pay-off -- my reward for more than two years of writing a monthly wine column for the Central Oregonian. I was officially credentialled as "press" at the "Australia Day Tasting 2009: Winemaker's Choice" held at Emirates Stadium here in London in conjunction with Australia Day. The Stadium offices and meeting rooms make a decent venue for a wine-tasting, but the building is better known to Londoners as the home of the Arsenal football team (formed in 1886 by workers at the local arsenal armament factory). The wine-tasting included wines from more than 130 wineries, big and small. I had never been to a "trade and press" tasting before and although the basic idea is the same as those held for consumers (you choose the wines you're interested in, they pour and you swirl, sniff, taste and spit), it's a LOT better. First off, it's free. The consumer tasting last night for this same event was f25 (about $38). You are also treated better. There's free food, and if you set your glass down, a waiter will take it, but it will NOT be the end of your tasting. They'll give you a fresh one – as many times as you want! It's not as crowded, which means you have a real opportunity to interact with and ask questions of the pourer (who in some cases is the owner or winemaker). My fellow tasters were a rather sophisticated bunch. They knew to spit the wine with abandon, so I could do the same without feeling self concious. But because they were working, they weren't as "fun" a crowd as the consumers I've met at other tastings.