You may already be readers/fans of Jose's blog who writes regularly on this website.  Jose is a family friend and former business partner of my dad, both recently retired. Jose's updates very entertaining - he leads the lifestyle I hope I will be able to lead one day - with time and finances to enjoy plenty of wine, holidays, theatre, sport and good food.

I work full time, have a (lovely) two year old son called William, a very pregnant wife called Anna who runs her own recruitment business and is due to give birth to our second child at the end of June. Together we live in Chorleywood with our 4 cats (don't ask!), so we have neither lots of spare cash and even less time on our hands.

My 'blog angle' and stage in life is very different to Jose's and I hope will give a different view but still entertaining view on the whole wine experience.I am very much on the cusp of my wine tasting journey!

A bit of more background - I have been drinking wine since my late 20s (in my mid 30s now) and I have tasted wine at vineyards in Bordeaux, Bergerac, Chianti, Paso Robles and even in the Borossa Valley in South Australia.  Whilst I can tell the varying degrees of quality and very clear on what I like, my attitude has always been somewhat cynical of people who claim to taste exotic fruits and smell such aromas as tobacco and leather in wine.  

I recently went on a free wine tasting evening at my local Majestic in Amersham which changed my view of this. The wine tasting evening was great by the way and I was amazed by the knowledge and enthusiasm of the Majestic staff. You could tell they are not only doing a job, they are truly passionate about wine and this really flows through. Anyway I digress, I realised with some careful guidance I can pick out the particular flavour and aromas these wine experts refer to - that fruity/oaky taste you get in a lot of New World Chardonnays can quite legitimately be described a tropic fruits and melon, that unmistakable zesty fruity taste you get with Sauvignon Blancs, particularly those you get from New Zealand, can definitely be described as herbaceous and gooseberry like. The tingling on the side of your tongue you get with some wines is the acidity and the slight numbness on the gums in some reds is the tannins. It was all starting to fall into place!

Unfortunately the lesson was only two hours long and the amount that could be fitted in was limited. Since I was not driving the amount I could remember after six or seven glasses was also quite limited. I did remember enough to realise this was just a little inkling of what there is to know about wine.

It is my birthday next week and for my birthday my wife has agreed to buy we a six week wine tasting course at the London Wine Academy. I think this is a good place to start my journey with you.

In terms of what I'm drinking now Vina Pomal is ever present in my wine rack. The 2003 was good, the 2005 in my opinion is even better, a ruby red Rioja, very smooth juicy black fruit. You can taste the oak and that it is unmistakably a Rioja but it is quite subtle. One of the guys in Majestic told me that this was going for 20 Euros a bottle in Spain but the vineyard owner (Codorniu) want to break in the UK market (the 2nd biggest Rioja market in the world apparently) so they're allowing it to go cheap in the UK to get a foothold (one of the buyers told him this). If this is true or not I don't know, however when you taste the quality of the wine you can believe it. The price has crept up over the last few months - it was £6.99 for two, now you're looking at £8.99 maybe we're heading toward the 20 Euros prices tag - I hope not!

For my son's second birthday I got some wine in bulk at around a £5 for my guests (cheapskate I know). The children had sandwiches fruit, birthday cake and a bouncey castle, whilst the adults had my home made beefburgers, and the following wines I purchased:

Domaine Tranquillité 2005 how this is selling for £4.99 I don't know - rich but fruity with soft summer berries. The fruitiness belies the age, the soft delicate tannins however show that this wine has aged to reach perfection.

Clos d'Yvigne Bel Ami Rosé 2008 Bergerac - I really pushed the boat out with this one £7.99. A great summer garden drink, take chilled on a picnic or as I did have a barbecue. Fresh, fruity, dry with raspberries.

Fairfield Hills 2009 - again £4.99 if you buy two. If I do go for a Marlbrough Sauvignon Blanc it generally has to be Jackson Estate however £10.99 a bottle for JE is a bit much to stretch to for my guests (sorry guests). This stuff is great for the price, typically fruity NZ Sauvignon Blanc - gooseberry laden and herbaceous.