Hi I’m Antony Anderson from Wine Matchmaker but you can call me Tony and I’m passionate about teaching people Wine Confidence. I’m always amazed that people who will have an opinion on just about anything become very shy when asked about wine. I commonly hear people say “I don’t know anything about wine, I just know what I like” and lack confidence to express an opinion about what they are drinking.
So I have created a podcast series dedicated to educating people about wine so they can feel more confident in drinking, talking about and enjoying wine because education brings power and confidence. If you would like to listen to the podcast as well please click here.
I will try and keep each podcast “bite size” and under 10 minutes. I will make them as short as I can while still getting across the core message because I know your time is valuable…it will be concentrated goodness.
Most of them will cover wine at a basic level, perfect for beginners, but there will also be some at a more intermediate level for those that have some basic wine knowledge and want to take it to the next level.
There will be some sort of logical order to them and although I suggest starting with the “Introduction to Winemaking” first, feel free to dive into the podcasts at any point. The podcasts will reference each other and cover some common ground as the same topics often come up in different contexts. As I said the “Introduction to Winemaking” podcast is a good starting point as it covers most basics including terminology referenced in later podcasts.
So what sort of topics will I cover? Well other than “Introduction to Winemaking” I will also cover, amongst other things:
- A summary of the the different grape varieties;
- Pronunciation as it is difficult to order a wine if you can’t pronounce it;
- Common terminology which will be a good quick reference point if you don’t understand a term and want to get more information e.g. why do we call a wine “dry”;
- A detailed summary of each grape variety including wine and food pairings and some suggested producers I have been drinking;
- Wine regions and what to look for in each one;
- Food and wine pairing;
- Wine service and etiquette. How to serve wine to impress your friends and get the most out of wine;
- How to store your wine and build up a cellar;
- And many more topics.
I will also tackle the three big wine confidence topics.
The first is Bottle shop shock.
This is when you walk into a bottle shop and get so overwhelmed by all the wine choices that instead you grab something familiar, or a wine that has medals on it, or the most colourful label with an Australian animal on it, only to get it home and discover that perhaps it wasn’t the best choice.
The next one is Wine List Paralysis
This is when a waiter presents you with a sizeable wine list that would make Encyclopaedia Britannica proud with a range of prices up to the ridiculous, and you start sweating. Even worse the whole table is staring at you expecting the perfect bottle of wine to go with their meals, as the waiter stands there waiting for your order … but no pressure.
And the last one is Invite Paranoia
This when you are invited to a friend’s dinner party and need to bring a bottle of wine – a wine that many will silently judge you on, long after the evening has concluded, not to mention that wine snob who’ll swirl the wine around in their mouth and give you their ‘expert’ opinion in front of everyone.
I’m planning on getting the podcasts out on a regular basis and will also provide the transcript of each podcast in case you would prefer to read it or reference it later.
For more information pop over to our website Winematchmaker.com.au or go to the Facebook Page where I offer free wine advice. Also look out for our wine course on getting Wine Confident
I’m Antony Anderson the Wine Matchmaker, thanks for reading and in the meantime enjoy some good wine.