The Wine Studio Essentials

All those things that make our life much easier and more pleasant allow us to be up to date and build judicious opinions. Delicious Wines. Wineskins to be filled with earth and wine… Magazines, journalists… Keep reading!

Let’s start with the two wines and the spirit we liked the most during The Wine Studio courses. The three of them were classified as "excellent". Unanimously!

10. "Leah" 2010. Seresin Cellars

We love this wine. No further explanation. We should all have a bottle of Pinot Noir like this at home. Or even better… 2 or 3 cases! Silky, with refreshing acidity, intense and spicy, with aromas of raspberries and earth, complex, long…

Seresin (www.seresin.co.nz) is a wonderful winery in Marlborough, New Zealand, directed by Colin Ross, a convinced defender of biodynamics, who has turned Seresin into a model of this philosophy.

You’ll find it in Lavinia. And if you can go to Majadahonda and have Mª Helena assist you, you will enjoy it even more!!

9. "Case Veccie" Amarone della Valpolicella 2007. Azienda Agricola Brigaldara

An Amarone pulled out of Miguel’s treasure chest (Enoteca Barolo). We love his dedication to the classical style of Amarone. The grapes were left to dry at low temperatures for months, in order to retain the complex character developed during the "apassimento" process. The result… Delicious! A full-bodied wine that hasn’t lost its freshness, with intense aromas of coffee, chocolate, sweet spices, and ripe cherries… Long, dense, smooth on the palate… Don't miss the chance to try it!

One last piece of advice: enjoy it best in cold weather, not before the leaves fall. Its 17.5% abv doesn’t pair well with “gazpacho” (Spanish cold vegetable soup) or “pescaíto frito” (fried fish).

8. No.3 London Dry Gin

A gin for classic cocktails (think The Queen Mother’s Gin & Tonic)... or the Dry Martini of Mr. Bond ("stirred, not shaken"). Produced by the legendary Berry Bros & Rudd with the traditional botanicals: juniper, cardamom, coriander, orange peel, grapefruit, and angelica root. Its long and intense flavors balance the perfectly integrated alcohol. A delight that one could use as a fragrance!

7. Berry Bros & Rudd

If I mix the purest British style (tweed suits, walking canes, gentlemen, classicism…) with the best wines in the world, the result is this shop located at no.3 St. James Street (sounds familiar?).  Stop by there the next time you're in London. You'll be visiting a piece of history. www.bbr.com

6. "Blunnies” or "cellar boots"

It is difficult to find an Australian or New Zealander winemaker who doesn’t wear their Blunnies. Stylish yet durable with their steel toe caps, they’re suitable for the vineyard and the winery.  It’s not surprising that more and more Europeans and Americans carry them in the luggage… and they even make them for kids! www.blundstone.com.

5. Andrew Jefford on Monday

If I were a journalist, I would want to be Andrew Jefford. He has been writing for Decanter for 20 years and has received some of the most important prizes for writers in the wine industry. He recently returned from a 15-month stay in Australia, where he conducted a research project at the University of Adelaide, sharing with readers from around the world his search for (and discovery of) terroir in Australia. He has a unique Anglo-Saxon gift to perfectly explain things with writing that is both accessible and impeccable. If there is something you need to read each week, it is his column at www.decanter.com.

4. TONG

Essential if you love studying wine and are interested in the latest news on the effects of champagne autolysis, co-fermentation, the future of Alsace, the cause of the redux phenomenon in the Burgundy whites, the situation in Chile, or the mistakes and achievements of the Spanish wine industry. If you want to read all the intimacies of wine around the world every three months, this is your publication. Published in Belgium by Filip Verheyden, and with the collaboration of Fiona Morrison MW (Chateau Le Pin). Each number is monographic and articles are written by real experts on each topic. You can leaf through it at www.tongmagazine.com. And… "The Wine Studio" students are eligible for a discounted subscription!

3. UNIÓN ESPAÑOLA DE CATADORES

Thanks to the UEC, hundreds of people are regularly educated about wine in Madrid, and at an affordable price. The UEC has provided Spaniards with access to wines from all over the world since 1985. Just days after announcing their tastings, spots are almost immediately filled… There must be a reason for it! 

2. WineBird

Also known as Helena Nicklin. Londoner, trained at the WSET, and hilarious. She has coined the term "Vinalogy" to teach us how to study the different grape varieties. Do you want to know why Pinot Noir is the Audrey Hepburn of grapes? Or why Riesling is Claudia Schiffer? Do you know who is the polo player? Or the rugby player? Or the transvestite? www.winebird.co.uk (winebird tv)

1. WSET

It could not have been otherwise! I owe the WSET a big part of my training. This is the most structured, complete and attractive way I know to be trained in the wine world. And as many of you say… It’s addictive! It starts with an innocent Level 1, and one day you end up buried underneath books while preparing for the Diploma. Where can you get started?  The Wine Studio of course! www.thewinestudio.es