Learn About Wine

There is a myriad of resources that can help you learn about varietal wine. Why not start by exploring this site? The Nav Bar (that's Geekspeek for Navigation Bar) at the left will ensure you won't get lost! For example you might like to check out the article on blended and varietal wines

To get you started on your journey to learn about wine we will discuss online resources including the Vinodiversity Newsletter, the Vinodiversity Blog, wine merchants newsletters, winery newsletters, wine magazine newsletters and online wine discussions groups. There are also some suggestions for printed material including wine magazines, and books including encyclopedia, guide books, travel narratives, historical works etc.

The Vinodiversity Newsletter is out now! You will learn about new releases of diverse wine, wine events of note, feature articles on particular wineries or varieties, feedback from subscribers and plenty more. The annual subscription cost will be absolutely FREE! No strings attached, just subscribe online. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose.

For those who want news now, immediately, pronto or even sooner should have a look at the Vinodiversity blog. This is an almost daily update of snippets of interest about diverse wine matters gleaned from the web. Again totally FREE!. No need to sign up. Just go the site and start reading! You are welcome to make suggestions on any of the items. A minor request: Please bookmark the Vinodiversity blog site so you can find your way back again. (I know you have already bookmarked this site!) Vinodiversity Blog has some advertising interspersed among the articles which may be of interest. It will be clearly marked as such. Even if you don't want to buy, it is good to know what is for sale.

A few web resources to help you learn about wine

Nat Decants FREE Newsletter: Wine picks, articles and humor from Natalie MacLean, recently named the World's Best Drink Writer at the World Food Media Awards in Australia. There are no ads and all e-mail addresses are kept confidential. To sign up, visit www.nataliemaclean.com.

Wine merchants often put out newsletters as an promotional medium. They can vary from being little more than a catalogue of merchandise for sale to a respectable source of information in their own right. The Australian Wine Centre is a good example of a merchant with a very informative newsletter. You can learn about new releases and discover wine varieties and styles that you never knew existed. Some merchants even offer incentives just to join their list.

Another great online source of information is the Albzin Wine and Food Pairing Project.

Many wineries also have interesting online newsletters. These are often less frequent than those of merchants and are more designed to keep the winery in contact with its clients.

Online discussion groups are an excellent way to learn about wine.

Mustlovewine is a new resource which act as a social network as well as a forum. It is US based but has a growing list of Aussies participating. You can join the Australian wine group there, or as many of the other regional or topically themed groups.

There is a fairly active group called ozwine- Australian wine hosted by Yahoo! The group includes quite a few non-Aussies. it is free to join ozwine. Another good forum is on the Auswine site.

Major wine magazines often have free online newsletters which promote the hard copy of their publication. There are plenty of glossy wine magazines to which you can subscribe. It's cheaper to get an annual subscription, and it is often even cheaper to subscribe over the internet to get discounts. Aussie readers should visit iSubscribe to check out the latest deals.

There is nothing like having a good book on your favourite hobby. You can dip into it at leisure, even when the kids are using the computer. There are lots of books available from wine encyclopedias, and atlases to national guides and historical works. Check out a few recommendations here.

A good place to start is James Halliday's Wine Companion. James Halliday is one of Australia's most respected wine writers. The 2008 edition is out now. Check out the details of the book, and where you can get your copy.

Do you have a favourite resource which could help others to learn about wine? Contact me and share your knowledge.

A final reminder, the Vinodiversity newsletter is free. You will be able to keep up to date with all of the alternative varietal wine news.