What Does a Winemaker Drink at Home?

Now that vintage has come to an end, we had the chance to chat with Winemaker Matt Wenk and ask him what he likes to drink at home  - it turns out it is a curious question that he's been asked once or twice before.

To kick off, I jumped straight in and asked when he's at home does he ever drink his own wine? As always Matt was generous with his time and answer.

"This is a question I am often asked at the Cellar door, or at nearly any social situation I can think of I am almost always asked these questions.  The next question I'm asked is ‘Do you ever get to enjoy wine – or is always work?’.

To start – sometimes I don’t drink wine at all! After a day of barrel trials, or tasting I’ll often have a cold beer or sparkling water – to cleanse the palate, refresh, hydrate and reset.

Then there are the nights I’ll bring home a trial blend to try with dinner, or dust off an old vintage to see how it is faring – testing closures, storage and generally how it is developing relative to my expectations of that vintage.

Equally, I love trying the efforts of someone else’s blood, sweat & tears. Both locally & internationally, I enjoy comparing vintages, varieties & styles and see how we compare.  Then there are the times we’ll open a special bottle whether it is a cheeky glass of fizz or something else we’ve collected along the way – it might be for a celebration or just because.

I’m also a fan of trying anything I can get that is a little different no matter where it is from or what variety it is. It’s important to me to understand what is happening and not to restrict my frame of reference to what I make,  and like to drink.

And to answer ‘is it always work?’ Absolutely not! How can drinking something delicious with good food and good friends be work? As the saying goes - If you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life!’."