How did you come to love wine?
I was a late starter into the wine world. I went to the UK on the classic antipodean overseas experience and worked with wine in restaurants where we tasted regularly. I then took a leap and completed a Diploma in Winemaking & Viticulture in Gisborne, New Zealand. It was a very hands-on course with a commercial winery and as soon as I stepped into the winery and handled the grapes, I knew I had found my calling.
A wine that changed your life?
One of the last wines I had with my father before he passed away was a Château Gloria from Saint-Julien, brought back from Bordeaux. I will always remember it fondly.
Best industry experience?
The Len Evans Tutorial is at the top of that list. It involves tasting some of the great wines of the world over a week, with the aim of increasing the education of wine judges.
What does balance mean to you?
From a wine perspective, it’s how the fruit, acid, tannin all works together. If there’s oak, does it sit with the fruit or is it saturating?
Talk us through your tasting process.
Well, professionally or show judging, I’m swirling and checking the colour, brightness, and clarity, sometimes depth of hue (natural light is the best) and then sniffing for aromas before tasting the wine and spitting out. We are not actually swallowing wine when we judge, as we are often tasting 100 to 200 wines a day. I have often been caught out swirling water subconsciously.
Any wine myths you’d like to bust?
That a spoon in a bottle of sparkling retains bubbles is a no. Get a sparkling stopper. And drips that cling to the side of the glass, described as legs, aren’t a sign of quality.
Your best vintages in recent years?
For Devil’s Corner (on Tasmania’s East Coast) 2019 was a real highlight, followed by 2021. Tamar Ridge and Pirie (from the Tamar Valley) produced some cracking wines – especially chardonnay – in 2022.
See more from Tom Wallace at devilscorner.com.au
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