ABOUT

Je pense donc je suis. Je bois donc j'écris.

Hello, my name is Peter Malcolm and confess I am a wine tragic with a writing problem.

I am a freelance journalist who cut my teeth on wines primarily from Melbourne's dress circle of wine regions and later beyond these, earning an 'honorary degree' after many tours of duty ! 

Over the years I became less 'enthused' with the prosaic mainstream varieties on offer, delighting if there was something 'different' at cellar door tastings. It was usually a smaller or artisan producer in an out of the way nook with an underdog variety that piqued my interest and passion. That is when and where my sense of exploration began, relishing in bottlings of funky, eclectic, avant-garde varieties and blends. 

That interest, passion and sense of exploration continue to this day.

Now I seek out alternative, emerging or next generation varietal wines from the roads less travelled across the length and breadth of our 7,692 million square kilometre lucky country. Writing about and celebrating these wines has become a mild obsession of sorts with me with the aim that people become more aware of those less stomped paths. As a rule, I much prefer to support and champion small local growers and winemakers over the big, corporate ones.

Wine has that captivating and dynamic ability in an ever-changing urbanised, industrialised and technological world to keep us connected to the soil and to the seasons from which the grapes come. 

The blog will aim to focus upon grape variety history, geography, geology, climate change, winemakers' philosophies and winemaking techniques as they evolve over time.
Sure it's a big call, but it also reminds us that what we are experiencing in the bottle is not just the wine itself but a story and its representation of a time and place. 

I hope you enjoy reading the posts as much as I did in writing them. Cheers !