If the universe and everything in it strives toward chaos, then I’m certain the bunch of individuals mentioned below would be pushing that equation pretty quickly in one direction. I’m just not entirely sure which one. But that is the thing about ‘life’; it resists both being pushed into a box, and yet also strives for order. Perfect chaos.
Wine is able to display tangible differences despite the fact that two bottles are from the same vines, planted only 500 metres apart. They are individual and as far from homogenous as is practically possible. Yet on less abstract level, chardonnay tastes like chardonnay, and gewürztraminer tastes like gewürztraminer.
Some things in this universe are a given; the sun rises in the east and uni students drink to get drunk. If chaos exists within that particularly prevalent culture, then surely there are counter cultures that turn everything on its head and stand as the exception to the rule. Is it possible to find a positive drinking culture that exists within an average tertiary institution in New Zealand? Luckily Auckland University is not your ‘average’ (read ‘Otago’) university.
Sitting in a quiet Biology common room, a group of fourteen face each other. In their midst are two smallish tables pushed together, providing—barely—the space for fourteen wine glasses that are interspersed with a copious amount of cheese, and a loaf of Vienna sourdough. Seems there’s not just one thing these people are passionate about.
Carefully brown bagged and laid in a line are seven bottles of wine. Master of ceremonies, Rebecca, sits close at hand, and after pouring the first wine, holds an expression both wry and suitably aloof as she fields lines of questioning about what is being diligently swirled in each glass. Some are correct, and some bizarre. No Californian wines this evening then. Or Australian.
She has selected seven bottles of gewürztraminer that are likely to fool the ingrained beliefs amongst the more wine literate members of this the gathering, and this proves to be the case by the end of the evening.
Not all French producers hate screwcaps. Not all NZ wineries have done away with cork. Some surprises too. The ‘non-wine drinker’ amongst us found that anything over $40 was perfectly drinkable. Actually, that’s not a surprise at all. Wines over $40 are generally drinkable, if you can’t appreciate them, then that ain’t the wine’s fault, knowwhatimean? Expectations were met and even exceeded by most wines. Some clear preferences came through: NZ wines do very well overall.
It was a very strong tasting field, with only one wine leaving me disappointed. The undisputed ‘wine of the night’ was the Vinoptima 2004. Crafted by Nick Nobilo, who has dedicated himself to producing the world’s best gewürztraminer. Funny that. His vineyard in Gisborne’s Ormond Road produces two wines: a gewürztraminer, and a late harvest (sweet) gewürztraminer. Serious business.
The evening really was a subset of sets. Students that enjoy the more esoteric aspects of alcohol and scientists that enjoy debating the highly personalised and subjective aspects to what they are studying. This really is most irregular and yet perfect. Chaotic, even.
