The Royal Melbourne Wine Show 2011 – Two Heads Are Better Than One

I once stumbled across a collection of words followed by a gorgeous photograph in a magazine that I used to find quite witty, but which has now fallen to that infuriating level of try-hard.

Hence, I subscribe to it no longer.

I may or may not have written them a letter reading,

Dear off-the-pulse editor of the magazine,

Farewell. You no longer fulfil me.

Signed,

Krystina 

The point is however, that I believed in the motivational strength of these words so much that I applied it as somewhat of a philosophy for myself to work on in the year 2011 and beyond.

“Get out there. Share your ideas. Find your kinships. Start something new. Two heads are better than one.”

Edie Sedgewick and film director Ray Wisniewski in conversation at Andy Warhol

There have been a lot of instances thus far where I have put these words into action. The most recent saw it suited to the Royal Melbourne Wine Show that took place at the Showgrounds from October 16th to October 19th:

I ‘got out there’ by stewarding at the 2011 Royal Melbourne Wine Show.

I ‘shared my ideas’ by getting involved in Associate Judging where I could to develop and contribute opinions and listen to others.

I ‘found my kinships’ by meeting wonderful, new people in this lovingly incestuous wine community.

I jokingly ‘started something new’ with The ‘Natural Wine, Natural Hair‘ movement, with spokespersons including myself, Matt Harrop (Shadowfax Winery) and Matt Skinner (Wine Writer), pictured respectively.

On a more serious note, chairman David Bicknell started something new with the addition of classes such as “Single Vineyard” and “Mediterranean varieties/styles”, which were promising and an encouraging direction to take in an effort to gradually stretch the lycra on such a rigid system.

I admired the ‘two heads are better than one’ notion by admiring the collective work of the team and their skills at judging to narrow the field for identifying the best wines on show.

The days may have been long…

The blue lab coats may not have been aesthetically pleasing…

The ‘Wines of Imagination’ class may have actually lacked imagination…

The aftereffect of so much wine may have left us weary…

The dentist may not have approved of how black our teeth became after a Cabernet Sauvignon class…

But the satisfaction of seeing so many like-minded wine-loving folk debate the virtues or shortcomings of a glass of wine before them was truly wonderful to observe and be a part of.

Results of the Royal Agriculture Society of Victoria’s Wine Show will be released on Thursday.

Next up, I will be heading north-west for the Australian Alternative Varietal Wine Show taking place in ye ol’ Mildura at the start of November.

Yee haaaa!

Tags: Friendships, Judging, Philosophy, Random, RMWS, Royal Melbourne Wine Show 2011, Tasting, Teamwork, Wine, Wine Show