Wine and Words

Bud break in a Belgian vineyard. Photo by Dirk de Kegel, August 2015.

And so it begins… the Wine & Words blog is live.

Eagles’ Nest vineyards, Constantia, South Africa. February 2016.

Since I started Wine & Words about a year ago, life has been an absolute rollercoaster. Intense, exhilarating, full of surprises, adventures and experiences. From an impromptu 4×4 trip through rock-strewn vineyards in South Africa, to sharing lunch with an extraordinary Belgo-Hispanic winemaking couple in South-East Spain. From a summer road trip that took us to the Jura, Piemonte, Tuscany, Switzerland and Alsace, to venturing out on a lonely night during a business trip in Tokyo and discovering a great authentic restaurant, where we didn’t have a single language in common, but which served exquisite shabu-shabu – with chilled red wine. And last but not least, sharing wonderful food and wines with so many new-friends-that-feel-like-old-friends from all over the world, in places like Vancouver, Lille, Leiden, Western Cape, Pinerolo, New Delhi and in my home town Ghent – all of whom I met thanks to my wine reviews on Vivino.

It has been worth every minute, and now the time has come to start sharing those stories, which is what I love to do most. In food & wine, wine travel, writing and teaching, everything I’ve been doing in my 40-plus years on this earth converges:

Our urban garden in June. Carefully guarded by Cleo, a.k.a. ‘The Regal One’.

• the bountiful vegetable garden at the house I grew up in;
• my grandmother’s old-style Flemish home cooking;
• being an avid reader (and writer) from an early age;
• my studies in English and German linguistics and literature;
• living abroad as an exchange student;
• my first job in a book store;
• 2 years of evening classes in herbalism;
• planting a garden of my own;
• meeting Mr. K, who shares my love for great food, wine and figuring out how the world works;
• 20 years of working in higher education as a lecturer and international relations officer;

Tasting classes at the Université du Vin in Suze-la-Rousse, Southern Rhône, France. Photo by P. Vercauteren, July 2015.

• blogging for a few years at The Woman Condition;
• an attempt at writing an urban fantasy novel, which taught me I like writing non-fiction more;
• taking formal wine education in Belgium, France and the globally standardised WSET system;
• writing almost 2000 wine reviews over the last few years;
• and last but not least: all the travelling I do for my job and in my spare time.

All that is where this blog finds its roots – as does the book on wine aromas and the role of herbs & spices in food & wine pairing that’s in the making.
I hope you enjoy reading my scribbles as much as I do writing them, and I’d love to hear from you in the comments!