Here to teach you about wine without the wank
Photography courtesy of Newy Digital
Now I love drinking wine, like most of you I’m sure, but to tell you the truth I don’t know that much about it, and most of the time I can’t articulate why I love or hate a particular wine. Is it the providence, the tannins, the harvest, or variety? Or a whole lot of mumbo jumbo.
Meet Mitchell Unger, The Wine Munger he’s here to teach you about wine without the wank (his words not mine). Hailing from Morpeth, this Hunter Valley local is a self-described Cellar Door Whore who has...
“been around… I've poured a shit load of wine! And have done so right across the country. I’ve worked in the vineyard and I’ve dragged hoses around the winery. I guess the professional term is experienced,” Mitchell shared.
The Wine Munger hosts events that offer a light-hearted approach to wine tasting, for those of us who want to be entertained, not bored by technical wine jargon. A usual tasting includes eight wines; a sparkling, three whites, a rose, and three reds, with some cheese and crackers with a preference for Hunter Valley fruit and producers.
“I will show people how I taste wine, talk about the purpose of the dent in the bottom of the bottle and share with people the reason why I want to share the wines with them.
“It’s usually because of the people who make the wine I really like or I really like the wine. The philosophy I work off is Wine is too important to be taken seriously.”
“I'm sure you have been to wine tastings and the old fuddy-duddy behind the bar is telling you about the tannins and the weather when they picked the fruit and the barrels and all this other boring stuff.
“I make it more fun and interactive and only offer up the interesting stuff like how hip hop and pop culture has made Rose more popular, or how Paul Giovanni distorted the sales of Merlot.”
Where can you catch the Wine Munger? He does private functions and events (check his website and Instagram for dates), as well as monthly tastings at The Bank Hotel, East Maitland on the third Thursday of the month.
Cheers to that!
