Insight

Introducing ... Regan Drew your local Tassie Gourmand!

G’day There,

My name is Regan Drew and if you're lucky enough to be part of the upcoming Tassie Gourmand tour, we'll get to know each other well, but if not, here's a little bit about me and Tassie.

I worked in bars, bottleshops, nightclubs and pubs for around 13 years in Tasmania from the mid 1990s. Then I landed a real day job in Sydney, but I could never shake the association with quality wine. I undertook Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Level 3 Award studies and passed with Distinction, have been an Associate Judge for the Citi New South Wine Awards in 2013, been a Steward/Assoc Judge for the Royal Sydney Wine Show. The academic side is fine, but I love the agricultural aspect and had a couple of stints helping out in the Hunter Valley during vintage with Andrew Thomas of Thomas Wines. After being exposed to all this good wine, I've contributed writing wine review content for Cracka Wines and Sunshine Coast based wine hub The Grapehunter. After starting my own blog, vinonotebook.com, I was invited to be the "Weekend Magazine" wine columnist for the APN ARM stable of newspapers, with a readership of over 500,000.

Hiding behind a mask. Wine varieties by another name.

Hiding behind a mask. Wine varieties by another name.

In show business, names are as interchangeable as romantic partners. Reginald Kenneth Dwight? Try Elton John. Chaim Witz? That's Gene Simmons. And Norma Jean Mortensen? Marilyn Monroe. Let's not even start talking about Prince.

Did you know in the world of wine names can be interchangeable too? It's usually geographical, but sometimes just to mess with you, there's more then a few Norma Jean's on the shelves of your local bottle shop or on a wine list, moonlighting as Ms Munroe.

Traditions... why keep them going?

Family traditions are something rife in my family... well thanks to ME! haha I believe there is much more to them than, putting up a real tree we've bought and CARRIED HOME, naming it a one syllable B name, having a non-functional train sitting beneath it.... it's the memories, the time together and the symbolism of 'that time of year'.

My brothers and sisters (all 4 of them..!) roll their eyes, laugh at me and pretend to hate them. Secretly, they love them as much as me!

So, what is a tradition?