Dal Forno Romano Tasting with Bootleggers

Last night I attended a wine tasting in Eau de Vie Sydney, hosted by Bootleggers. I had received an invitation several weeks back and had been eagerly looking forward to the event.

Let me start with the venue first – it is a beautifully designed cocktail bar tucked away in the shadows with a speakeasy kind of feel. Before I became entrenched in wine I was actually a bit of a cocktail enthusiast, and would barhop all around Sydney trying to experience as many flavours and styles as possible. Even though many years have passed since that period in my life, Eau de Vie is a venue that will always have my respect.

The people who attended were a mix of media, industry and regular wine enthusiasts who had been fortunate enough to receive an invitation as well. The venue was cosy and conducive to socialising and conversation. Perhaps my only criticism is that, being a speakeasy-style bar, the lighting was a bit dim, so I could not fully and comprehensively break down all the wines tasted. However, as this was an event geared towards consumers and media rather than stuffy critics, this could be forgiven.

I had a pleasant chat with Benjamin Hasko, one of the founders of Bootleggers, who is also a sommelier and recently passed his Advanced Sommelier examination. I feel that he and I have similar yet different paths – while I left a wine company to become a sommelier, Ben went the opposite direction, taking time out of being a sommelier to establish his own venture with his father. Having experienced both sides of the industry I know that it’s not an easy task that he has undertaken, and that he could only go through with it by having a deep passion and knowledge for wine.

The time finally came to taste the Dal Forno Romano wines. The 2007 Valpolicella was exactly as I remembered it, an outstanding wine that deserves to be recognised as such.

The 2008 Amarone was even more so.

Dense. Long finish. A touch of fruit sweetness reminiscent of raisins. A deeply pleasurable experience.

It would have been nice to be able to take more detailed notes, but once again this was an event for enjoyment and socialising, not for dispassionate observation. As much as I like to write and share notes, wine tasting is ultimately a deeply personal experience, and no amount of reading of wine reviews and apps will be able to replace the real experience of tasting numerous wines to understand your own tastes and preferences.

I’d like to thank the staff at Eau de Vie for hosting and catering for this event. I think I can safely say that everyone present had an enjoyable and enlightening evening.

To those who are interested, Eau de Vie also has a cocktail book available for purchase here, which was originally funded through Kickstarter. (This is NOT an affiliate link and I get no commissions for suggesting this book – I simply recommend things that I enjoy).

Finally, a very big thank you to Bootleggers, who executed this night’s event flawlessly and opened up the palates of many people with their generosity by sharing with us such outstanding wines.

Read more: 5 Reasons To Have Wine On A Date