2016 in review
By: Fintan Kerr
Tags: Wine, Travel, Life, Life Lessons, Wine Industry

Well, 2016 has been quite a year! You may have noticed that I haven’t posted a great deal in December this year and that’s because I’ve been busy planning an exciting, packed 2017 but I did want to take the time to round up the year, and highlight some of the great things I’ve experienced. Whilst the Western world has been somewhat turbulent politically and economically this year, the wine industry has remained steady, sane and really very interesting, with lots of new discoveries, classifications and new wine styles emerging throughout the year. My own experience of 2016 has been on the whole pretty positive, only marred by the aforementioned global issues and I have an awful lot to be thankful for. Here are some of my personal highlights from the year past.

Maestrazgo Wine Club: At the beginning of 2016 whilst on holiday in Argentina, I had to give up a project I’d been working on for almost a year and start from scratch with the goal of building a group of winelovers living in Barcelona. I remember building the group on Meet-up.com, opening a tasting for the week after I arrived back and crossing my fingers. I needn’t have worried because it booked up within the day, and I opened a second one which also filled up remarkably quickly. Since then we’ve done 35 tastings over the year, with a different topic every single week, exploring the world of wine with a wonderful group of people. It remains the highlight of my week and I consider myself incredibly lucky to have such an active, interesting group of people attending my tastings. 2017 is set to continue in the same vein with some new events and ideas planned for the year ahead. Stay tuned!

Wine education: If you’d told me 18 months ago that I’d currently be halfway through my WSET Diploma with Distinction and Merit grades for all exams I’d have laughed at you, as at that point I was just getting started with my education and this looked like a distant dream. It’s been pretty tough going financially travelling to London and back on top of the course costs but I couldn’t have spent the money any better; my understanding of the world of wine has come on leaps and bounds over the past year, largely due to the excellent teaching of the WSET and the format of the course. 2017 will see the end of the WSET Diploma and an opportunity to regather and prepare myself for the arduous, 3–5 year battle for the Masters of Wine title. I couldn’t be more excited!

Wine Cuentista: This year I’ve had the pleasure of organising several exclusive, private tastings for both people living within Barcelona and also those visiting. The private tastings are flexible allowing people to choose their topics very specifically and I’ve had a great time organising tastings from a general coverage of Spain, to deep-diving into individual appellations and wine styles. I’ve also enjoyed starting my blog and generally rambling away over the course of the year and whilst Spain might be the worst place to be self-employed in Europe at the moment, the reward of being able to define your own professional philosophy and goals is well worth the effort. I intend to devote a lot more time to my blog in 2017 and Wine Cuentista will also be coming to Youtube to explore wine more visually. Exciting stuff.

Devour Spain: 2016 has seen me working alongside Devour Spain a great deal, an excellent company focusing on food, culture, wine and history tours around the major cities of Spain. I work with them specifically as part of their Wine and Tapas tour in Barcelona, a great experience that allows me to meet people from all over the world and introduce them to the wonders of Spanish wine. There’s something enormously gratifying about knowing that hundreds of people are going back to their home countries, going into wine shops and having conversations like “We had the most amazing wine in Barcelona, do you have it?”

New Years Resolution: The first time I’ve ever completed one! My resolution this year was to share 50 different bottles of wine with 50 different people and I managed to honour it and have a great deal of fun in the process. Unfortunately in 2017 I won’t be able to afford a resolution quite like it (The bill crept a little over 4000 euros in the end!) but I fully intend to take the time to sit down and share a bottle as often as I can, get to know someone or catch up with an old friend. My New Years Resolution will be dreadfully boring by comparison and will be focused on wine education but now that I’ve managed to finish one, it would be a shame not to make a habit of it.

New friends: It seems that this year I’ve met more incredible people than ever before, from all across the world and in a few different fields. From getting to know the French wine industry through Le Petit Ballon, to being visited by winelovers from around the world to share a bottle or two, to getting to know the local community of Barcelona and of course, meeting incredible professionals through my Diploma course, it’s been a very social year indeed! Wine famously brings people closer together and my 2016 has certainly been proof of that.

Old friends: None of it would of course be worth it without the support, friendship and love from my friends and family. I’m surrounded by a lot of people that I care about and who care about me, and that makes all the difference in the end. In 2017 I’m going to become a father for the first time, which will bring a whole new dimension to proceedings and life in general, and I couldn’t be happier. Regardless of what 2017 brings, I know I’ll be able to spend some time with the people that mean the most to me and that’s a very comforting thought.

I hope you’ve all had a similarly interesting and exciting 2016, and I wish you all a wonderful start to 2017! It’s going to be a great year and I’m looking forward to seeing you all for a glass of wine or two over the coming months.

Happy New Year!

Fintan

For more ramblings about the world of wine, come say hello at winecuentista.com!