In this submission to our 2024 wine writing competition, Elise Penney writes about the moment that set her on the path to pursuing a career in wine.
Elise Penney writes My name is Elise Penney, I am a 22-year-old Melbourne expat living in London. I grew up on a farm in the Macedon Rangers in Central Victoria. I moved here to study and work in wine. I work at a wine specialist store in Notting Hill and study at the WSET school in Bermondsey.
I graduated from Melbourne University last year with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. Wine and writing are two of my great loves. I am so excited to be pursuing my career in something that gives me so much joy and energy.
The Day Everything Changed and The Wine that I Splashed on the Future
It was a balmy Tuesday in early November of 2023. I was so close. So painstakingly close to pressing submit, and thereby finishing my university journey. I was sitting alone in my room, staring at blank pixels, willing them to turn into academic words that would unlock a freedom that was all too close. I knew what I had to do, how to get myself over the line. I put a ‘special occasion’ bottle of wine in the fridge that I wanted a light chill on, nothing too crazy. This meant I had about 20 minutes to get this done.
Propelled by my new deadline, I churned out the last triumphant conclusion to an essay I couldn’t tell you what was about and pressed that beautiful navy blue submit button gleaming on the right-hand corner of my screen. It was finished. I had done it. Three years of study at Melbourne University finished, in a somewhat unremarkable fashion, on a random Tuesday sitting cross legged on my bed. But my word was I proud of myself for getting over the finish line.
I went outside onto the deck with my bottle in hand. It was a 2022 Gamay from Farr Wines in Geelong. I’d picked it up from work a few weeks back, I’d been saving it for something grand, and I couldn’t think of a better excuse. Dusk was settling into the orange and pink Melbourne sky. The air was warm and the clouds heavy with the threat of hot rain. I uncorked and poured the wine, spilling a few drops over my hand and which I eagerly licked clean off my fingers. It was perfect.
The wine smelt of something I’d never had before, cured gamey meats and savoury fruits. It was foreign, scary, and a beautiful summation of where I found myself in that exact moment. It bloomed on the palate into crunchy red currant and earthy mushrooms. Something dank and almost chewy about it, like the big pile of leaves I used to run helter-skelter into as kid in autumn on the farm. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. And right in that moment, with ruby stained lips, I smiled into my wine glass with the knowledge that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Wine has always been a part of me. Ever since I was old enough to see over the table, I’ve been poured splashes of whatever Rutherglen reds my family were enjoying with dinner. I was raised on these big reds, but more importantly raised into the love and respect of the wine. I was shown tenderly how the wine should be drunk with the food, and how they hold hands in your belly. How good food, good wine, and good company are all one needs to be happy. My mum’s family are Mauritian, and they immigrated to Melbourne in the late 60’s. My Grandpére told me how back then, wine was considered a “immigrant drink”, or at least a big flashing arrow over your head that said ‘foreigner’. But slowly as the tide of Australian wine and drinking culture changed, so grew the love and appreciation for it. I am grateful to have been raised into Mauritian generosity. What one may call a ‘heavy-handed’ pour, my family sees as a show of love. I will always be grateful for this part of me.
I was lucky enough to study a few wine subject through my university course. The first of which was in 2020, deep into the Melbourne lockdowns. I was living by myself at the time and thought that 11am Zoom wine tastings sounded like a pretty good deal. What I never expected however, was to fall in love with the study. I became enthralled with the discipline, and for the first time in my life, felt a real thirst (see what I did there) to learn everything I possibly could about this amazing industry. I started working at a wine store in Brunswick East in 2023 and it was the first job that made me feel energised and excited. Getting to learn about different wines and regions and producers was all I wanted to do with my time. I was so genuinely excited to recommend wines to customers and talk about wine all day.
So, as I sat on my deck that Tuesday in October, I felt a clarity and conviction I didn’t know I could feel. Wine is everything I love, and I will do whatever it takes to do this for the rest of my life. Wine is surprising, challenging, and a beautiful marriage of nature and mankind’s greatest work. It is family, it is place, it is history. It’s my housemates and I having communal dinners every week in our creaky share house. It’s my Grandparents smiling at each other over the rims of their glasses. It’s generations of family, love, and history from the vine to the table.
And now, that wine is me, in a dodgy flat in London, anxiously awaiting my WSET results. Wine packed my life into a bag and moved across the world alone in pursuit of what I love. It’s wine that has me writing ‘Elise Penney MW’ in the margins of notebooks and on the backs of receipts. Wine is transformational. It makes you hopelessly aspirational. Wine is that perfect knowledge that you’ll never stop learning. And that to me is beautiful.
The photo, captioned 'Wine in late Melbourne Spring colours', is the author's own.