Grad school, genetics, and tasting

I know. I know. its been a while. But while I could be writing blogs about all the fun things i'm out doing, I'm actually out doing them. Sorry. So first things first. I took a tour of the Masters in Oenology (winemkaing) program at University of Adelaide on monday. To explain why I took the visit and will be applying to the University of Adelaide masters in Oenology program I will rehash a conversation i've had with multiple winemkers.
me: "mr/mrs winemaker, do I need to get a winemaking degree"
winemaker: "you mean you dont have a winemaking degree, what is your base degree in"
me: "molecular, cell, and developmental biology."
w: " that should be more than good enough"
me: " well given my application and three applications with winemaking degrees and exactly the same experience, would you even consider me as a candidate."
w: "probably not"
me: "that is my answer, thank you very much"
hence why I am going to apply. Other reasons for applying other than the end all be all american dream "so I can get a good job" is that I think that to be the winemaker I want to be I need to go get some formal education in wine. Do I have some sensory skills, yes. are they getting better by the day, yes. but until I put all the peices together with a formal education, there will always be simple gaps in my education. Why might you ask am I not as interested in the two programs in California, I will explain. Uc Davis masters in enology is a very theory and research based program, and other than the fact that I cant get in there without taking lots of undergraduate classes in winemaking, I'm not sure that it would be the right program for me to be the best winemaker I can. The CSU fresno program, while getting much better, is very production based. yes the theory classes would help, but much as with most of the CSU system, it is very hands on learning. At this point I might as well make money while working in a winery than pay to work in a winery.  The program at Adelaide is a nice inbetween of the other two, being both production/lab based in the winery and theory reserch based in the lecture. Another perk is that one the same campus is the AWRI, or the Australian Wine Research Institute, arguable the best Wine research institute in the world, lots and lots of winemaking information at your fingertips. Oh.... and this is the fall sunset view from the campus looking over the City of Adelaide.  And what a pretty sunset  it was. 

sunset from the AWRI

In other news, Kangaroo Tacos are not as good as they are novel, with the best taco meat still remaining black bear (thats going to be a tough one to beat) It was decided by the other amuricans and I that we would make Roo tacos and tequila for cinco de mayo. Some of the buzz words for cinco de mayo include: roo tacos, tequila, singing on the roof, party crashing, dance battle winning, new friends, tearing through the vineyards in a Gator (not driving). There are a few more buzzwords to describe cinco de mayo that are not internet worthy. dont worry parents, everything was in good taste and in a psudo responsible manner. It was up there as far as cinco de mayo's go. 
             Work has been fine, it consists of moving wine from tank to tank of different sizes. blending, breaking down, putting wine into oak, taking wine out of oak, cleaning tanks, cleaning more tanks, cleaning more tanks. "45% moving shit, 45% cleaning shit, and 10% drinking beer". I've been doing 90% of the work described. One of the cool things we have been doing are benchmark tastings. We (some of the employees) will taste 10-14 different wines from different wineries but in the same style and at roughly the same pricepoint. The goal of this is to see how our wine stacks up versus other wines in the same price bracket. This is one of the best things for me to do, because it gives me a chance to A. taste the wines, B.write down my thoughts on the wine (nose, taste, color, lenght, acid, finish) Anc C. get to explain my thoughts along with some of the other cellar staff and winemakers. I am pleased to say that I am for the most part inline with the winemakers on the tastes, aside from a few outliers of course. Again, something else that a little schooling will help me with. Something else that is cool about the masters program is that there is a chance to sit on the panel for wine judging competitions. that would be cool.   Last Friday I went to a Burgundy wine tasting at Whister Wines put on by a friend. Bring a Burgudny, get to taste the rest. I know very little about specific french wine regions, so a tasting like this is good experience to taste the differences between some of the burgundian regions.

burgundy tasting at Whistler Wines.

I do only have 8 days left of work here in australia, and only 12 days left in the barossa valley, Until next year most likely. Assuming that I get into the masters program I will most likely be coming back to work at St. Hallett for vintage (they already said yes)  If my tennative plan works out to be my actual plan I will be In australia from January 2013 till september/october 2015. That is crazy to think about. But again, all specualtive however I am motivated to make it my actual plan, and if you know me, it'll probably happen.
I have to give some acknowlegement and thanks to my parents in regards to my genetics. Due to recent diet experiments I have determied that I am somewhat Gluten intolerent. Not that I cant eat it, its just much more comfortable not to. Bummer because I like beer, and bread, and pasta, and gluten filled foods. looks like my homebrew career may be very limited, and potentially up for sale. Speaking quickly of beer, Heaps Good Beer is great, at least so I've herd scince trying to avoid drinking beer, but I do have access to some fun lab equipemnt, like this piece of lab equipemnt called an Alcolyzer, which determins the alcohol percentage of beverages. If you look in the small sample jar, you can see the color of the beer, if you look at the screen of the sweet peice of lab machinery, it says 8.17. That is the Alcohol of our beer, A little higher than we targeted, and not really any cooler accpet that it is fun to use lab equiment. I do owe a lab tech some food for use of the apparati though, I bet she will take beer.  Last things last. my travel plans.
June 4th: leave the Barossa Valley and fly to Hobart Tasmania.
June 5th: pick up our wicked camper van (the company is called wicked camper, check it out online)
June 5th-June 13th: travel tasmania, wine taste when the weather is bad, hike and sitesee when the weather is good.
June 13-16th: Brisbane to visit brisbane staying with Dads Friend Andy
June 16th-23rd: Byron Bay, for surfing and sunshine. any contacts there would be helpful
June 24th-30th: after taking the overnight train from byron bay to sydney, I will be hanging out in Sydney with the awsome Alanna Pentz in sydney, probably play tourist and do more beach going.
June 30th: Back Stateside for mexican food, bicycle riding to the beach, and family and friends.
If any of you have any recomendations of things to do in those places they will be appreciated. although i'm sure i'll find many things to do. That is all for now.