By The Glass: Tony Love on wine writing, Midnight Oil and the bottles in his bin

Tasting hundreds of wines a week might sound like a dream job to many, but for Tony Love, that’s just the daily grind in his work as a wine judge and writer for News Corp Australia.

“It’s a weird job to do,” says Love of his work as a full-time wine writer. “I have a lot wine in front of me a lot of the time. I probably open and taste and spit about a hundred [wines] a week in terms of my work.”

Love explains that sometimes his daily wine duties sometimes start at 8:30am, be it tasting wines to feature in a story, or as part of his duty as a wine competition judge.

“Quite often you start judging at 8:30 in the morning or nine o’clock and you might have 80 shiraz in front of you,” he says. “That’s a pretty awesome, daunting exercise.”

When it comes to tasting wine at work,  Love either pinches the best spot in the building to enjoy a view of the city as he tastes, but if that’s taken, he lands in a room no bigger than an office stationery cupboard.

“Everybody on the floor where it’s at looks at me suspiciously as I walk by with clinking glasses and bottles and things.”

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Theme music courtesy of Max Savage
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Recorded live at Mache