Wine: Words Of Wisdom
What's the most important thing I should know about wine?
The most important thing is the passion. That's what it is about. Remember, what you like is not necessarily the best. That's communist propaganda to me. There's a better and more sinuous like: "What you recognise and can say I like it because it is the best one." You don't say: "Well, I like this wine." No. When you say: "I tasted it and I like it because...," it's sort of like a relationship. This person is very special because he is wonderful and thoughtful or the whole. You have to have a reason. With wine treated like an individual - there's a reason you like it. Ask yourself every time you taste a wine; "Do you like it?" No, I want to know why I like it. Always ask yourself that question; "Why do I like this?" And if you don't like it, don't bother taking testing notes. I've got to taste it, I don't want to know about bad experiences in my life. I keep records. I go to taste it, I write down the name of the wine, I taste it, I don't like it - It's a bad date. I move on. I like it. It smiles at me. It shows it's teeth to me. This is what you want to do.
What makes wine exciting?
I have wines in here that are $20 that could stand up to a $200 bottle. Does that mean that $200 bottles don't have substance? Of course they do. But there is always something out there that offers that little character. There is cinnamon there. The nostrils flare for a moment. You smell that and you say "There is something different here.” There is something that if you can identify it - that is what you are looking for. And if you can share that, because wine is not like Coca-Cola, it is not like Vodka. If you can turn around and say "Do you smell the Cinnamon here?” Is this not exciting? I have a dog called Chester. He is a Cocker Spaniel. I go to him sometimes when no one else is there and I say "Chester, what do you think?" His eyes they bulge. We relate. We relate. It is exciting. Wine - you want to share. You don't want to just sip this stuff just for the experience. You want to share the experience. This is like being next to a great human being.
Is there a perfect wine?
When there are some wines out there that have gotten close to perfection, fortunately or unfortunately, most of them come from France. I think, one will find when they start off in one they start off liking very simple and then as they grow they want things that are more complex. As you get older you realize you want to go back to the thrall - simplify and make it as easy as possible. Simplify movie sideways. No one drinks Merlot but at the end they are sharing the great, which is Challot Blanc 61 Merlot.
What are your top three wines?
I've heard this question before, and it's sort of like, what's the oldest bottle of wine in your cellar. What is the thing that moves you the most? And I'm going to kind of say these are sort of like the blue butterflies of life. They kind of land and you want to capture them, and if you capture them you want to put a pin in the wings and show it as this trophy. And there's nothing worse than probably having that trophy. The quest is more important. But in thinking of that, here I am on that island, and it's only myself and Buddha. What would I really want to have there and be taken to the next stage? There is no question that Pinot Noir is a great varietal that's sickly, that can be a genius, and in the right... whatever. It's probably, at this point in time, Mio Camuse or Henri Jai'e who told me the stories of him wanting to be a pilot. He was a simple man that really discovered that if you get the purity, that is magic. Then when I think about what I have had as far as Alsacean wines, which no one really kind of understands. These are sweet wines, and we don't eat desserts anymore, and we don't have time to have conversations and sip on things that just kind of take us into this other world. I think a late harvest Exceptionale from Alsace, like Hugale Exceptionale, is just divine, absolutely divine, because it takes you somewhere that only the gods would get jealous of. And then on a totally frivolous type of a thing, I love champagne, because champagne defies all laws, and I wish I could defy all of the laws. Gravity says things have to go down, and champagne proves things can go up forever. And if you could count the bubbles, that would be magical. But when they kind of rise up in your mouth, and it kind of feels like you've been running and running and running, and you have all of this foam that just explodes in the mouth, and it's just sort of like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe. What is so wrong with champagne? Because every time you do that, the sound of cork is music better than any symphony. The occasion says, "You're special."
