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Ask an Expert - Steve Day - Biography
I'm not comfortable with the term ''expert'', especially with a subject like wine that is so varied and ever evolving that anyone described as an expert is setting himself or herself up for trouble. That said, wine is my chosen subject and it is a subject for which I have a passion. So it's time that I pinned my colours to the mast, perhaps dispelled a couple of myths, and let you know one or two of the important things that I have learned during my 16 years working in the wine trade.
Whether a wine is good or bad is NOT subjective! Whether an individual likes it or not is another matter. Too often people confuse "this tastes awful" with "I don't like this"! With sensible guidance (and lots of practice!) most people can develop their skills of wine analysis to a level where they can increase their awareness, appreciation and enjoyment of the full range of wines available to today's consumer. We all tend to be looking for the same thing: the best possible wine at the cheapest possible price.
Anything is only worth what someone will pay you for it - I have a bottle of 1939 Sweet White Rioja in my private cellar, made by the prestigious C.V.N.E, and re-corked in 1969. It came direct from their cellars and has been stored in perfect condition ever since. They haven't made this style of wine for a few decades and there certainly can't be many bottles still in existence. You might expect it to be valuable. As there is virtually no demand for sweet Rioja however, and the area doesn't hold a reputation for this style of wine, it's value on the market is next to nothing. To me however it is priceless!
As for buying expensive bottles I would say never spend £40 on a bottle of wine unless you are going to get £40 worth of enjoyment out of it! Some of you might think that £40 is a lot to pay for one bottle of wine, but then if you are going to spend days planning when to drink it, with what food, and with whom, culminating in an enjoyable evening drinking it shared with friends, then your £40 has gone a long way, and hopefully provided lots of enjoyment.
I'll climb down from my ''soap box'' for a moment and tell you a little bit about myself how I came to be involved in this wonderful business. Like most people in the wine trade I came into it through a love of wine, it wasn't my initial career path. I originally worked through my twenties as a professional trombone player, having the good fortune to be involved in the innovative jazz ensemble ''Loose Tubes''. Endless hours spent travelling throughout Europe on coaches meant that I had plenty of time for wine study (Saxophone players tend towards the sort of recreational narcotics that you set fire to; brass players seem to choose the sort that you drink!).
I took my Wine & Spirit Educational Trust Higher Certificate by post (yes, I know it sounds unlikely, and yet it's true) in the mid 80's, and took on a part-time job at my local Unwins Off-Licence to get a deeper insight into the wine business.
Marriage and a consequent move to Yorkshire saw me join the wine trade full time, with a small independent shipper in Leeds, where I learned valuable knowledge of all aspects of the job. Winters spent unloading lorries under a dark, damp, and often freezing converted railway arch (solely fortified by hot Bovril with a dash of Fino sherry to keep you warm) enabled me to put this often-romanticised trade into perspective.
I passed my W.S.E.T. Diploma in 1990 and was awarded the D.W.S. Spanish Scholarship. The resulting study trip began my continued love affair with the wine and food of the Iberian Peninsula.
A year and a half later I was recipient of a Bursary from the Vintners Company that enabled me to study vineyards in the Loire, Cognac, Bordeaux, Bergerac, Ribera del Duero, Rias Baixas, Vinho Verde, and Port regions.
An opportunity came my way in the mid 1990's to hop across the fence and work for an international shipper, agent, and wine producer selling to wine merchants throughout the U.K. As well as visiting and selling to just about every independent wine merchant in the country, this gave me the chance to learn from one of the most outspoken, incisive, decisive palates in the wine trade, Paul Boutinot. Although probably now best known to the public as the man responsible for a hugely successful Cotes du Ventoux red wine called ?Old Git? there is no other palate I have come across in the business that regularly tells the story so precisely as it is.
I'm not quite sure whether I am now ''poacher turned gamekeeper'', or the reverse. I joined John Stephenson & Sons as Wine Director in May 2001, having sold wine to them since the mid 1990?s.
My philosophy on wine is simple: you can find interest and satisfaction in all wines - some just give more enjoyment than others. When asked what my favourite wine is I usually respond with a flippant "whatever is in my glass", but in reality I am a ''Pinotphile'' (a term I owe to Anthony Woollams of Pipers Brook Vineyards, Tasmania) and I love good sweet wines. My personal ''Desert Island Bottle'' would probably be a mature bottle of Vallet Freres? Charmes Chambertin, or an immature vintage of Chateau d?Yquem (I prefer its youthful fruit to the delicious Barley sugar flavours that come with bottle age).
I will do my best to answer all of your questions and requests but should remind you that I am only human! One thing that you can be assured of is that my responses will be honest, genuine, and in good faith.
"Cheers",
Steve Day. |
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