Raymond Blake - Wine Talk: An Enthusiasts Take on the People, the Places, the Grapes, and the Styles

Copyright Raymond Blake, 2022

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by David Ter-Avanesyan

Cover image by Getty Images

ISBN: 978-1-5107-6702-7

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-6751-5

Printed in the United States of America

For Fionnuala

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is slightly unusual in that it didnt rely on the usual roster of travel, winery visits, interviews, tastings, and meetings for its material. That was all collected and collated previously, ready to provide the bedrock for the writing. A greater resource, however, was the generosity of friends and colleagues.

This supplied the essential element, without which this book could not have been written. The host of treasured bottles that generous friends shared over the years provided, in addition to great enjoyment, an indispensable reference point, a calibration of palate and opinion that granted conviction to the words that follow. I count myself extremely fortunate in this regard because now that many, though not all, of the worlds best wines are priced well beyond budget, this was my only hope of experiencing them. I could not have done without this passive assistance, for it allowed me to experience the worlds greatest bottles, giving a benchmark without which this book would have been much the lesser.

Included in their number are: Pat Blake, Jean-Claude Bernard, Olivier Bernard, the Boisset Family, David Browne, Stephen Carrier, John Carroll, Prof John Gaskin, John Glen, Juris Grinbergs, Phillip Jones, Michael and Kate Hayes, Bill Kelly, Anthony and Olive Hamilton Russell, Ivan Healy, Dougie Heather, Paul Hunt, Andrew Keaveney, Noel Kierans, Des Lamph, Peter and Margaret Lehmann, Alf Mauff, Andrew and Sue Mead, Donal Morris, Monica Murphy, Martin Naughton, Michel OConnell, Eddie OConnor, James OConnor, Patrick OConnor, Mark OMahony, Eugene and Lynette OSullivan, Jim Pilkington, Randall and Carol Plunkett, Jol Provence and Patricia Bouchey, Lochlann and Brenda Quinn, Jo Rodin, the Rowand Family, the Seysses Family, Brian Shiels, Dmhnal Slattery, Brian Spelman, Steven Spurrier, Jim Tunney, Dr Mahendra Varma, Aubert and Pamela de Villaine, the Vincent Family, David Whelehan, and Michael Yon.

With apologies to any I may have inadvertently overlooked. A good glass awaits anyone so omitted.

I am also indebted to my parents Gay and Frank, and sisters Barbara and Margaret, who never failed to provide an enquiring, encouraging word when needed.

A special word of thanks to Sharon Bowers and Julie Ganz. Sharons advice was always astute and to the point, while Julie and the team at Skyhorse did a fine job of turning an unwieldy Word document into this neat book.

Which is not to forget the inestimable contribution made by my wife, Fionnuala, who also shared many treasured bottles, bought years before we met. When my belief faded to zero, hers never wavered. Wise counsel and silent understanding, combined with endless encouragement, kept the writing moving forward when it threatened to stall. As with my previous wine books, this one would have been impossible without her.

I must finish with a posthumous word of thanks to my late, great friend and colleague, Toms Clancy. If ever I wanted my thoughts clarified and given focus, enthusiastically validated, I only had to run them past Toms. When I outlined the scope of this book to him he immediately burst forth with a torrent of encouraging advice, advice that sustained me right to the end. He was a bottomless well of positivity. The deadline for this book was the first anniversary of his death. I hope it stands as a modest tribute of gratitude to him.

INTRODUCTION

Is Pinot Noir a place? the interviewer asked. No, its a grape, the grape of red Burgundy, I answered. And Chardonnay, is it a place? she continued. As it happens, yes, though its best known as a grape, the grape of white Burgundy. I further explained that, at their best, they produce incomparably brilliant still winesand that in Champagne, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay go together to produce the worlds greatest sparkling wines. This prompted disbelief and a request to explain. So I didby way of tale and anecdote, to make the message sing.

Wine Talk does not aim to take the mystery out of wine, a line championed in too much wine writing. Take the mystery out of wine? Why? Thats the fun part. No mystery, no fun. Wine without mystery has a namewater. Wine should not be demystified to encourage newcomersthey should be told it is a subject worthy of endless investigation and debate. Thats what makes wine fascinating and keeps us coming back again and again. The certain knowledge we will never know or understand it all is what sustains and nourishes interest, what gives wine enduring attraction. Take the mystery out of wine? Never!

This book is for that interviewer and the many millions of people who love a glass of wine and would like to know more without engaging in formal study. It is for those who drink their wine without ceremony but with some interest. For those who have been put off by highfalutin terminology and forbidding ritual. For those who want the message simplified but not dumbed down.

The material is culled from twenty-five years globetrotting the worlds vineyards, always keen to see what was around the next corner, always keen to discover the next good bottle. Wine is, or can be, more than a beverage, more than a means of ingesting alcohol. It tells a storyof the people who made it and the place it comes from; and the message it carries sits mute in the bottle, full of promise and potential, until we fire the starting gun by pulling the cork. People and place are the markers that give it distinction and uniqueness, wine with character.

Wine also captures a moment in time and carries the stamp of its birth year like DNA. Additionally, each bottle of the same wine will tell a marginally different story because it is drunk at a different time in its evolution and in a different context. Its message changes subtly all the time. It loses everything, however, if it is simply an industrial muddle of anonymous flavors that could have been made by anyone, anywhere. Then, it is just another beverage and no special pleading can be made for it.

This book elaborates and interprets wines story by way of broad brushstroke enthusiasms rather than expert diktats. It is an opinion-driven reflection on the world of wine that steers a course between the po-faced intensity with which some wine wisdom is dispensed and the hokum and hearsay that surrounds any discussion with alcohol at its heart.