People ask me how I got into the wine industry - luck!   In early 1987 My girlfriend (thank you Jane) sent around 30 copies of my CV out to companies in the Western Cape (Cape Town).  My main aim was to get back to my friends (and my girlfriend in Cape Town, where I had studied and ‘grew up’).   I had been exposed to wine from the age of 17 (I did not drink alcohol until then, other than, perhaps, a sweet Pimm's Cocktail with all the exotic trimmings) when we, as students, travelled to nearby Stellenbosch to sample (free of charge) wines, and especially sweeter fortified wines.  First stop was always Spier, just off the N2 motorway and then there was Delheim with their Edelspatz and Spatzendreck sweet wines and lunch at the Lanzerac - all you can eat (heaven to a student) for 10 Rand (the Rand was a lot stronger in those days - around USD1 = R 0.86; the current exchange rate is USD1 = R18!!)

Over time I progressed from swilling wine (mainly for effect) to understanding varieties and knowing what I liked.  In 1980, I started purchasing 1978 vintage red wines. In those days there was a theory that the even years always produced the better vintages.  I had a small wine rack in my University residence and those wines were to be collected, not consumed.   I continued to collect wine over the years but never really got into wine drinking.  Mainly (copious amounts of) beer and spirits were the order of the day.

Jump forward around 10-20 years:  1997 - Bordeaux & Vinexpo.  I was the Marketing Manager for Lindemans, Southcorp’s largest brand, in Australia.  The company would not pay for me to go to Vinexpo, so I went under my own steam.  This coincided with our reenactment of Marianne Faithful's song ‘The Ballad of Lucy Jordan’ (with the lyric:  'At the age of 37, she realised she would never ride through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair’).  My good friends Grant and Tiny, also 37 in early 1997, plus two lady friends arranged to rendezvous in Paris.  We were forced to use a little artistic licence (we still had hair in those days) and flew by helicopter with the warm wind in our hair, as all convertible cars had been rented out due to the Paris airshow being held at Le Bourget airport at the same time.

I have a confession to make: while many of my friends and industry colleagues swear by pinot noir and Burgundy as their non-plus-ultra, mine has been Bordeaux since this trip, with KING Cabernet Sauvignon holding court, usually accompanied by his friends and concubines, merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot.  (I have not mentioned malbec on purpose; Ch. Margaux do not have any planted).  I had planned a small side-trip to Bordeaux to visit a few wineries while my friends were languishing at the beach in Arcachon, only an hour’s drive from Bordeaux.  My first stop was a deserted Château Palmer where the lovely, smartly-dressed, refined and mature lady led me through a private tasting of the wines.  I had not planned an itinerary so, when she asked where I was going next, I replied “je ne sais pas” in my best high-school French.  As luck would have it, her daughter occupied a similar role at Château Margaux, only a 3 minute drive away.  

I was politely received at the bustling reception.  I dropped the name of la Madame from Château Palmer and was asked to wait for a few minutes before I joined a trade tour to be led by the man himself, Paul Pontallier, who had become the director of winemaking at Château Margaux in 1983 at the tender age of 27.  Tall and elegantly suited, he and I were soon in conversation as it seemed that the Italian or Portuguese trade delegation was on a junket and not really interested in wine and the Château.  My Eureka moment came when we tasted the 1995 vintage Château Margaux from the barrel - silky, complex, perfect, refined …..   Mein Gott!  The wine later received 100/100 from James Suckling, 17.5/20 from Janice Robinson, 95/100 from Robert Parker, 95/100 from Neal Martin/Vinous.  And 10/10, 5* and 100/100 and 20/20 from yours truly!

There are many more stories where those came from and people keep asking me why I am in the wine industry, and when I will retire …….  have you ever heard a hyena laugh?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNsWowelWbo

Thanks for reading this far.  Hopefully some amusement.

In wine, the truth!