1. What is your wine mission?
Wine is a source of happiness, not a mission
2. Next big thing in wine?
A magnum is quite big enough as a thing
3. Your ‘go to’ glass after a hard day?
Provence rose in the summer months, but in general it’s a waste of good wine to use it as a pick-me-up after a hard day
4. Favourite film?
Les Enfants du Paradis
5. Fondest vintage?
I don’t know if fondest is right but I am very keen on 1996 despite all its awkwardnesses
6. Oak or stainless steel?
Oak in the right proportion
7. Best place to eat?
Troisgros or Au Fil du Zinc
8. Food and wine matching purgatory?
Listening to people getting way over exercised about this largely imprecise subject.
9. Guilty food and wine match?
How can you feel guilty when enjoying food and wine together?
10. Favourite wine writer (apart from yourself)?
Gerald Asher from the past, Hugh Johnson for his seemingly effortless prose while of the ‘younger crowd’ of critics Neal Martin and William Kelley.
11. Wine ‘fad’ irritation?
Anything which inspires evangelism
12. Most delicious cheese?
Comté fills the first five places, then something like the soft and creamy ‘Tentation de St Felicien’ or the delicious fresh goats cheeses from the next village to us.
13. Inspiring novel?
Too many. I devour them.
14. Most beautiful vineyard in the world?
Rippon overlooking Lake Wanaka
15. Next place to visit?
I have been several times before, but the ideal next place will always be New Zealand