Passion. It is what drives us. It makes us fall in love, have children, buy a house, pick our clothes... it is that undefinable and unique thing that makes us really love or want something or someone. So why, when most people who work in the wine trade do it for the love of wine rather than the money, which is hard to come by most of the time, do most wine critics appear to not even like the subject they are writing about, let alone love it.
The two passions of my life (outside of my wife and son) are wine and cars, and there are a lot of similarities between the two. I love certain cars and wines and dislike others. Given the choice of a 1950's Jaguar XK120 or a Ferrari 458, I'm going for the classic rather than the modern Italian supercar. Similarly, a strange and funky white from Spain is always going to be picked over a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. I have passion for both and while I appreciate my tastes are not the same as everyone, maybe even most people, I really love the things I try and desire.
In the world of cars, nobody is more passionate about the subject than the three guys on Top Gear. Sure, you can accuse them of all sorts of bigotry and childishness, but they do love cars. Watching them in the latest Lamborghini or Mercedes, reading Clarkson's articles in the Sun or looking through Top Gear Magazine, you'll see people who are obsessed about the thing they comment on.
They are fortunate to have risen in their careers to a level where they don't need to review the latest small hatchback from Volkswagen. Fuel economy is irrelevant to them and they don't need to care how much a car costs and if you can get a set of golf clubs in the back, but their passion is there for all to see all the time. Compare this to some of the most respected wine critics, and their writing is almost as if they are ticking boxes to get another article out of the way. Where is the passion, the love of wine, the feelings about the experiences that they are so privileged to try? Where is the waxing lyrical about how a wine changed their lives, how that ancient port they tried was the greatest wine they had ever drunk? Or how about writing that the simple Portuguese red costing a tenner is their favourite wine because they were in the vineyards, drinking it, and finally understood the relationship between the land where the grapes were grown and the wine in the glass? Where are the stories, the tales, the enthusiasm? In the words of the Black Eyed Peas, 'Where is the love?'
The problem stems from the fact that wine critics are obsessed with showing no bias, when the thing is their entire trade is about bias. It is about preferring one thing over another and being passionate about it, or it should be. And I'm not talking about this caricature passion that is being used so often (particularly on the BBC), I'm talking about genuine passion for wine. Every so often some writer will blether on about the merits or failings of accepting free trips to wine regions and is their integrity compromised by it if they do. Stop being so bloody pompous. Tell us about your trip, say it was a fabulous jolly and you had a fantastic time trying wines with the winemaker. Make that your article. Clarkson doesn't need to drive a Ferrari around Lake Garda, but in doing so it enriches the story and makes an unattainable object even more desirable. With wine, we are talking about attainable products (most of the time) so readers can actually buy into our wonderful experiences and have a part of it.
There are a few scribes who have their love shine through, but it is never in mainstream media, it is very occasionally and it is always through their blogs or their books. This (I am sure) is because of advertising revenue, but look at the people who were game changers in media. They all started alienating the establishment and putting off advertisers and then became loved by the readers, and then the money came their, and their publishers, way.
The other thing that is grating my gears is the language wine writers use. Reading a copy of Decanter is like reading a textbook, it is dry, boring and full of pomposity. Newspaper articles are written for people who drive BMW 3 Series to their dull day job before coming home via Waitrose or Lidl to their beige existence and equally beige children. If you want interesting articles, you have to go to the internet where everyone can express their opinion whether they are qualified to give it or not (myself included!)
But look at Clarkson and co. I'm pretty certain Jeremy Clarkson knows what torque is, but there is a running gag that only his geeky colleague James May does. Richard Hammond knows how to waterproof a car for driving through rivers (he drives Land Rovers for crying out loud), but when presented with a tub of vaseline and a tampon, he quips "what sort of trip is this?" They know their subject and, for entertainment, pretend they don't. Now I'm not saying that we should dumb down wine, but its a drink for crying out loud, it is something to enjoy and we are all guilty of putting it on a pedestal and trying to make it more cerebral than it needs to be.
Most wine readers don't give a crap about soils and winds, they want a story, and entertaining tale to read from a writer that is easy to read. I've written articles about wines that smell of marijuana, compared Chardonnay to Katy Perry and the Beach Boys and said that Meursault was the tart of Burgundy. Silly, yes. Written with unpolished language? Sure. Accurate and with a solid understanding of my category? Definitely but it was entertaining. This is what we need, this is what the beer industry has capitalised on and has made what was an old men with beards business, into a young men with beards business. Wine needs to change, it needs an injection of youth, controversy, opinion, entertainment, but most of all, passion.
What the wine world needs is its own Jeremy Clarkson.
Peter Wood
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