 |
 |
Between the Lines |
 |
|
Interview with Oz Clark |
|
Oz Clarke's New Encyclopedia of Wine
Oz Clark
Through its unique cartography—more than seventy-five spectacular, hand-painted panoramic maps—and Oz Clarke's lively and opinionated prose, this revolutionary atlas illustrates and explains the vital connections between the land, the winemaker, and the wine.
|
|
Biography |
|
Oz Clark is one of the world's leading wine experts. He has won all the major wine writing awards, including the Glenfiddich (3 times), the André Simon, the Wine Guild (3 times), the Julia Child, and the James Beard awards. Among his other books are Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Grapes, Oz Clarke's Introducing Wine, his yearly Pocket Wine Guide and his New Essential Wine Book. He is a regular columnist for The Wine Enthusiast. He lives in London. Visit Oz Clarke's Web Site www.ozclarke.com
|
|
Interview |
|
Q: In the New Wine Atlas, you state that, worldwide, 20-30 percent more wine is made each year than is drunk. What happens to the excess production? Is it discarded? Stored? Repackaged and remarketed?
A: It depends which country and which type of wine you're talking about. Here are some topical examples:
France has a severe overproduction crisis: hundreds of thousands of vines (100,000 hectares) and millions of hectolitres of wine are being destroyed under a 10-year plan to restructure the vin de table category (the lowest category of wine). Some of this wine goes for distillation by the brandy industry and industrial usage. Growers are being reimbursed and given grants to replant with higher quality vines and update winemaking equipment. The overproduction crisis in France is partly due to the influx of New World wines, whose increased popularity has devastated the home market for home-produced, lower-grade wine.
In California, Gallo, for example, is increasing plantings of Pinot Noir by some 10 to 20% over the next few years as there is a shortage of good quality Pinot Noir while there is a glut of Californian Chardonnay at the moment, with prices plummeting and many growers unable to sell their grapes. They have even invented a household disinfectant that is made from Chardonnay! Also watch out in due course for oceans of surplus Syrah which is very trendy now in California, but simply cannot be sold in the quantities now planted.
Australia also has a glut of Chardonnay at the moment and a glut of red wine just around the corner. New vineyards of classic varieties have been planted at the rate of an additional 15,000 hectares a year while less fashionable varieties are being ripped up.
Q: As a wine expert with years of tasting experience, you likely prefer many different wines with favorites changing from time to time. Right now, at this moment in 2002, what are your favorite wines? And which sparkling wine is the perfect selection for ringing in the 2003 New Year?
A: Some of my current favourites are: the Pinot Noirs from Saintsbury in Carneros. They are brilliantly perfumed, satiny smooth reds. Many people are saying the best Pinot is coming from other areas of California these days—but I think Carneros has never been better.
South Africa is making some fantastically crisp Sauvignon Blancs at the moment—the Neil Ellis Groenekloof is full of lime and grapefruit zest and the acid juiciness of passion fruit. Wonderfully refreshing—it's the perfect match for roast turkey and all the trimmings.
New Zealand's Pelorus non vintage is an intense, rich-flavoured fizz rather like Champagne used to be 20 years ago—but, as I just discovered on my U.S. promotional tour, luxury-goods owners LVMH don't want to sell Pelorus in the U.S., so you will have to look out for Andrew Pirie's Tasmanian fizz from Piper's Brook Vineyards. If you really want to splash out on top French stuff, the Charles Heidsieck Champagne "mis en cave" (that's a non-vintage wine but laid down for aging in a specific year) is different each year but is always superb.
Q: Based on climate, soil, conditions, etc., are there any regions in the world which may not be listed in your book that have the potential to one day make fine wines?
A: PThere are astonishing efforts being made all round the world to create entirely new vineyards and the new Atlas covers just about everywhere where quality wine grapes are grown today. In the New World every year brings the discovery of new and exciting sites for vines (Uruguay and Canada are two prime examples) whereas in Europe growers have slowly discovered the best conditions over many centuries. However, the pace of change here is fast and many of these long established, world famous regions are being reinvigorated and the results are exciting—southern Italy, Sicily, and Greece are just some of the areas producing great wines at all levels.
Q: Where and when did you have your first taste of wine?
A: It was my sister's christening. She is three years younger than I am, so I would have been about four. My brother and I got at the sherry before the guests returned from the church service and were the worse for wear as a result. We were both punished but it obviously sowed a seed for the future, as wine has been the most important influence on my life since college days.
Q: Where and when did you taste the best wine ever made?
A: I judge a fine wine by the sheer pleasure it gives me, regardless of where it comes from, who has made it, or what grape variety is used. Sometimes these wines come from vineyards that have been revered for centuries and sometimes the wines are from sites that are new and untried and from first generation winemakers, all united by a passion to make good wine.
Q: Care to tell us about the worst one?
A: This summer during the World Cup (that's the soccer one, by the way) I had a gang of wine-loving friends round to my house (as usual—it's an old tradition) to watch match after match of tense football in my living room. It was up to me to provide the refreshments! I would go down to my little cellar beneath the stairs to haul out a bottle of what we all thought would be some long-forgotten treasure but to our great disappointment time after time these wines would be long past their best. There is no sadder moment than to present such a wine to an enthusiastic and expectant throng of friends who have been hearing about its magical qualities for year upon year. To have kept a bottle too long is far worse than to have drunk it before its time.
Q: You have won the Glenfiddich (three times), the André Simon, the Wine Guild (three times), the Julia Child, and the James Beard awards. Is there an award out there that you haven't yet won, which would represent for you the zenith of your life's work?
A: FI think I probably deserve the Queen's Award for Bravery, for years of wine tasting on live television at 9 AMin the morning. And the passionate sportsman in me (I'm a huge fan of American sport) would love to have been a baseball or football player and to have secured the all-time record for home runs or yards gained—I'd settle for either!
|
|
|
