Do you each have a favourite country or region, or do you find that your taste has become similar over the years?
Guy: We have enjoyed wine tasting extensively in France, Italy, South Africa and California and we both very much enjoy visiting these regions and sampling their wines. Our preferences, however, are not the same. Julia tends to like bolder wines with stronger structures and marked use of oak.
Julia: Guy, by contrast, likes more delicate, perfumed wines. I would opt for a red wine from Bordeaux whilst Guy would tend to prefer a red Burgundy. We both adore white Burgundy. When we first started enjoying wine, everything was an adventure and in the 80s, it seemed that the wine world was evolving as fast as our taste and experience was. At that time, we tended to like similar wines but there is definitely a divergence now.
Wine is clearly a passion for both of you. Do you look at it from the same perspective or is one of you more analytical and the other more led by the heart?
Guy: We do both have a passion for wine and it provides us with many hours of enjoyment, challenge, and interest. We do, however, have a different approach. Julia wants to enjoy every glass and will go with her personal favourites.
Julia: Guy is always trying to find something new and, on occasion, gets it completely wrong. He has found some absolute gems along the way but also some total failures.
When we first started enjoying wine, everything was an adventure and in the 80s, it seemed that the wine world was evolving as fast as our taste and experience was.
Can you share some of your most memorable wine experiences, for example, places you have been and company you have shared?
Both: We tasted Harlan together at the Harlan Estate in Napa. It is definitely our favourite American wine.
Visiting the estate was a real treat. We started the tasting with Krug Champagne on the terrace in warm Californian spring sunshine with amazing views over the valley. From there, we progressed to the tasting room, where we sat in leather armchairs drinking Harlan from a magnum.
Our first sherry tasting in Jerez was a complete revelation. We turned up as sherry sceptics and left 36 hours, six Bodegas, and 40 sherries later absolutely converted. From bone dry Finos to PX, we tried them all and felt that each one had a time and place, even cream sherries.
We do both have a passion for wine and it provides us with many hours of enjoyment, challenge, and interest
What sets the scene for enjoying your favourite wine?
Both: A totally relaxed setting, some very simple food cooked well, and the time to savour a bottle of one of our favourite wines together with no distractions besides each other.
How about food? Is it important to pair the perfect wine to your meal, and can you give an example of your favourite pairings?
Both: It is fine to just have cheese and biscuits paired with a beautiful red wine, or alternatively, it is just as enjoyable to have a brilliant multi-course meal paired with several different wines experienced over many hours. Guy’s favourite pairing is a perfectly poached salmon, new Guernsey potatoes, and asparagus, paired with a white Burgundy. Julia’s is a very rare fillet steak, hand-cut chips, and a mixed salad, paired with a left bank Bordeaux.
30 Seconds with Guy
Where does your passion for wine come from?
I love seeing people happy, and wine achieves that more consistently than anything else I know.
Where do you acquire your knowledge of wine?
Through tasting lots of different wines and talking to winemakers.
Do you consider wine an investment or a hobby?
Definitely a hobby in terms of monetary reward, but an investment in terms of spending time with friends.