The Merry Wine Merchant!
STEVEN SPURRIER

Steven Spurrier, one of the world�s greatest living wine experts, and consultant editor for �Decanter�, is, surprisingly, sipping a steaming cup of coffee when we meet soon upon his arrival in Mumbai! It is his third trip here, and he�s amazed by the growing interest in his wine appreciation workshops, conducted for The Wine Society of India, for whom he is the Chairman of the Board of Wine Advisors. Budding wine enthusiasts are encouraged to sign up in order to receive six bottles of wine every quarter. �We ensure very good quality at roughly Rs. 1,000 per bottle,� he explains. He does the selection himself and ensures the bottles are transported appropriately so that the wines arrive ship-shape.

He has a problem with the way wine is stored and sold in local stores. �There are no specialised wine stores,� he complains, �The shops that sell liquor stock wine without proper airconditioning and the bottles are left standing up, which is incorrect. There is no culture of buying wine in India yet. Which is why, we decided to bring good quality wine to people in temperature controlled boxes, sent straight to their homes. These are wines personally tasted by me and are very good value for money.�

He has another grouse: �In India you can�t advertise wine. The Ministry of Agriculture has to do something about this. But I think things will change quickly.�

His wine appreciation workshops (two so far), have met with resounding response where six hundred enthusiasts turned up for the second one. �These are middle-class, intelligent wine drinkers who don�t know where to start,� Spurrier offers. �So, we give them information and educate them. You get more enjoyment out of something once you have more information about it.�

"I drink only wine, no other spirits,� he confesses, �and I know I drink about double of the quantity normally recommended (one-and-a-quarter bottles every day). I have been doing this for 45 years in a row! The good thing is I always drink my wine with my meal � almost never after dinner or in the middle of the day (unless I�m at a wine-tasting). I think wine drinking is a socially convivial kind of thing."

His passion for wine goes beyond a professional obligation, to a more intense personal calling. For most of his life he has drunk a bottle-and-a-quarter of wine every day � sometimes even more! �I drink only wine, no other spirits,� he confesses, �and I know I drink about double of the quantity normally recommended. I have been doing this for 45 years in a row! The good thing is I always drink my wine with my meal � almost never after dinner or in the middle of the day (unless I�m at a wine-tasting). I think wine drinking is a socially convivial kind of thing. I remember, when I was young, my parents used to drink wine at home. They would take my brother and me to Italy and France for holidays, and this was in the 1950s, when wine was drunk there like water! I got very fascinated by this.�

Today, by his own admission, wine is not drunk as much in France and Italy (�there are so many alternatives�), but more people in his native England have started drinking wine. �Thirty years ago, if you invited someone for lunch in the UK you would offer them a gin and tonic. Today, it would be a glass of wine!�

He has been fascinated by the wine history of India, brief as it is. �Ten years ago, there were only two vineyards in India: Grover and Indage. Today there are fifteen. All over the world, the wine culture blossoms along with economic progress. When people do well they like to buy their own vineyard. The pleasure factor is immense.�

Spurrier himself has a farm in South West England, where he and his wife, Bella, plan to plant vines. �Thanks to global warming, it is now a bit warmer in England,� he smiles, �and we plan to convert about 50 acres of our farm into vineyards for sparkling wines!�

Quite something, for a former lad of the London School of Economics who studied economics and banking. �I always knew I would have a career in wines,� he beams, �I started out at the bottom of the ladder by joining a wine company. I went to Europe and worked in cellars and on vineyards. Today, I still work long hours. I write for �Decanter�, am a wine consultant for Singapore Airlines, go for wine tastings, and come home after a long day to a wife, who is an excellent cook. The good thing is, I get to choose the wine for my meal � and I always drink for mood and not for food. I drink what I like, and not what I am �supposed� to. I often have red wine with fish, if I want to. I am against rules for wine and food matching. I think that�s boring.�

Any favourite wines? �My cellar has 4000 bottles and 99 per cent are from Europe,� he concedes. �My heart is in the Rhone Valley and Bordeaux is what I know best. I personally like earthy wines.�

What about Indian wines? �The whites tend to be sweeter, although Sula is the most European of your wines. I see the wine business here growing at 35 per cent a year and that will be exciting to watch because the world over, it is growing at only 25 percent,� Spurrier explains. However, when eating Indian food he will not drink wine, he says, but beer. �The spices dominate and would overpower the wine.�

He has also been running the Christie�s Wine Course, which is twenty five-years-old. In 1976 he created the famous Paris Wine Tasting, which he recreated last year to commemorate its 40th anniversary, and the Californian wines won both times.

However, he insists drinking wine is really not a big deal. �I want to demystify the notion that you need to be very sophisticated to drink wine, as it all does seem so complicated. It isn�t. Just take a sip and ask yourself: do I like it? There�s nothing more to it than that!�