Tell us about the moment you first became interested in wine
When I was 15 and my parents moved to the south of France, where we were surrounded by vines and lavender. It was there that I became enchanted by the process, passion, romance, and ceremony of winemaking. The community surrounding winemaking and the journey that results in the polished finished product that lands on a restaurant table was, and still is, fascinating to me.
Describe your wine list at Terre à Terre
Terre à Terre’s wine list is a work in progress, and it is constantly changing and developing. Currently we have some fantastic organic and biodynamic wines – which we have always championed on our wine lists, long before it was ‘trendy’ to do so – as well as local British wine, and of course it’s all vegetarian and vegan.
Over the course of your career, have you had any wine-related disasters?
When I was very young and cooking in London, I was tasked with the important job of collecting a range of fine wines from the company’s wine merchants that had been carefully selected to impress their overseas delegates, and the importance of this meeting had been heavily impressed upon me. I made it back to work having collected the goods, but the box of wine unfortunately continued its journey on the Circle line, never to be see again.
Name your top three restaurant wine lists
Brat and Core by Clare Smyth in London and Fourth and Church in Hove. Paul Morgan’s (the latter’s owner) knowledge and enthusiasm is infectious.
Who do you most respect in the wine world?
Gerard Basset and Robin Hutson.
What’s the most interesting wine you’ve come across recently?
I have recently come across Georgian wine, which is one of the oldest wine-producing countries in the world. Traditional Georgian wine is fermented, matured and stored in qvevris, giant egg-shaped clay vessels which are some of the earliest examples of winemaking technology – truly fascinating.
What are the three most overused tasting notes?
Honeysuckle, flinty and leggy.
What’s the best value wine on your list at the moment?
Our best value wines are the range of wines that we sell by the carafe, as these enable our guests to drink excellent wines at affordable prices.
What is your ultimate food and drink match?
Cheese, cheese, and cheese! It’s cliché but there is a reason cheese and wine always go so well together.
Old World or New World?
All worlds!
What is your pet hate when it comes to wine service in other restaurants?
In general, I don’t really have any pet hates, as most of us are just trying to have a go. I get a bit prickly with pompous sommeliers and meddling maître d’hôtel, but they are rare these days.
Who is your favourite producer right now?
At the moment I love Artelium (Sussex) for their enthusiasm and very delicious wines. The vineyard is close to where I live, and the community that they are building reminds me of my youth in the south of France. I am biased, but they do have some beautiful labels too.
As Co-Founder, what question do you most get asked by customers about your wines?
The most common question I get is “what is biodynamic wine?”, so I am well versed in explaining that they are wines produced using holistic and sustainable approaches to winemaking. The second most asked question is “what makes wine vegetarian?”, as many people are not aware of the animal products involved with wine production – it’s more common than you would expect.
Which wine producing region or country is underrated at the moment (and why?)
I would have to say Georgian wine, as I have recently discovered it thanks to a bottle I had at Fourth and Church Hove, recommended by Paul Morgan.
It’s your last meal and you can have a bottle of any wine in the world. What is it and why?
In the mid 70s, my father and I drove home to the south of France from London, a trip that took three days. It was the first time we had travelled alone together, so it could have gone one of two ways. My father stuck a pin in the Michelin Guide and picked an overnight stop in Burgundy, at a hotel called Maison Lameloise, in Chagny. I was clueless, a bit grouchy and heavy on the eyeshadow. The hotel was classic, with a sophisticated dining room, and at dinner the pompous maître d’hôtel loudly refused my entry to the dining room because I was wearing jeans. I had to borrow a scratchy wool skirt from a member of staff and do the shuffle of shame across the dining room to our table. I was so uncomfortable and mortified, and so I blamed my father for everything like all self-respecting teenagers should, with a lot of glaring and monosyllabic answers from my end. There was nowhere else to eat so we had to stick it out together, and my father chatted like nothing had happened. The pompous maître d’hôtel who had refused my entry into the dining room introduced the sommelier to my father, who said that it was his daughter who would be choosing the wine. I was a little surprised but decided to use the same technique that he had used in selecting the hotel, and picked a random bottle from the wine selection. I chose Domaine Leflaive, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru. This single kind and loving gesture of a father to save his daughter’s blushes changed the course of their history, and a new respect and understanding was born between us. I couldn’t have loved or respected him any more than I did in that moment. We had stumbled into a brilliant new universe of exceptional wines, something that we would go on to share for both of our lifetimes, and I learnt kindness, at any cost, pure and simple. Years later I learnt that my father had almost choked on seeing the price of the wine that evening in France. He never actually told me how much it cost, but to me it is priceless. So, cheers dad - wherever you are, I hope that you have a glass in hand. A votre sante!