Page 7 - IWSCReport2017

communicators
SWEET talkers
Two personalities stood out this year for their efforts to further the conversation on wine and spirits
Sponsor: Veronafiere
Vinitaly, organised by Veronafiere, one of the
world’s largest
international wine and
spirit trade shows with
4,270 exhibitors and
128,000 visitors in 2017,
will be held in Verona,
Italy, between 15-18 April 2018.
Vinitaly created and has sponsored the Wine Communicator of the Year award since its inception in 1996, when Jancis Robinson MW became the first to receive the accolade. The award has been designed to recognise individuals or organisations whose communication skills have made an exceptional contribution towards promoting and increasing public awareness and interest in wines and spirits over the previous 12 months, whether through publishing, journalism, new media, radio or television.
CONTACT: Janina Mathiasz, manager of the Veronafiere International Office. Viale del Lavoro 8, 37100 Verona, Italy. Tel: +39 (0) 4582 98219 Email: mathiasz@veronafiere.it Website: www.vinitaly.com
WINE COMMUNICATOR:
JOE FATTORINI
Fattorini is best-known for his work on ITV’s The Wine Show, which hit screens in the UK last spring and has since been exported to 109 countries. Prior to this, the Yorkshire-based wine expert, presenter and writer spent 15 years as the weekly wine critic for Scotland’s The Herald newspaper, two decades selling wine to restaurants, hotels and bars, and several years as wine consultant to the US PGA Tour.
How did you get into wine?
I was seven and drank quite a lot of my grandfather’s Latour ‘45 at a party. A few months later there was a family wedding serving Mateus Rosé and apparently I was a bit sniffy about it. You know the way pre- teen boys get into dinosaurs or football cards or Egyptology. I was fascinated by wine. I loved reading about where it came from, who made it, how they made it, the history of it. Filming The Wine Show is me doing the same thing I’ve done since I was seven. Only with lots of make-up to stop my head from shining.
Are there any regions, styles or grapes that we should be re-evaluating?
I’m not sure there are any that we shouldn’t be re-evaluating. Australia is in the middle of a small-producer revolution. The Loire is adapting brilliantly to a changing climate. Countries such as Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia are making extraordinary whites. The Chilean Volvo has turned into a concept car. South Africa gives you wines that are 10% better value than anywhere else. China is rewriting the rules on how long it takes to be an established producer. Germany is waiting
for the rest of the world to discover that their text books are out of date. Vermentino is the new Chardonnay and Sauvignon. Cava is the new Prosecco. Canada is the new Burgundy. Spain’s brilliant. Italy’s mad. I’m just waiting for red Bordeaux to become edgy.
How can the trade improve the way it talks to consumers about wine?
Always replace the word ‘consumers’ with another word, like shoppers, wine lovers, drinkers or restaurant goers. Even ‘the audience’. Consumers are faceless and complacent. It’s a word that leads to top- down, one-way communication. ‘Consumers’ assumes a subservient, producer-led relationship. When you write for an ‘audience’ you want to make them cheer. The onus is on you to please them, not on them to consume your product.
What has been the most memorable moment, so far, on The Wine Show?
At the end of our film in Georgia for series two there were tears because it was so poignant. It took quite a while to get over the emotion of filming in the townships in South Africa, and also the surprise of what we discovered in China. Although nothing was as painful as running the Bordeaux Marathon in a four-layer Obi Wine-Kenobi costume.
Who are your wine heroes?
My first wine book was Serena Sutcliffe’s Wine Drinker’s Handbook in 1982. I’m still star-struck when we meet in the street. In the early 1990s I worked at my first big public tasting with Oz Clarke. When The Wine Show came out he called me and said: “Do you remember that tasting we did at
Northcote Manor 25 years ago? I said then that you’d end up on television.” Hearing that from someone who’d been so influential... consider my mind blown.
SHORTLIST Ian D’Agata Ben Stephenson Joe Fattorini Olly Smith Mariano Braga
6 winners’ guide 2017