Welcome to Vinosaurus!
So this is it then. After years dreaming about it, years doing nothing about it, and then months flapping about it: Vinosaurus is born.
I’ve been seriously into wine since a New Year’s Eve in New York. It was the end of 1996, and my friend Mark and I were in the late lamented Crystal Room at the Tavern on the Green, when a smart sommelier upgraded us to a bottle of Margaux (we’d ordered a Barolo, which had sold out).
The epiphany, brought about by that blast of full-bodied, elegant, silky and supple, blackcurranty loveliness, perfectly matched with a medium-rare fillet steak, led to a New Year’s resolution to both learn about, and collect, wine.
Some twenty years and a cellar’s worth of wine later, I’m leaving behind the cut and thrust of the TV world, to devote my energies to my passion – if this is a mid-life crisis, then it’s a very enjoyable one – and I hope to share the (relevant) things that I’ve learnt in my studies over the years and enthuse you.
I’m not generally a fan of slogans – when my local authority announces it’s ‘the caring council’, I’m not convinced – but I think a simple mantra can be useful to keep a focus. So, mine will be ‘things to try, and why’.
I am a journalist, first and foremost, so Vinosaurus will be about telling stories; exploring the scenery around the vines, meeting the incredible characters behind the wines, revealing some of the more interesting characteristics of the grapes and the secrets of the production process, and – hopefully – encouraging you to try new things.
I have a keen interest in organic wine, despite my early forays into that area being far from fabulous, and I am currently fascinated by ‘natural wine’, which I shall attempt to define (that’s harder than it sounds).
Like anyone who’s had the joy of working with television presenters in the past, I do like a gin. Happily, that particular distilled delight is enjoying a renaissance right now and you can expect some regular tips.
So I shall try to avoid being either a wine bore, or a snob, encouraging you to experiment, and hopefully helping you bag a bargain (also harder than it sounds, when well over half the price of a £5 bottle of wine is duty and VAT).
In that vein, I’m a big fan of what consumer champion Martin Lewis created with moneysavingexpert.com and whilst I could never hope to replicate its huge success, I hope you will trust me to make a few recommendations – hence my Vinosaurus ‘wine of the week’, coming very soon.
Finally, some gratitude; thank you to Simon Clark and his team at Spystudio for their brilliant design work, my long-suffering partner Mike, and some great friends; the indomitable Daniel, Julian, Scott and Bill for their encouragement and support in turning my wafting thoughts about what to do with myself into something tangible.
I really hope you enjoy it. Do follow me on Twitter and Instagram, where I’m @mrvinosaurus, and let me know what you think.