It’s certainly the time of the year – and decade – to look back on some of the key moments and changes that have taken place in our industry over the last 12 and 120 months. Which has also been our festive challenge for some key figures in the industry to pick out three things in drinks that they wish they could have had a part in. Be it making a particular wine, hosting an event, creating an advertising campaign, writing a book and so on. Next up to share his “3 Things” is Bibendum’s on-trade channel director, John Graves.
John Graves has enjoyed a long and varied career in the wine trade, be it his days at Oddbins, Enotria and now heading up the on-trade business for Bibendum Wine, so is well placed to have seen, and tried to sell, some of the biggest trends that have taken place in the sector.
John Graves’ Three Things in Drinks I Wish I Had Been Part Of
1 Torres Mas Plana winning at Wine Olympics Paris 1979
I wish I’d been around in 1979 when Mas La Plana took some of the posh French Cabernets to the cleaners in a blind tasting in Paris for what was dubbed the Wine Olympics Paris. [Mas La Plana is still produced at the small Bodegas Torres winery in El Penedès, and is famous for being Spain’s first Cabernet Sauvignon that surprised the world by triumphing over some of France’s best wines at the so called Wine Olympics of Paris in 1979, organised by the specialist Gault & Millau wine guide]
2 Miguel Torres
Miguel Torres has been one of my heroes since then. I was lucky enough to see his turquoise Subaru Impreza arrive in a cloud of dust for a lunch with me and some colleagues at one of the family estates many years later – what a guy! True to his principals and brave. We owe him a lot.
3 Jacob’s Creek – the game changer
I’ve still got friends who talk about Jacob’s Creek arriving in Oddbins Belsize Park and being snapped up by the case load by Burgundy drinkers. This may not be true but I hope it is. I like a glass of Macon, but how dull would the wine world be if that’s all we had now. I came a bit later to Oddbins and saw the arrival of Argentinian Malbec and Chilean varietals to the mainstream, but I’d love to have been there for the Jacob’s Creek madness.
