THE ART OF WINE WITH ANDREW CAILLARD, MW

The Art

of Wine

An Interview with Master of Wine, Andrew Caillard.

Could you tell us a bit about your role?

I'm really a consultant wine expert for Shorty's. I bring my experience and skills in wine tasting and contacts to the business.

Shorty's has recently become part of a larger liquor retail family. Have you got any insight into how that might afect the Shorty's business? What does it bring to the table?

Well, from a customer point of view, Shorty's are going to be able to buy from a much greater range of wines at fantastic prices. Basically, customers will enjoy the unique qualities of Shorty's and the contacts that business has developed over the years, as well as benefting from the larger umbrella company's ability to source wines from all around the world, and also in Australia itself.

You're a Master of Wine. It's a notoriously difcult thing to achieve. For our readers, could you tell us a bit about what that entails? What's the process?

Well, the Master of Wine program is considered the hardest kind of wine program in the world. Part of the reason for that is the tasting part of the exam is notoriously difcult. You have to taste wines blind, and you've got to be able to identify the wines, where they come from, their quality, how old they are, all those kinds of things. It's got this kind of reputation. You hear the word rigour as a part of the whole deal.

But it's something that doesn't really defne me as a person. I did the Master of Wine exam way back in 1993, and you can't really kind of identify yourself with an exam that you did nearly 30 years ago. But certainly being a Master of Wine comes with a reputation, for your skills as a taster, and your knowledge as a wine expert. Because when you take the exam, you are expected to know pretty much everything, every point about fne wine and commercial wine at the time. It's a very complicated exam. I'm 30 years down the track, and the Master of Wine program allows me to reach into every single winery and wine fgure in the world. The relationships, experiences, and skills, it gives me a unique perspective on wine, one which is pretty rare in the world of wine.

How many Masters of Wine are there?

You'd have to look it up, but I think there's about 400 that have passed. But how many there are alive changes, because the Master of Wine program was initiated in 1953.

How did you get started in your wine journey? Was it something that you kind of were always destined to do? Was it something you were interested in at a young age? Was it something you kind of fell into and found that you had a bit of a knack for?

All of those things really. My mother's family were involved in wine. So from my accent, you can hear my English twang, but in fact, my mother's Australian, and her family were involved in bringing in some of the frst vines into South Australia. I suppose, to some degree, wine has always been in my blood.

But in fact, I joined the wine trade because I joined the British army. It was such a bloody disaster that I had to find something else that I'd find really interesting. I'm a fairly creative person, and I should never have joined the army. I should have become a painter, which is really what I wanted to do when I was younger. But of course there's no money in painting! My first thing in wine was going to Bordeaux and doing the vintage in 1979. My formal career, if you like, in wine, is now over 40 years.

Do you think there are any parallels between painting and wine?

Yes, defnitely. In fact, I've just written as essay called 'Art, Wine and Me'. Some of the people I studied with became winemakers, but it really wasn't the thing I wanted to do. But in later life, I've really got very much involved in working with winemakers, and blending, and new product development. It's varietal defnition, richness of fruits, alcohol, whether it's been in oak or out of oak. All of those things relate to the composition of a wine. Of course painting is the same thing. You're using diferent colours when you paint. And you're also having to think of the composition and how the diferent colours bounce of each other, or what you're trying to depict. There are sensibilities that come in to painting that are the same in winemaking. I suppose I have a natural aptitude for tasting wine, as I do with mixing colour.

If you'd gone down that path of being a winemaker, there is potentially more science, whereas you gravitated to those parts that combined science and creativity.

I think that was the main point. The artistic side of me and the creative side of me is a far more powerful thing.

The industry is going through a period Are there any stories that speak to you about people that are adapting to this awkward period, and doing things that are a bit creative or interesting?

The wine business is bloody tough and it always has been. It's been a pretty bloody awful year with the bushfires, COVID, all of these things. But if you know Australia's wine history, we've gone through these types of problems before. This is not going to be the first year in which

There's an element of having to be, isn't there?

our vineyard gets destroyed by fire, or have our vineyards destroyed by flooding, or see market conditions change. We've seen that happen.

In the 19th century, Australia had an extremely vibrant and successful export market of Australian Burgundy to the United Kingdom and to the British Empire. And it was massively successful, but of course by the late 1890s, things started to get a little bit difcult. And in wine trade. And then coming out of the First World War, it was about trying to kind of kickstart the market again. It all changed Australia's wine industry, from essentially being a table wine producer to a fortifed wine producer within one generation. And of course by now, people have forgotten that Australians in the 19th century were making some really magnifcent table wines, that were garnering the attention of people like Queen Victoria and Emperor Napoleon the Third. Going back to your question, Australians are incredibly adaptable to new conditions, because they've had to be. They're also extremely resilient. Yeah, that's right. If we look at what's happening with Australian Chardonnay. I mean, that's pretty bloody exciting stuf. Critics around the world are now looking at top Australian Chardonnays like Penfolds Yattarna, or Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay. People are looking at these things as being Grand Cru-like Chardonnays. People are paying hundreds and hundreds of

dollars for these types of wines out of Burgundy. And we can actually buy these wines for. They're

Wine merchants should be selecting expensive, but for what they the wines they really believe in it, are, they're absolutely brilliant. And it's the same thing with saying: 'We've done the tastings, and some of our red wines. You we know our customers. We are making look at Cabernet Sauvignon those selections because we know coming out of the very top echelons of Coonawarra, like our customers are going to enjoy the Wynns Coonawarra Estate, wines, because we've been listening to John Riddoch, which I've just what they like and we're matching that." written a book about, and some of the very top Margaret That's what a wine merchant should be River wines like Cullen Diane doing. And that's basically what's lost in Madeline, or Moss Wood. wine trade in Australia. I think Dave Short They're really, really exciting, beautiful wines. epitomises the classic wine merchant, if you like. There are very few of them left. I think the Australian wine industry is probably making the most diverse and most then by the time of the First World in its entire history. Think of sparkling

War, there was massive interruption wine. I just tasted the 2009 Arras, and

of great transformation at the moment.

exciting wines they've done it's absolutely bloody outstanding, it's as great as any top Cuvée Champagne. And so we have the capacity and we have the vineyards and we have the resilience and we have the vision and the creativity to overcome everything, in my view.

What's going on outside of Australia?

There are a lot of things, but sustainability is the number one key concern for all industries around the world. It doesn't matter whether you're winemaking, whether you're dairying, whether you're manufacturing clothing. We always think of climate change as

just the world heating up, but it's not just the heating up. It's the weather patterns changing, and not being sure whether you're going to get enough water, or whether you going to get too much water. That relates to how you're going to manage your vineyard and how are you going to grow your grapes. We just really don't know where this whole story of climate change is going to take us.

So, who's doing that well?

Well, I think family winemakers are doing it particularly well, because they are able to 'pivot' more quickly than if you're in a corporate world. But if you look at Australian winemakers, generally, you're seeing moves into biodynamic, organic, sustainable practices, because it's all about putting back into the vineyard what you're

taking out. So that's very much part of the sustainable thing.

In Europe, in Bordeaux or Burgundy and other places, they've got far more stricter laws for their Appellation Contrôlée laws, and the equivalents in Italy. You find that you're only allowed to use certain permitted varieties in one region or another, so they're probably not quite as adaptable as winemakers are in the new world. But sustainability is still the major thing. For instance, in the vineyards of Bordeaux, when I was working there in 1979, you wouldn't see a horse anywhere. But if you go into the vineyards of the Medoc now, during the times when there's ploughing happening or whatever is needed, you'll find horses everywhere, because they don't compact the soil in the same way, even though it is a costly thing. And this trend does afect price, of course. The same thing is happening in Burgundy, on a more smaller scale, but the prices of Burgundy have gone through the roof, as you probably know. Some of the great Grand Crus wines out of Burgundy, particularly Pinot Noir, the prices are just phenomenal. They are just not wines that you or I will ever probably ever be able to drink. Or, very rarely, unless we know a billionaire, or somebody who's a complete nutcase. If you want to buy a frst growth Bordeaux, or if you want a Super Tuscan or something like that, you really pay through the roof for it, a minimum of 400 or 500 bucks a bottle. Those prices have escalated at a much higher rate than what's been happening in Australia. Australian fne wine drinkers are still able to drink much better value at that top end. We're starting to look for, well, where can we fnd value?

If you look at Australian winemakers, generally, you're seeing moves into biodynamic, organic, sustainable practices, because it's all about putting back into the vineyard what you're taking out.

And here, we're finding value in things like Grenache, particularly in places like McLaren Vale and the Barossa. It's become really popular. These kinds of classic expressions of those varieties represent incredible value. The same thing applies to lots of other different varieties, of course.

I think we're living in really interesting times. And I think connoisseurship today is very, very much related to being able to find value. Any moron can go out and buy a great bottle of wine. You've just got to have the money to do it. But the connoisseur is the person who can really find great wine, a great drinking wine, that might not have a reputation or a brand or anything like that, that's just so delicious to drink and offers exactly the same sensibilities as something that's 30 times the price.

We're seeing that people have a better knowledge and understanding of the wine industry. And we often hear that there's a thirst for storytelling. Do you think that's true? Do you think there's a demand from customers and winelovers for more information, or just the right information?

I think it's a really, really interesting question you ask for it, because that's what I hear too. 'Everyone wants more stories. Everyone wants to hear it all.' And yet you speak to every retailer who's trying to sell the wine and they want the high tasting scores, that's all they want. I think there's a big disconnect between this idea of people wanting to know the stories, and the reality. The reality is people are busy, and wine is like food. It's sustenance and people love it and they enjoy it, let's not get it wrong. But they want a good glass of wine so they can worry about something else, the intellectual side of wine is not important to most people. I think what we need is real wine merchants, basically, who are using their own voices, rather than using the crutch of wine critics, to sell their wines. Wine merchants should be selecting the wines they really believe in it, saying: 'We've done the tastings, and we know our customers. We are making those selections because we know our customers are going to enjoy the wines, because we've been listening to what they like and we're matching that." That's what a wine merchant should be doing. And that's basically what's lost in wine trade in Australia. I think Dave Short epitomises the classic wine merchant, if you like. There are very few of them left.

Is there a wine that you come back to every year? Is there something that holds a sort of special place in your heart?

For me, the wine experience is about the people that make the wine. I suppose Penfolds is probably the big story, the big anchor of my wine world. I've been involved with it intimately since the mid-1980s. I probably have had the longest and closest relationship with Penfolds of any outsider in its entire history, because it extends over 35 years. I feel I'm very connected to the history of Penfolds. And I would say that maybe I've actually even had an impact on the orientation of Penfolds and how its narrative is explained in the international marketplace. There are many others, but it's about the people, always. Some people choose to be accountants or bankers or whatever. Other people choose to go into a trade. The wine community is just an extraordinary bunch of very creative, passionate and wonderful people.