Mediocre Wines......

[robert brown]

This beats writing a letter to the editor by a mile because I'm sure to get an answer.

First, though, your intellect, efforts and integrity stand out in what can be a corrupt and idiotic endeavor: the reportage of wine. Your Oxford Companion to Wine is simply monumental.

I wonder how you approach the tasting and analysis of inexpensive wines from secondary or tierciary producers or countries. Is it something you often dread or you view as nothing more than that which comes with the "terroire", to to speak; is it with a sense of hope or anticipation that you will find a real sleeper wine; or an activity you see as a challenge? In general do you find that new entries to the wine market can often be seen as examples of wine-making in general becoming better and more exciting, or are there too many people trying to get into an overcrowded market and missing the mark with their endeavors?

[Jancis Robinson]

You are too kind.

I think I probably bend over backwards to be fair to unlikely wines - maybe too much. But I genuinely do find it so exciting that so much of the world is now colonised by wine and interest in wine that I am keen to encourage it. Wouldn't it be boring if all we drank were Bordeaux classed growths and California Cabs?

In fact as a journalist I find it far more satisfying sniffing out a 3pd/5 dollar bottle that actually delivers some pleasure than splitting half-points over an already-established icon.