A wine writer, a buyer and a sommelier walk into a bar … Or maybe they don’t. Maybe they traipse home with palate fatigue and aching feet, pour a glass of whatever’s in the fridge door and melt on the sofa like a collapsed gazebo after a particularly disappointing village fete.
There’s an assumption that people who work in wine have home cellars overflowing with expensive, unicorn bottles (or, at the very least, a fancy wine cooler that munches away at our electricity bill but keeps our grand crus cold). But, while the domestic setting certainly offers the giddying pleasure of enjoying wine from work while watching Gladiators in our knickers, we’re definitely not cracking open first-growth claret every night. Wine is an infamously underpaid industry, and we need affordable bottles as much as everyone else.
“Most of us aren’t drinking our Instagram feed at home,” says Fikayo Ifaturoti, private client manager at Moët Hennessy, whose socials are often awash with vintage Pol Roger and rare burgundies. “All I need is for something to revitalise me, and I like a spätlese riesling for that. At about 8.5% ABV and with a high sugar content, I consider it an equivalent to coffee.”
I often crudely divide wine into two categories: “thinking wine” and “drinking wine” (or wine you can ruminate over and wine you can neck). Wine pros are looking for a mix of both, and for some sommeliers, such as Federico Moccia of 67 Pall Mall in London, even domestic drinking is an opportunity to learn: “After service, I still drink to educate myself, whether that’s exploring indigenous Italian varieties such as barbera or different styles of sherry, which is a wine that should definitely be appreciated more.”
I’m a huge advocate for the restorative power of sherry, as is Dan Keeling, wine merchant and co-owner of three Noble Rot restaurants and bars in London. “A good guide to how much pleasure a wine provides is how quickly it disappears. A Chassagne-Montrachet, say, might make it through only the first 90 minutes of Super Sunday, whereas a half-bottle of VORS amontillado sherry, to drink alongside the incessant raiding of the cheese drawer, might stagger into a third day. At the moment, there’s a petite arvine from Christophe Abbet in my fridge, a Swiss grape and producer that are two of my favourite discoveries of the past year.”
There is a tendency for merchants to get high off their own supply, so to prevent going full Scarface, Rebecca Perry, founder and buyer at Emile Wines, created her own “house” red. “Importing can be an occupational hazard when your office is full to the brim with high-end stuff,” she admits, “which is why I always keep our house pinot noir in the fridge door, so I don’t drink my profits or scare the accountant.”
Four wine styles favoured by the pros
Tesco Finest Mosel Steep Slopes Riesling £7.25 Tesco, 11%. Razor-sharp, revitalising riesling capable of resurrection for the short walk from the sofa to your bed.
Barbera d’Alba Fratelli Antonio e Raimondo 2021 £13.50 Corney & Barrow, 14%. It’s unsurprising that nearly everyone I talked to drinks Piedmontese wines at home. This is a classic barbera, with a seductive yet grounding, dark-fruit core.
Guy Allion Pinot Noir 2022 £16.50 Emile Wines, 13%. I often complain that the word ‘crunchy’ is overused, but this Loire pinot is its epitome: fresh, red fruit with a flinty, mineral quality. Make this your own ‘house red’.
Berry Bros & Rudd Amontillado by Bodegas Emilio Lustau £16.95, 18.5%. Federico is right: sherry is so under-rated as an at-home treat. Hopefully, this hazelnut-laden amontillado from sherry giant Lustau will change a few minds
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Hannah Crosbie is a wine writer and broadcaster. Her book Corker: A Deeply Unserious Wine Book, is published next month by Ebury Press at £16.99. To pre-order a copy for £14.95, go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
