His Thirsty Work: Matt Skinner

Matt Skinner puts to rest any notion you may have that all wine guys are a bit too, well, uppity. And that’s the point. Making himself and wine simple and easy to understand is a good reason why Skinner has had such a successful career as a wine author, writer, consultant, and educator. His books, like Thirsty Work and Heard It Through the Grapevine, have won accolades worldwide for their refreshing ability to make wine accessible. And his regular contributions to not-too-shabby publications like GQ and BBC Australian Good Food, not to mention time well spent as the sommelier of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen in London, have helped too. To get a taste for ourselves, The Urban Grocer chatted it up with this Melburnian about great wine and a life of leisure.

TUG: For you, what makes a great wine? 

Matt Skinner: Beyond the obvious, great bottles are more often the result of a wider experience; like who you were with at the time, where you were, and what you were eating. And then there’s the little things, which combined make a massive difference. Things like, how the wine had been stored, how it was served, at what temperature, and in what kind of glassware. Geeky I know, but trust me when I tell you it matters.  


TUG: If you couldn’t work in wine anymore, what would you do? 
 
MS: I’d be a man of leisure who put the vast majority of his time and energy into improving his golf game and surfing more regularly. 
 
TUG: Let’s say you could only drink 1 bottle, the rest of your life, which would it be and why?
 
MS: Such a hard question – probably Champagne, and if I had to get specific it would probably come down to either Louis Roederer Cristal 1990 or Salon Blanc de Blancs 1996. 
 
TUG: What is your favorite urban grocer or farmers market?
 
MS: Mercat de la Boqueria in Barcelona because apart from the fact that it’s like visual orgy for the senses, the produce is amazing quality, the people are friendly, it’s cheap compared to similar markets around the world, and there are numerous stalls dotted around the market that will cook using the absolute freshest produce available. 
 
[Top photo via the kitchn]