Interview Jilly Goolden

Grape
expectations
You started your career as a journalist, how did you come to specialise
WORDS BY FIONA SHIELD PHOTOGRAPHS JENNY LEWIS
in wine?
Certainly wine came to me rather than me going to wine, it was about
being in the right place at the right time. I was a fledgling journalist and I From vintage to organic, Europe to Australia,
wanted to go freelance but I needed a speciality and I had already written
a little bit about wine. During that time I noticed that there were many
Jilly Goolden knows everything there is to
women’s magazines around that had recipes in but never anything about
know about wine. She talks to Kitchen Angels
drink, so I approached them with the idea. To be honest at that time I knew
very little about it, I just stayed one step ahead of my readers in terms of
about her part in establishing it as the country’s
knowledge. When I went to wine tastings I used to hover at the elbow of
favourite tipple
all the people I thought were really knowledgeable and influential. It may
sound as if I’m a charlatan, but my natural ability is that I have an incredibly
highly developed sense of smell. As a child I could open my mother’s
cupboard and tell what had last been cooked in the saucepans even after
they’d been washed up.
You’re renowned for your elaborate descriptions of wine when tasting...
There’s a very practical reason for that, it’s because I was talking about wine
on television. I realised there was no point in standing and talking about the
wine in my glass with traditional ‘winespeak’, talking about breeding and
elegance and provenance to somebody sitting at home without that same
wine in their glass. Instead I had to describe the actual taste and smell of
the wine so they could decide whether they’d like to try it or not. Sometimes
I’m ribbed about coming out with far-fetched descriptions. And misquoted
for likening a wine to ‘running naked through a bed of nettles’ for instance.
But my descriptions of wine aren’t made up – they are an analysis of the
scents and flavours of the wine, likening them to everyday scents and
flavours everyone will recognise.
Was there any wine expert you particularly looked up to?
Not really; when you go back to when I was just a fledgling little wine person
and beginning my wine career, the only wine icons there might have been
were crusty, dusty, elderly men who absolutely thought I was a load of
rubbish and just an upstart of the worst order. I would never have been hung
up on wine labels, wine provenance and wine snobbery. I’m fascinated by
scents and flavours, I therefore can completely ignore perceived wisdom
because I’m only interested in what the wine is like once it’s in the glass, I
don’t care about the label. }
winter 2008 KITCHENANGELS 139
kA27.Interview.Jilly_vp.mh.indd 139 19/8/08 8:30:37 pm
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