Everything I've paid for
(and everything I haven't)
I’m currently a guest of Cava DO for the ‘Cava meet’ conference in Barcelona
I went to Paris for a major wine launch recently. Arriving at the hotel, I realised I’d left my wallet in the UK.
“Typical wine writer!”, joked a colleague.
Ah, the freebies. I enjoyed reading this piece by Andy Neather on Tim Atkin’s website last week. Wine writers talking about wine writing always seems boring to me, but I get asked about it all the time - I still earn around half my income from music, although wine is taking over; next year I expect the balance will shift further. The absolute figures, though, don’t matter too much (aside from pointing out that no, a sparkling-wine-writer-jazz-musician does not singly cover London-mortgage-twin-childcare, and that my brilliant wife has a much more sensible career). Anyone making a claim to be impartial probably ought to disclose all the hospitality they’ve received, so here’s everything since the Tim Atkin 2022 Champagne Report:
PRESS TRIPS - these were launches of new wines.
Henriot - I paid for travel as I was in Champagne in any case. One night accommodation + dinner
Bollinger - harvest trip. One night accommodation and lunch, no travel
Dom Pérignon - one night accommodation, dinner and travel
Mumm - travel, one night accommodation and lunch
Moët et Chandon - one night accommodation, dinner, one-way travel back to UK
Bruno Paillard - one night accommodation in Reims, one-way travel to Reims
Cava DO - travel out to Barcelona, four nights accommodation for the ‘Cava Meet’ conference
Henri Giraud - one night’s accommodation and dinner
There have also been London launches, including lunches or dinners, for : Bollinger (R.D. 2008), Rare, Doyard, Caillez-Lemaire, Nyetimber, the Franciaorta Consortium, Laurent-Perrier, Dom Pérignon, Fleur de Miraval, Telmont, Ca’ Del Bosco and Bruno Paillard. I also had lunch in Champagne at Deutz and Piper-Heidsieck. I receive more samples than I can really list - if it’s a review, it’s probably a sample if it wasn’t tasted at the property or at a tasting/launch.
So, over the last 2 years I have had 11 nights courtesy of producers/associations and (I think) 20 meals.
I have personally arranged 45 nights and associated travel + costs (I’m lucky to have friends and family in France, including in the Champagne region, who I often stay with, so this is not as ruinous as it might seem!, and I’m also travelling independently in Spain after the conference this week.)
How's the balance? I think it's OK. I don't have time for jollies or unproductive trips and there's only one of those press trips I regret taking (because there wasn’t a good story.) Writers working further afield have to take more press trips to make things add up, so I’m lucky. What do you think?
Tom
Full marks for disclosure. I think it's a tricky one, always has been. Newspapers in the UK don't have the resources to pay contributors well, never mind their expenses (I earn roughly the same per piece as I did in the 90's, sometimes less). You couldn't do the job without travel or samples though, living in Bristol, I subsidise my frequent trips to London for tastings. The alternative is that only writers of considerable private means get to do the gigs. Not necessarily a good thing either!
Hello Mr Hewson
What you did should be mandatory and instantly raises your credibility above everybody else's. (It lingered around there before.) Maybe not your tasting skills, but I'd rather take credibility as tastes vary anyway - especially if they're influenced by fancy trips.
Cheers