AWESTRUCK: MY HUMBLE INTERVIEW WITH THE CHAMPION OF TERROIR, WINE WRITER ALICE FEIRING

I must admit, I have never felt as intimidated as I did preparing for my interview of Alice Feiring, the “wine Faerie” according to Tom Wark from Fermentation, who took on the icon himself, Mr. Robert Parker, in her 2008 book, The Battle for Love and Wine, Or How I Saved The World From Parkerization. It was a no-holds-barred tome, taking up the fight for authenticity and “terroir” in wine in the face of a looming influence of Parker and his wine critic brethren.

I was extremely intimidated because I was 1) interviewing a published, well-respected voice in the wine business, 2) she is not afraid of Robert Parker so what would she think of my unknown ass, and 3) this only being my second interview, me a completely untrained journalist (call me that and you deserve to be punched in the face), and the fact I sound permanently stoned on the phone, I was understandably nervous.

Rushing to get all my morning chores done, clear out the office and make sure that NO ONE interrupted me as I would have my tape recorder running and ye ol’ DEP’s phone line wasn’t what you’d call crystal clear audibility.

K2: Good morning Alice. I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.

AF: No it’s alright. I am embarrassed to say I forgot you were going to call until I saw the Kentucky number on Caller ID.

K2: No worries. [Editor’s Note: I felt obliged to interject a small disclaimer before starting, making sure that if I asked something that was “off-limits” or inappropriate, to have her say something like “pass” or “next question” – “none of your business you asshole.”] So Alice, where were you born?

AF: Brooklyn.

K2: What things that have popped up in your childhood that you can now look back and say had an influence on you in your present (wine) life?

AF: (Eluding to topics in her 2008 book) Starting to drink as an infant, being sent to raid my stepmother’s ex-husband’s wine cellar in my twenties, tasting my first real wine which was a very transformative experience.

K2: How would you say your academic background has influenced your wine writing?

AF: I don’t know about my academic background but my formation as a writer, which is all about storytelling, it’s what behind the bottle needs to be behind the taste. I’ve also wanted to know in my training as an expressive therapist, I am psychologically oriented which I bring a lot of that to my writing.

K2: What you said (in your book) about the Barolo with which you had your first real wine experience resonated with me, in that I am a big fan of Barolos… what was the kind of the ultimate revelation you had in finding out about the winemaker (of that wine – Giovanni Scanavino 1968)? Did it diminish that first experience at all?

AF: Not at all. I found out the vintage I had was one of the few he didn’t make from his own grapes, he had to sell off his own land (due to a scandal Alice learns of while travelling in Piedmont). It was a bad vintage – it was not considered a great vintage and he wasn’t considered a great winemaker, but there were moments he did do good work, and that was supposedly one of the years, and actually recently, somebody in Vancouver I think, recently found a bottle, and put it in a blind tasting. It was certainly the wine of the evening, and it was alive, and it was gorgeous, and it was basically about 30 years later, and he had very similar notes (to mine). So that was very validating.

K2: Is there a particular wine region you are more enamored with than others?

AF: That keeps on changing doesn’t it, but it pains me that I haven’t been to Piedmont in four or five years, but I do love that area. And I do love Loire. If I could only have one region it would be Loire, because of typicity and soil and grapes. There are others but those are probably my top two. It’s really hard to say just two.

K2: What would be your favorite wine type or favorite wine?

AF: I don’t necessarily like talking grapes, but if I had to choose one grape it would be Gamay.

K2: How do you like being thought of as a “champion of terroir?”

AF: I like being called a “champion of terroir” better than some of the other things I’ve been called. Actually I never heard that one. What could be bad? What could be bad about being a champion of the soil, and farmers, with people who are so wonderfully honest and expressive or of such extreme dedication. I guess I would just say proud.

K2: What are some of your influences or inspirations in your wine writing?

AF: I think my favorite novelists are inspirations in my wine writing. Any sort of writing, when I get stuck – Philip Roth, Edith Wharton, a lot of the British lady writers, there is not a lot of wine writing out there, I just don’t think a model exists in our generation. I go way back, really far back to when wine writing was an art, and there was one book – In the Vine Country by Somerville and Martin Ross – that I go back to to see what they wrote about. And the British who write about wine, I love Andrew Jackson (Downing).

K2: You are pretty vocal against the 100-point scale. Is there a way that would better communicate what a wine is about and what its quality level would be?

AF: Unfortunately I think it takes a bit of work for somebody to find a wine writer whose tastes would be similar, and then just read them. But I don’t think there is some sort of quantification system you can use because taste is not objective, and that is the tremendous fallacy of it. I supposed once you get used to it, I suppose an Advocate score is 98, I probably won’t like it. If it was 78, I would.

K2: Are there any New World wines that you do like?

AF: Yes, and they’re Old World (style). (She laughs here). I recently came across a wine that was made in Argentina that was extremely beautiful, and it tasted of a place. A little revolution going on in Australia, where the wine is being made naturally and I find those wines extremely interesting. There are some but there are few and far between. There is also a revolution going on in California, but I am not sure how long that will take, but there are wines from California I happily drink.

K2: What do you think the reaction has been overall to your last book?

AF: I think overall it’s been pretty positive but what I find is remarkable is that there are a lot of people who are negative about it, that have never read it. I find that amazing. (Laughs) There are a lot of people who decide what the book is about from the title and try to rip me to shreds about it, but overall, yeah I’ve received many readers who have told me they came away from the book never looking at wine the same way, and the best comment I got was that it validated their sense, because before they read my book, that they would feel like there was something wrong with them that they didn’t like the wines they were suppose to like. And that was the best thing about the book, that people could read the book and come away with more validation of their own palate.

K2: (Trying to shut my fucking phone off with its suddenly obnoxious heavy metal ringtone as I try to continue my interview without Ms. Feiring noticing) Did Parker ever reach out to you?

AF: Uh-uh, no.

K2: Where do you see yourself in the future? Do you see yourself continuing to write or do you see yourself venturing into the wine business?

AF: Not really. I did make wine in 2008 and I talk about it in my new book coming out this summer [Editor’s note: it’s called Naked Wine and it’s due out in August of this year], but I don’t see myself making wine, I really find it rather boring. I wouldn’t make wine without growing my own grapes. There’s a lot happening, can I afford to stay a writer or do I have to get a retail job. It comes down to I think I am just an idiot savant and I just have to find a way to keep on writing.

K2: Are there some winemakers that you truly admire?

AF: Oh absolutely. There are many. I gravitate toward a winemaker that is absolutely crazy.

K2: Are there any wine writers that you admire or at least respect?

AF: Of course. By all means. (New York Times’) Eric Asimov is a great writer, he’s a great voice of reason. Also Mike Steinberger at the Slate.

K2: What are your thoughts on wine blogging?

AF: What are my thoughts on wine blogging, ah, I wish I could stop. (Laughs) I wish I could stop, I find myself getting really burned out about wine blogging. It’s very hard to keep on writing for free. (Agreed Alice, agreed). It’s a lot of time, and I’m not sure that it’s worth it. Then every once in awhile you get those wonderful notes from people who read your blog everyday, so I think okay, I guess I’ll write some more, but basically wine blogging are the same as any blog, people think because they have an opinion they have the right to say it as truth.

K2: This subject has been pounded to death on the blogosphere, but do you ever think that blogs will ever overshadow traditional print media?

AF: Traditional print media will eventually totally live in the electronic world, and then there will be the rise of extremely expensive publications like the World of Fine Wine; print will never totally go away but it will get pretty expensive. But blogging will ever have the weight, even now, a lot of people are courting, there are many people who hire publicists – unless people see it in print it doesn’t exist. There are more people who do read blogs.

K2: Last question. If there was one thing you could do to change the way American wine drinkers look at the Old World style of wine, what would it be?

AF: (Long pause). It probably will happen (the changing of American’s old world wine perception) but if I could, and I don’t know whether I would say it’s the old way or just wine in general, if I could help the general public understand that wine comes in all kinds of different weight, and that there isn’t just one way. If wine is light or elegant, it’s not thin. That would be a great advance.

K2: Thank you Alice for taking time to talk with me.

AF: It was great talking to you.

Check out Alice’s book The Battle for Love and Wine, or How I Saved the World From Parkerization at Amazon.com and look for her upcoming book, Naked Wine, in stores August 2011. And visit her blog at https://alicefeiring.com/.