Moving on from wine writing
For almost 13 years, I’ve been fortunate enough to earn a living by writing about wine. That doesn’t mean the majority of my income came from words themselves - far from it - but the opportunities I got for masterclasses, consultation, teaching and private tastings all came off the back of being a wine writer.
I took full advantage of those opportunities. But it was very apparent that they weren’t getting any bigger. Plus, the cycle of trade tastings in London started feeling relentlessly samey. I was getting jaded, and the outlook for my career looked pretty static.
I know, I know. Many people would have jumped at the chance to do that job, and I have nothing but gratitude for it. The job hadn’t changed - and that was exactly the problem.
Eastward ho!
When I moved to Singapore in July 2019, I was keen to see what other work opportunities might present themselves. When we first decided to relocate, I didn’t realise that 67 Pall Mall (which I had been a member of since January 2014) was planning to open its first overseas branch there - and at first, there was no expectation of work.
Within a few months, I found myself discussing potential roles with CEO Grant and COO Niels, who were in Singapore to establish the club. At the time, pre-pandemic, the proposal was for me to oversee a programme of wine events in Singapore and beyond. As soon as lockdown moved everyone and everything online, the role morphed into video content - starting with Zoom webinars, but soon evolving into the fully fledged wine channel, 67PallMall.tv.
I’m now working on this project, as well as helping to establish the Singapore Club, for four days a week. I am still contributing tasting notes and a monthly column for JancisRobinson.com, as well as a new bi-monthly wine column for local food and drink magazine epicure, but I can no longer justifiably call myself a wine writer. Communicator, maybe. Drinker, most definitely. Writer? Not really.
It’s the end of that phase of my career, in which I was incredibly fortunate. It was an overwhelmingly positive experience, filled with lovely wine and even lovelier people. But it was a path with pretty limited prospects, and I was ready for a new challenge, as they say.
I have no regrets in now calling myself an occasional wine writer, or even a former wine writer, and only good memories of the people and places I encountered over the last decade. It was never the easiest way to make a living, but it was surely one of the tastiest.