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Julia Harding is a Master of Wine and an author. A Master of Wine takes a lot of time, study, exams, and tastings to achieve, “and makes you realize you know nothing about wine,” she quips.
Earning a Master of Wine takes at least 3 years and involves a dissertation. The topic she selected was different routes to market for wines from the Loire Valley.
She explains that the dissertation process is an argumentative system with a lot of writing and arguing your point. “You are suggested when you take your tasting exams, that you argue like a lawyer,” she explained
She describes a major motivation for pursuing the master of wine as, “I felt that if I knew more about it, I would get more pleasure from it. Because wine sort of pleasure to me is every sort of pleasure. Because it’s the physical, sensual pleasure of the tasting. But there’s a lot of cerebral pleasure because it’s an intellectual pursuit as well.”
In her estimation, wine is history, art, culture – but most of all, lovely people. This mindset came through in our meeting with her – it is clear that she is following her life’s passion.
Wine Revealed met with her in Slovenia at the Wine Master Class. She describes the area as lovelier than the pictures and the wine of very high quality, “All the producers I’ve visited with have the same passion and history, and a lot of intergenerational family businesses, which is quite distinctive about wine.”
Discussing her ongoing wine education, she offers, “the more I learn, the more I enjoy, and the more hungry I am to try different wines, go to different places, meet new winemakers. The hunger to discover new wines just continues to grow.”
Her passion for the world of wine is apparent and contagious, and she has a lot to say to those new to wine. Wine novices, she explains, should be assured that “nothing you can say is stupid” and that they should be confident to express their opinions.
One of her tricks earlier in her wine journey was to get to know the staff at her favorite wine store. She then found someone with a palate similar to her own. She then made this her go-to person for recommendations, and encourages novices to do the same and find a wine shop employee who cares about helping them, “You want somebody who you trust to be more adventurous. I think that’s the key thing, being adventurous.”
Her favorite wines are German Rieslings, dry, off-dry, and sweet. She’s a big fan of white burgundy. She also likes what she describes as “obscure things” – Portuguese varieties, Greek varieties, for example, and rare varieties that are only grown in one little place, such as rebula in Slovenia.
She prefers unique, traditional, location-specific wines, as opposed to, “You buy a Merlot, it could be made anywhere… I like the wines you can’t replicate.”
In Slovenia, she had the opportunity to try a number of orange wines, with a deep amber color from long contact with skins, she says she likes them a lot. She offers that “they’re very versatile with food, and you can drink them all the way through the meal. They’re a bit harder to drink on their own as an aperitif.”
Julia has co-authored some amazing and informative books, including the beautiful Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavours, as well as The Oxford Companion to Wine (Oxford Companions).