Matt Skinner - more important than Joe thinks?

There were a number of highlights at the 2010 Taste of the Tamar. But the main drawcard for us was the chance to talk with internationally renowned wine writer Matt Skinner. He's probably best known for his collaboration with Jamie Oliver but as we found out he's done a great deal more. He was in Launceston to host a number of masterclasses at the Taste of the Tamar and we got our chance to have what turned out to be a very enjoyable talk after the chardonnay session.

Having learnt our lesson from the Max Allen discussion we started by letting Matt plug his latest venture. He is currently the 'ambassador' for Australian designed Plumm glassware. Besides helping to pay the mortgage he has loaned his not inconsiderable fame to the project because he is impressed with the effect the glassware has on the look, smell and taste of wine. 

Matt explained the impact that a glass can have on wine by using the analogy of hearing your favourite music through a mono speaker and then played again through an expensive stereo system."The difference is vast" he said "It really adds to the experience".

Matt did his duty as ambassador by highlighting all the good points of the Plumm glasses but he had to admit that they wouldn't be the glass of choice in a bar fight. While they will withstand an enormous number of dishwasher cleaning runs they are simply too flimsy to be used to protect the honour of your girlfriend or to convince someone that your footy team is vastly superior to theirs.

Having got the plug out the way it was time to find out more about Matt. The first thing you notice is that he's a young chap. In fact he could still hang out at the skate park without someone calling the police. Although he disagrees "I'm not that young ... I'm 36 this year" Matt declared (Yeah, whatever - Ed). Young or not, his achievements are pretty impressive. In fact, he's done enough to have filled the career of most other people.

He has certainly made the most out of his opportunities. He started in a Melbourne bottle shop from a "fear of failure ... I had to get a job ... I didn't have a lot of prospects". While he had been taken to wine regions as a kid he had no real passion for wine.

Luckily his first boss encouraged him to learn as much as he could about what they were selling. This led him to undertaking an introductory wine course. Despite having just finished school and not quite understanding how he came to be back in the classroom, Matt found the course to be a revelation. It helped that he paid more attention in this class than some of his earlier efforts "Because I'd paid half my tuition ... there I was in the front of the class instead of up the back ... I was determined to get my money's worth!". 

While being a girly swat it occurred to Matt that there was a reason why his parents were keen on wine. "I found it fascinating, I really did!". He realised that wine was this "incredible collision of art, history, science, geography and people". This notion, along with the work ethic inherited from his Mum, has been the source of his motivation and drive over the last sixteen years. His advice to people who want to emulate him is simple. "Never be complacent and continue to learn".

Matt sees his job as being an interpreter between the language of wine and the wider community. He believes that the media in general, and wine writers in particular, over estimate how much their readers know about wine. He has conducted several book tours throughout the world and the same questions keep coming up from the people he meets.

"If I spend the rest of my life helping people understand the difference between screw caps and cork, what a decanter does or how to keep an open bottle ... I don't mind ... that's my job".

That attitude really shows the essence of Matt Skinner. He is personable, down to earth and remarkably unaffected by his success. There was no better demonstration of this when our interview was gate crashed by Joe Holyman (Stoney Rise Vineyard) who wanted to know why it was taking so long. "He's not that famous you know!".

You can hear the full interview by listening to the podcast (23.2mb 25:21 minutes). During our discussion: Matt tells us why drinking wine from a vegemite glass is a bad idea, he predicts that Tasmania will be world leaders in sparkling and pinot, we talk about why all wineries and vineyards in Tasmania need to work together, we hear Matt's sensible ideas about wine and child rearing and we finish on the bombshell that Jamie Oliver may be a cross dresser. 

For those of you who have got to this point and are thinking "why the hell didn't you ask him about Jamie Oliver" we have this response. Everybody who interviews Matt asks about Jamie and frankly we thought he would be sick to death of it. It's like being asked about your ex all the time, eventually you want to move on.

Turns out we probably didn't need to be so sensitive. At a dinner held over the Taste of the Tamar weekend PJ sat gobsmacked as everyone else at the table asked Matt questions about Jamie for an hour or so. Matt seemed happy to answer all of them ... mind you a lot of wine had been consumed by then.

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