20 Questions for Richard Elia, Publisher, President, and Writer for QRW: Quarterly Review of Wines
Posted 07/03/2008 at 09:01 AM by Cathy
Tell me about QRW. What's your intention with the magazine? Who are you reaching out to, and what kind of stories will readers find in your pages?
Our intention is to advance the cause of wine and passion about wine. Knowledge about wine is also what I want. I am still a teacher.
Why did you start QRW?
Because I wanted to write and read and learn. What better way than to start your own publication...
How many years has QRW been published? What, in your opinion, are some of the most important trends and changes you've noticed over that period of time?
This is our 32nd year. In terms of trends, health and wine is the biggest, also the development of the California wine market.
What are some of the current developments you're seeing in wine, especially in terms of the global economy?
Wine – French wines in particular – are in trouble due to the Euro. We are in a serious global crisis, almost a depression. Wineries, like other markets, will suffer, decline, maybe die.
How has QRW covered the issue of global warming's impact on the wine industry? Do you see any wine regions being hit especially hard by climate change?
It's a theme we need to do more with. But scholarship is still not decisive. For example, we are debating what will happen to French vineyards or California vineyards amidst this change. No one knows for sure. We have advanced the cause of biodynamic wine growing with several major stories.
I've heard you refer to QRW's writing style as very "literary." What do you mean by that?
Simply, that we are committed to serious prose, well written prose, with literary allusions. We must be doing something right in this area. The accolade we often get is that the magazine is exquisitely written.
Tell me about your personal interest in wine. When did you become interested in it? How did that interest grow?
I've been into wine for 40 years, buying it in the sixties when no one was drinking it. My first Château Latour cost me $9, bought from Berenson's in Boston. I don't like beer, and I'm not much interested in the hard stuff, so wine took my imagination. I also teach Victorian literature and the allusions to port and Madeira and claret interested me.
Has your taste in wine evolved over the years? That is, do you love a particular style of wine now that you would have never liked 10 or 15 years ago?
Any great Cabernet or Burgundy, strictly red wine. I haven't loved wines beyond these personally because these are the two varietals that satisfy me well after the first sip. They stir the imagination with subtlety and charm and elegance.
What, if any, impact does your proximity to the city of Boston have on your involvement in the wine world?
We impacted the city enormously by bringing wine auctions to WGBH, wine tastings to major hotels, doing charitable events for libraries and hospitals, etc. I'm Boston born, raised, educated. Randy Sheehan (QRW's editor) and I are both Boston guys.
Are there things happening, wine-wise, in Boston that you don't see happening anywhere else?
QRW in Boston is the leader in wine tastings, auctions, etc. Much of the country is following our lead. They copy us at Boston Wine Expo, at PBS stations, at other food and wine publications. Our Boston based website is one of the biggest in the country (QRW.com).
Tell me about some of your activities over the years with wine in Boston. I know, for example, that you've had a long history with WGBH.
I just do charitable events. So I do WGBH. I started the three main auctions there, especially the Rare and Fine Wine Auction. I do wine auctions and wine dinners for good charitable causes. I keep a low profile because I'm not interested in publicity. If I were, I'd have myself in every issue.
Do you travel very much to wine regions around the country or around the world? If so, where you do love to go and why?
Not so much anymore; I send others. Travel lost its romance for me years ago. Besides, wherever I go I'm invited to wineries and dinners, etc., but that just translates into more work for me than I need.
Tell me about your personal collection of wine. Are you more of a collector, or more of a consumer?
Krug, more Krug, and more Krug. Also Taittinger and Cristal, the prestige wines, which fully deserve having run this magazine for 32 years. I collect and drink the great Cabs and Pinot Noir – Caymus, Shafer, Hobbs, etc. I dislike cult wines and dislike wine investors who really are voyeurs who stare at labels, not who drink and enjoy wine. They are like oil speculators, who just raise the prices.
Are there any bottles in your collection that you're especially glad to have? Why, or why not?
All that are there I want there; so, yes, I want them all, but they're there to share with friends. Otherwise, wine is a Midas problem. I have no intention of letting all that gold (wine) kill me. Share. It's what wine is about.
How do you go about accumulating bottles for your collection? Do you receive plenty of samples? Are you buying for your own consumption? Do you buy online or in local shops, or both?
I buy lots of wine locally; we need samples at QRW because there are so many wines and we can't do our Best of The Best without deliveries from distributor representatives. Napa and Sonoma have to come to us now because we can't possibly obtain all the wines without delivery. You can't legally order wine via the internet in Massachusetts.
I imagine you must be the person at the table in a restaurant that people automatically hand the wine list to. What's your advice for choosing wine for the table?
Choose the best you can get for the least. Wines in restaurants are grossly overpriced. If I want great wine, I drink it at home.
In the summer issue of QRW you and your staff chose "best of the best" from California wineries in a number of different varietals. How do you judge which wines are "the best"? And how do you choose which wines will even make it into your tasting?
Set up varietals, bag and number the bottles, taste, concentrate. Memorize, and select. Blind tastings destroy hubris and teach you a lot about wine. It's a humbling experience. Randy Sheahan, our editor, is also our guru at QRW. He has what great tasters need: a memory. And a great ability to discern flavors. He's recognized across the country.
What wine have you tried in past week or two that you'd say was a favorite?
2002 Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon, because Hobbs and Caymus and Shafer et. al have what great wines has: flavor, texture, and finish in abundance.
Where do you go, or what do you do, at the end of a long day when you just want to relax with a glass of wine?
I go home. Get a good book. Open some wine. Talk with my wife. Dine while pairing wine and food.
Any words of advice for people in Boston just starting to learn about wine?
People start sweet and end dry. Start with an easy white, like Chard or Chablis; you'll gradually move to an easy red, like rosé then Zinfandel, and up to Cabernets and Pinots. Enjoy. There's too much humbug about wine. Open it and drink. That was the advice Phillipe de Rothschild gave me when I interviewed him years ago. It's still true.
E-Mail
| 
Digg this!
| 
del.icio.us
365 Days RSS
| Comments RSS for this post
