Vintners' Tales – a guide

John Avery MW outside his UK estate in a still from Vintners' Tales

13 February 2025 This week, John Avery MW, pictured above, takes the spotlight.

6 February 2025 This week's episode features Nigel Wilson.

30 January 2025 This week, Corney & Barrow, featuring Adam Brett-Smith.

23 January 2025 This week, Carla Carlisle of Wyken Vineyards.

1 January 2025 We're planning to publish a link to a newly improved episode of this BBC TV series each week.

In the early 1990s Nick and I were asked by the BBC to make a series of 10-minute programmes about notable characters in the wine world to fill a slot they then had just before News at Ten.

It was delightfully easy to think of suitable subjects and so we got together with director Frank Hayes to produce the first series of six, which went out in 1992, the ones with an ancient book in the title sequence.

These went down well and we were asked by Mark Thompson, then controller of BBC2 and subsequently CEO of The New York Times, to come up with a second series of six. This one was directed by David F Turnbull and it aired in 1998. Episodes in the second series begin with the name of the subject on a black background.

Both series were garlanded in the then-important Glenfiddich Food and Drink Awards and even won me Food and Drink TV Personality of the Year in 1999, the only time the award was ever made. Though looking back, I seem awfully stilted (and unlined).

In 2008 we sold a DVD of such Vintners’ Tales episodes as we could find in aid of Comic Relief. David Williams, then editor of the UK trade magazine Wine & Spirit and now wine writer for The Observer, wrote a very generous review of them.

We managed to track down nine episodes for this charitable venture and it is those nine that we are reissuing on YouTube on successive weeks, as shown below. They were previously on YouTube but pretty poor quality. The tech team with which we are now blessed has been working on them and has substantially improved the video quality. We do hope you enjoy them.

And if by any chance you know where we can find the missing three – on Richards Walford, D Byrne & Co of Clitheroe and Howard Ripley – do please let us know via the Contact link at the bottom of this page. We’d love to share the full range.

You can find out more about our various TV productions, including Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course, a series of 10 30-minute programmes filmed (no video) around the world which went out in 1995, in Old wine movies now online in full.

Episodes

Listed below are the episodes of Vintners' Tales (and their scheduled dates of release) on the JancisRobinson.com YouTube channel. Each episode title will become a live link once it is released.

Episode 1  Harry Waugh (26 December 2024)

Jancis interviews Harry Waugh (1904–2001), one of the most influential wine merchants in the British wine trade. He started his wine career in 1934 working for Block, Grey and Block. After serving in the Welsh Guards in WWII, he became a buyer for Harvey’s of Bristol, where he spent the majority of his career. There he also wrote several books: Bacchus on the Wing (1966), The Changing Face of Wine (1968), Pick of the Bunch (1970), Winetaster’s Choice (1973), and 10 volumes of Harry Waugh’s Wine Diaries (1972–1987). In 1989, he was made an Honorary Master of Wine.

In this interview, filmed in1992, Jancis and Harry discuss a life-changing trip with Bordeaux merchant Allan Sichel, importing wine from Beaujolais, bringing knowledge from California to Europe, and selling his cellar in order to fund the education of his children – born when he was 69.

Episode 2  Bill Baker of Reid Wines (2 January 2025)

In 1992, Jancis interviewed Bill Baker (1954–2008), a UK wine merchant with a generosity and energy that surpassed his girth (which was impressive). Cambridge-educated, he joined Averys of Bristol in 1976, then went on to set up Reid Wines, a West Country wine merchant, in 1980. He was one of the first merchants to sell fine wine by the single bottle – a topic he and Jancis delve into in this interview. They also discuss some less-than-satisfactory sparkling wine, his campaign to improve the food at his primary school, the benefits of buying from private cellars and his amusing method of dealing with past-due accounts.

Episode 3  Farr Vintners (9 January 2025)

Farr Vintners, founded in 1978, is Britain’s largest wholesale fine-wine merchant. In this 1992 episode of Vintners’ Tales, Jancis interviewed Farr Vintners directors Stephen Browett and Lindsay Hamilton. The duo poke fun at each other’s vintage years, discuss the pricing of first-growth bordeaux, dish on what it’s like to work with auction houses, and discuss the move from young upstarts to legitimate members of the trade.

Episode 4  Michael Broadbent MW (16 January 2025)

Michael Broadbent MW (1927–2020), auctioneer, writer and wine critic, was one of the most famous personalities in the world of wine. After serving in the Royal Artillery, he began his wine career at Layton’s Wine Merchants in 1952 before working at Saccone & Speed and Harvey’s of Bristol. In 1960, Broadbent passed his Master of Wine exam. A few years later he joined Christie’s, creating their specialised wine department and launching wine auctions. Throughout his career he was a prolific writer and published over a dozen books, the most popular being Michael Broadbent’s Wine Tasting (2000) and The Great Vintage Wine Book (1991). In 1998, Jancis interviewed him for this episode of Vintners’ Tales. Here they discuss his career as an auctioneer, the rivalry between Sotheby’s and Christie’s, his famously copious note-taking and the wines that have most stood out in his years in wine.

Episode 5  Carla Carlisle of Wyken Vineyards (23 January 2025)

In 1998 Jancis interviewed Carla Carlisle, the Mississippi-born owner and operator of the UK’s first vineyard restaurant, Wyken Vineyards, and long-running columnist for Country Life. They discuss the challenges of growing grapes in England, the dangers of developing ‘cellar palate’ and consumer perceptions of English wines. They then visit what was then one of the country’s first custom-crush facilities before tasting through a few Wyken wines.

Episode 6  Adam Brett-Smith of Corney & Barrow (30 January 2025)

Adam de la Falaise Brett Brett-Smith is the managing director of one of the UK’s oldest independent wine businesses, Corney & Barrow – but this wasn’t always the case. When Jancis interviewed him for this episode of Vintners’ Tales in 1998 he discussed his difficulty in breaking into the wine trade and considered what he would have done if he hadn’t managed to gain a foothold. Brett-Smith extols the merits of Bordeaux and the timeless qualities of the wine industry and comments on the rising demand for luxury wine in Asian markets. We’re given a glimpse of an office lunch, the company’s warehouse in Essex, and the roaring business being done at Corney’s testosterone-scented wine bars (now defunct).

Episode 7  Nigel Wilson of Lincoln College, Oxford (6 February 2025)

Professor Nigel Wilson was a fellow and tutor in classics as Oxford from 1962 to 2002. Around 1992 it became his responsibility to keep the cellars of Oxford’s Lincoln College stocked with some 20,000 bottles of wine. In 1998, when Jancis Robinson MW interviewed him for this episode of Vintners’ Tales they explored the cellars of Lincoln College. While grappling with locked doors and previously emptied cellars they discuss the pricing of bordeaux, Oxford’s declining consumption of port, and Wilson’s impressively diverse collection of wines.

Episode 8  John Avery MW of Averys of Bristol (13 February 2025)

In 1998, Jancis Robinson MW interviewed John Avery MW (1941–2012), head of Averys Wine Cellars and chairman of the International Wine and Food Society – a man whose disorganization is said to have been exceeded only by his generosity. In this episode he and Jancis discuss Ronald Avery, the founder of Averys; the company’s biggest business disaster; and one of the many brands he and his father brought to Britain.

Episode 9  Edmund Penning-Rowsell (20 February 2025)