Anne Krebiehl

Anne Krebiehl MW: “I cannot actually remember – it sort of happened gradually. I was a rather abstemious teenager and only started drinking wine when I was an exchange student in the States – I preferred wine to either beer or spirits. It was quite a bit later that I started investigating it more seriously when I really came to wine through food and the kitchen once I started cooking and finally had a kitchen in London.
“A chance tasting a little later – with the Sotheby’s Wine Bible in tow – during a summer holiday in the South of France eventually did the trick. We tasted wine in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and it was a magical encounter. Later on that same trip, I was given two glasses of the same grape, same vintage, but one from old and one from new vines at Chapoutier’s shop in Tain l’Hermitage, I could not believe how different the wines were and this set me off: once I got back to London I started taking courses and classes and I have never stopped learning since!”

“Well, I often think that if I had my time over again, I would study botany and then breed citrus and roses or be a gardener. But I may just as well be a chef or a baker. But with my current background I would probably still have ended up as a writer of some sort, because that is what I wanted to do, I always loved language, but hardly dared to admit to myself for the longest time that I wanted to be a writer.”

“It was less inspiration than being asked by the publishers at Infinite Ideas who had revived the ‘Classic Wine Library’ that had been a key wine book series by Faber & Faber. It was not a good deal at all but having had all my wine training and education in the UK, I knew how the international world saw German wines, and I had something to say about that. I learned so much when I researched and wrote the book, and I am glad I was able to delve into the regional history and explain why the law is the way it is….”

“I was just so happy and so gratified. There had not been a thorough book on German wines for a number of years, so there was some hunger, but I am so happy when I still get messages on insta from readers who found it helpful when they were studying. When I won the Louis Roederer Awards Book of the Year I was bowled over, I just could not believe it. I was so happy!”

“The most challenging for me was to pass the tasting exam. For some reason, because I am a writer, I found it easier to pass the theory and the dissertation: after all, it means finding, researching and understanding information and then reproducing it in a coherent manner, which is sort of my job. Tasting was much harder as I had so little confidence. I was my own worst enemy. At the time, I had so little money that I mostly only tasted wines, rather than drinking them in a relaxed fashion – and this explains a lot of my lack of confidence. You need experience in drinking, not just tasting. It took me a while to realise this. It only occurred to me two years ago or so. At the time, however, in 2014 when I passed, I did so with the help of a sports psychologist who helped prime my brain and heart to performing when it mattered. I am so grateful to him”

“Oh my, this is impossible to answer. Impossible. It would have to be a region where you have fine sparkling wine and fine Pinot Noir at the same time – so the Californian coast could be it, or Tasmania. Or even England… or Alpine Italy… but I have a soft spot for the northern Californian coast with its giant redwoods and the Pacific Coast – I love when the perfume of the ocean combines with that of conifer….”

“Language and writing came first – I fell in love with English the moment I started learning it at age 11. I loved words, I loved being able to communicate, I took language qualifications (English as a foreign language) to a very high level and then studied English Literature, which, incidentally, is what brought me to London.”

“The same thing that has always fascinated me: that I never stop learning, that I still encounter completely new styles even in regions I know, that wine is still enticing and totally delicious. And that so many winemakers and growers are grappling with the immense challenge of climate change and are still hopeful.”