Encounter with the Wine Queen

In the world of wine, there are a few wine experts who have gained international prominence. Robert Parker and his wine rating system is yet to be replaced by another metric or an alternate persona. Gary Vaynerchuk has a totally different approach, almost flamboyant yet well informed and interesting to watch and listen. Some are simply abhorred for their wine egos. Then there are those who are at the top of the pinnacle and almost worshipped like royalty. I recently had the privilege of meeting one such person, the Wine Queen herself. This post is about that encounter.

I have read her wine pages, wine encyclopaedia and communicated with her by email but to meet with her and learn more about who she really is was something else. I expected to see a bespectacled, ostentatious, snooty and aristocratic lady who spoke wine glossolalia like so many other top wine gurus. My experience was pleasantly different.

We had never met each other in person and I had arranged to meet with her at the Auckland Airport. Her plane landed earlier than expected. Suddenly I heard a soft spoken lady ask me, “Are you Adon Kumar? Yes I am”, I responded. “I am Jancis Robinson”, she introduced.

Soon we found a café and my encounter with a renowned wine Queen began. Jancis chose to drink a bottle of mineral water and I chose coke. How odd to skip wine! We spoke about the wine world, doing wine business online, wine economics, wine culture and a little about why she was in New Zealand (for a Pinor Noir event). During the hour long chat, we talked about the ordinary things in life.

Jancis came across as a genuine non-egotistical person and spoke with no plum in her mouth as some aristocratic British do. She was so down-to-earth, unassuming and fun to talk with. She was not pushing her barrow nor extolling her fame. The indigenous people of New Zealand, the Maori (Tangata Phenua or People of the Soil) have a very special word to describe the quality that Jancis exuded. The word is Mana. People and inanimate objects can have mana or a spiritual quality, often considered to be of supernatural origin. People with mana command authority and respect without asking for or seeking it. Such people have a “presence” which is experienced by being with them or imparted by the way they talk and act or when they simply walk into the room.

Mana is a quality that is rarely found in the snobbish world of wine. Yet I found mana in the Wine Queen – Jancis Robinson. That day we exchanged mana because it is possible.

What has been your experience with your Master of Wine? Would you have expected Jancis to be such a person had I not shared my rendezvous with her?