Winemaker Interview: James Hook, Lazy Ballerina

Friday, May 23 2008 · Posted in Interviews 

By Adam Catford

Name:
James Hook

Age:
28

Where you currently make wine:
Lazy Ballerina, McLaren Vale.

I find it funny to be called a winemaker because I have never worked in a ‘proper’ winery. I spill a lot of wine each year. I owe numerous favours to real winemakers, Paul Petagna - Diavolo, Hamish Maguire - Shottesbrooke, Justin Lane and Adam Hooper - Redheads.

My day job as a viticulturalist pays the bills. To make wine I rely on picking good healthy fruit and just trust in that.

Where you’ve made wine in the past:
As if anyone would let me in their winery? I would break too much.

Most significant wine you’ve ever drunk:
1998 Yalumba Shiraz Viognier Barossa.

Could you describe this wine?
Significant because I really remember thinking ‘Wow, I like wine.’ It has a striking package, it was the first Shiraz Viognier I ever tried. Even though it is 85% Shiraz and 15% Viognier is wasn’t over the top apricot peachiness. It got me turned on to wine. It was just as well as I had spent four years and had amassed a $20,000 university debt by this point.

Wine you’re most proud of having been associated with the making of?
Inkwell Vineyards, McLaren Vale. I helped the owner turn a dilapidated vineyard into a gem. It sells under the Inkwell label while other parcels go to the top end gear at Chapel Hill. Watch this space.

What wine that you have made has the most interesting story behind it – and what is that story?
2004 Lazy Ballerina Shiraz.

This was my first wine. It was made from stolen grapes. Well, grapes I shouldn’t have been able to buy. They were contracted to a powerful winery.

In 2004, about two months out from picking, I asked a grower if I could buy a couple of rows. The vineyard was contracted to this prominent winery but had been unremarkable and the winery didn’t place much stock in it.

That season the grower and I had put a lot of work into the vineyard on improving the quality so I was confident it could make a really good wine, and was an ideal place to start making my own.

I honestly didn’t think the winery would notice the loss.

The only problem was the fruit turned out to be really, really good. The winery that took its portion made a great wine out of it, paid a big bonus for the fruit and started to consider it one of their flagships.

Next thing we knew we had scientific trials in the vineyard, soil tests, group red winemakers flying in from the US and VIP’s touring the vineyard.

All that extra attention pleased the grower but they started to get very nervous. They got even more nervous when my 2004 Lazy Ballerina started getting good reviews and everyone wanted to know where the grapes came from. They were convinced that the winery would realise that the Lazy Ballerina and the powerful company wine were the same grapes!

Over the next few years it got harder and harder to hide. I had to pick in secret and try to keep it low key.

Fortunately the grower has just inked a new contract and got an exemption on those vines so it is all above board from now on.

Is there any wine you’ve been associated with the making of that, if you had your time again, you’d treat/make differently?
I had a batch of wine degrade from Brett. I had some dodgy old barrels and didn’t realise what was going on until too late.

In your opinion, which wine style/grape variety does Australia and New Zealand, respectively, do best?
I think you cannot go past what New Zealand has done with Sauvignon Blanc. They create a unique product. Similarly Australian Shiraz is unique.

These are the obvious answers, if I think a little outside of the square we are starting to see some excellent Rhone blends with Mataro, Shiraz and the old workhorse Grenache from McLaren Vale and the Barossa.

Other than the wineries you have worked with, which Australian/NZ winery is best represented in your personal cellar?
Kilikanoon. (If anyone from d’Arenberg is reading – can I get some cheap?)

Favourite wine region (Australia):
I can’t say McLaren Vale where I live and work. I have a soft spot for the Clare Valley. It is a truly beautiful place and has kept a small town character and still has a healthy amount of remanent vegetation. If you go stand on the hilltop at Pauletts in Polish Hill River, no one can argue if they have seen that view.

Favourite wine region (world-wide):
Chateau Neuf du Pape. Just for the name alone – the wine is a bonus.

Favourite movie:
So many, it is hard to answer. My first favourite movie was Tim Burton’s Batman, second place all 1st generation Star Wars!

Favourite book (general):
1984 - George Orwell.

Favourite wine-related book:
I have read the Wine Hunter which I enjoyed. I like The Perfect Glass of Wine by Ben Canaider. I like the aim of this book, as in most of his writing, to de-mystify wine.

Desert-island food-wine match:
Flame cooked, rosemary and salted lamb with a tough Grenache.

How do you take your coffee?
Black like my heart … Or sometimes with a dash of milk.

What do you most love about the wine industry?
The complexity, I doubt that I will ever really understand vineyards and wine. You could spend 20 lifetimes. You need to use both your artistic and scientific brains at the same time.

What do you most detest about the wine industry?
The feeling of competition between people. Ego. There should be more love and appreciation.

Any comments you would like to make in relation to the wine industry here or globally?
The days of sunshine in a bottle are over. Water is just going to be too expensive to produce lower price pointed wine in Australia. Like all challenges this could be an opportunity for innovation.

I am excited that we have a professional industry with many cluey people turning to small lot winemaking and beginning a new tradition of regional wine with a true story and heart.


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