Ep. 263 Annette Scarfe MW (Wine Consultant) on the MW Journey and the Singapore Wine Market

This episode of the Italian wine podcast is brought to you by the new book, San Jose, Lambruschco, and other vine stories. Researchers Atilio Shenza and Cerrenne Macio, explore the origin and ancestry of European great varieties in a tale of migration, conquest, exploration, and cross cultural exchange. Hardback available on Amazon and Europe, Kindle version available worldwide. Find out more at Italian winebook dot com. Italian wine podcast. With Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast in the Montewood in my guest today. Is Annette Scarf master of wine. Basically, sorry. Right. When did you become an MW then? In two thousand and twelve, and it was a bit of a career change for me, actually. I was used to be in banking That's what took me to Singapore twenty three years ago. And then I'd always had a love of wine when I lived in the UK before, I'd I'd worked with a lot of people running sort of very low key consumer tastings. I set up a very small distribution company, but kind of always felt that I had to keep working in the big corporate world to the money, and then I was always going to retire into something that I really loved. And that's what I've done. Alright. When you say retirement, you're not like it's not like you're four hundred and fifty years old though, is it? No. We're not with oxygen. No. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not four hundred and thirty. So you've crammed a lot in I've I've crammed a lot in. Thank you very much, Monty. So, yes, that's right. So I've lived in Singapore, you know, nearly all my life, obviously, just twenty three years there. So now I've certainly not retired, and I've got no intentions of retiring, but I have retired from that corporate life sort of chasing around pieces of paper. And So when you say the corporate life, what actually specifically were you were you doing? I was a chief financial officer of a major international bank, and then I ran the small business unit of the of the bank as well. So So from Goliath to David. So something like that. But really, you know, I always wanted to follow my love of wine, and that's what I did. Did that come from, you know, the classic, you know, boozy lunches with the boys, you know, a glass of wine after work. You had a good day. You know, you're gonna rather than having the Piet door, you're gonna splash out on a brunello or something like that. Was it like that, or was it? No. It wasn't like that at all. You don't seem like a hell raising. No. It came from the very first day of university. I've been quite privileged as a child to be able to enjoy a glass of wine with something. Breastfed with what? Was it red or white? Red or white. Yeah. Well, usually white actually, but when I first went to university, then I was thinking I went to this thing called the union bar on my very first day. That's the students. That's the That was the student's bar in Reading University and drunk a glass of what was supposedly what wine, and it's still to this day the most unlikely sort of thing that I could ever associate with wine. And I thought, oh my goodness, how can I ever be here for three years if that's all there is to offer? Was it really bad then? It was really bad. It was very bad. It was You don't remember you don't remember what it was. I do. It was a Belgian Cabane. There was nothing wrong with Bulgaria Cabane. They're actually very good. So I've got to be careful about that, but it was an oxidized one that had probably been open about two weeks in the bottom of the bar kept at twenty five degrees. So very grancio. And So so that was that. So from the student union that discovered wine. So then I decided that weekends instead of writing essays on economics and accounting, it will be much more interesting to jump in my car and go over to Champagne and buy Grower Champagne or go to the loire. And fill up big plastic boxes with wine, and then bring it back to my university halls for bottling. Really? Is that what you did? Yes. So you needed to know a little bit about microbiology then. You know, you don't just put any old cork in there and hope it doesn't start re fermenting. Well, you could buy those boots bottling kits in the days. Which is sort of like a high street chemist where you could be home for winemaking. You can buy winemaking kits. And so that really started my my love of wine. And then Did you really did you actually buy one of those winemaking kits and make wine? Yeah. None of make wine, but I bottled wine that I bought Oh, okay. Because I got those kits and I actually made wine. Yeah. That's where it started for me. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. So boot, we've got boots and got boots that are you this high street. Is it? Yeah. Okay. So, and then, next step? Let step was really just the corporate world for a number of years where I was, you know, traveling around. I moved to Singapore. I was responsible for nine countries traveled around Asia, but I just knew that I really just wanted to get back into this love of of wine. So all my holidays were spent going to wine regions. Really, all of my spare time was spent reading about wine, doing things about wine. So then I decided it was a fortunate time for me. I had the opportunity, well, a fortunate time in many senses. The bank wanted me after the financial crisis to move towards to South Africa. And I took the opportunity then to basically say I would rather leave and do my own thing. That was it then. That was it. And so No regrets. The rest is history. So I never dreamt of being a master of wine. You've heard of what they were then, I guess. I don't think I even really had actually. I just knew that in Singapore, we live in a place where news where pieces of paper are really important. I mean, if you've got a basket weaving certificate, you have to show a piece of paper for it. And so I knew that if I was going to do anything in the world of wine, I'd have to get some form of qualification. So I started on WSTT level three, and then did my diploma, and then I met these creatures called the Masters of wine. And I thought, who are they? And You know, they seem like normal people as we are. And I thought They're very deceptive, those are lovely. I thought I want to be one of those. And so my friends thought I was crazy because I was meant to be leaving that sort of very demanding banking world to do something that was a bit more pleasurable, and I was going to embark on one of the most difficult wine qualifications in the world. And so that's what I did. Did you pass it first time, everything? No. I didn't pass it first the tasting was fine. I struggled with my theory, actually. But I did get through it, but I passed my dissertation first time and won the prize for that. So Which was on? Rivera Deluero. So it's Spanish wine Spanish wine region. Everybody knows Rioca. It's very close to Rioca, the same grape, but less well known. Well, well known by some people, like Vegas Cecilia is known, but people don't always link Vegas Vegas Cecilia to Rivera Deluero, but that's where they are. We'll get right back to the Italian wine podcast after a quick reminder that this episode is made possible by the book, San Jose, Lambrusco, and other vine stories. Available on Amazon in Europe and Kindle worldwide. So how's your knowledge of Italian wine? I know it's your Italian wine is is I'm I'd like to say pretty good. I love Italian wines. Freight Reaches. I work all over, actually. I really I like everything from You're Italian then is you're not gonna you're not gonna narrow down favor one region. I'm not gonna favor down one region because I work a lot with with Italian wines. Actually, I work with an importer in Singapore, who's a specialist in Italian wines. We're talking about fine wines, aren't we? Or? We're not I mean, to be honest, not just fine wine, actually. Just a lot of more everyday wines so that can be drunk with the Chinese cuisine that we have in Singapore. So, obviously, the fine wines as well, but not certainly not just all of the fine wines, not just all of the Barolo Supertuscans, etcetera. It's a lot of everyday drinking wines as well. Go on and chuck some names. I mean, like Vadicchio or Yeah. So Vadicchio. Some wines. Cecilia wines definitely are becoming quite quite popular in Singapore at Naurasso. Because, you know, the wines, they're quite versatile. They're fruity, which is what the Asian palette likes, but they've got, you know, a really nice sense of structure. They go well with our food. In there. We drink a lot more reds in Singapore than we do white, which is kind of crazy. It is. It's quite I mean, I've never been there, but hot and humid. It's very hot and humid. The temp in wine terms, our diurnal temperature is about five degrees all year round. So we go from thirty five in the day to thirty at night. Maybe on a cold January, we might drop down to twenty six, twenty seven, and then there's a government warning because it's so cold. So it's which is quite hilarious, really. If you've Then you get earlier, go out. Yeah. You've come you've come from the UK like I have, but people do like a lot of red wines more. Prosecco has was a late starter in Singapore, and that's taken off quite well now. I mean, year on year growth, that's shown a thirty percent growth over over the last year. So it's really becoming quite a big category there. And Is that when you're saying about the climate hot, so what was it? Nothing better than having a nice cool prosecco, is that? Well, it's there's a big brunch culture in Singapore, which has always been dominated by the Champagne houses. And I think the the younger drinkers who are not willing to pay quite as much for their for their beverages are really starting to like the the, you know, the Circoside and the and the, you know, enjoying that with a Sunday brunch. It's quite typical for a group of friends to go out and they have we can't really advertise them as such in the UK, but in Singapore, they still advertise the bottomless brunches and you pay a fixed amount and the glass just never gets empty. So the bottomless brunch, I mean, when you what what what is the food on the table to go with that that table? Oh, that's absolutely everything. From showcasing all of our cuisines to from sort of Chinese Japanese Thai to much more western food on there. Some specialize in Italian food. It's there would usually be twelve, thirteen food counters there each showing five or six or seven different regions from Asia and different western foods as well. So lots of seafood as well. So they're very good. You should go to Singapore and try one. No. Are you just describing all that food? I mean, you're you're you're very slender lady. I don't know how you do it, but I think your metabolism is like a Ferrari. Okay. But you don't seem to have suffered the classic wine trade. No. I just I try not to. So, I mean, I think I'm a big lover of outdoors, which is why I love Singapore so much because, this is so easy from my front door. I can go. I can cycle for fifty kilometers without seeing a car. I have a swimming pool in the com Is it flat? In the complex. Yes. It's very flat. That's why. That's why I can cycle. Fifty kilometers. That's Is that just like a little jaunt for you? No. It's not a little jaunt, but it's something I would always like to cycle a bit at the weekends. And, you know, obviously not every day, I don't have time, but just to keep keep yourself self fit, it's important. You're very driven, though, aren't you? I mean, you're very unassuming. But you've been everything that you seem to do, you don't do fifty percent, you do a hundred and ten percent. I do do. I do do a hundred and ten percent. Well, you're quite you're quite demanding to work with. You you seem very docile and friendly, and I'm I don't know. I'm just kinda thinking if I ask the wrong question. I would I would didn't give you your research, boy. No. I would never I would never do that, and particularly not if it was anything to do with wine because I do do a little bit of wine education in Singapore, and I always tell everyone quite honestly, there is no such thing as a silly question, because I just want to share my love of wine, and the best way to learn is to ask. Yeah. My dad was, as you said, the cleverest kid in the in the class is the one that asked the really dumb question. That's right. That's the that's not having any fear. That's probably very true. So your next trip in Italy, where's that going to be? I'll give I'm gonna give you an unlimited budget. Yep. You can go wherever you want. And you can choose two regions. So two regions. And why would you choose those two regions? Could be like a micro region like Bruno. I know it could be a bigger type PM onto, whatever. Okay. Well, one I would definitely go to is Sicily because believe it or not, I've never actually been to Sicily. I I drink the wines. I taste about it. I've seen the I've seen the pictures and but I've never actually been there. So Sicily would be somewhere that I really, really want to go to. And the other place, funnily enough, very unassuming places, but I'd love to go toumbria because I have a friend who's now just starting from banking days who started making wine there, and I would love to go and help them and see what they're doing and see see what we can really make of of this reach What are they making? They're making Sacramento in, and some reds with a little bit of international varieties, a few local varieties, but that's why I'd like to go and visit and see see what, see what can be done there. So What's the what's the good to go back to the MW thing? If I'm an MW student, one of your new pool of, you've got a mentor. Yep. What is the biggest fear that they've got? And what is the biggest mistake that they sort of make coming into it, the the program. I think the biggest mistake they make coming into it is to not recognize how much it's gonna take over your life and not realize how much support you need for friends and family. It's it really is almost impossible to to pass it if you don't have the sport of your friends and family. So it's, you know, that that is really, really critical. So they, you know, they'll because the MW itself is a kind of an exam where the people that embark on such a qualification, knowing that the pass rate is so low. They're all driven people. And for the majority of us, myself included, we have never failed a single exam in our life before when we venture on it. And, I mean, I remember when I failed my theory, saying telling my friends that, no, I hadn't passed it. And everyone asking me, you know, was I ill? Didn't I read the question? Did I turn up to the exam? What happened? You know, there was just this complete disbelief that eye could fail anything, and it's so real. And nearly everybody does fail something at some stage on their journey. So that's the that's the biggest thing, I think, to accept when when you come into the program that There could be failure. There's likely to be failure somewhere along the way, but perseverance is the most important thing. It makes you a better mentor as well. And it makes you yeah. It does make you a better mentor, but I would say even the people who've sadly never past NW but have been on the program for a little while would agree that it's the most worthwhile thing they've ever done in terms of the group of people you meet the experience, the the whole thing. So You're mentoring. You know, you've got students at the moment that you're mentoring, I guess. I have got some students there that I'm mentoring. So and I always I always have had and I really enjoy that and, you know, giving them tasting practices and helping them. So it's important. Cool. Anna, it's been really nice to meet you. It's very down to earth. Very nice to meet you too. And, you're obviously incredibly driven. But you what's nice is you. You're very rounded. Well, thank you. And that's nice. It's nice. You you just so really walk in smiling. You talk in your smiling. You're gonna leave the door smiling. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful to meet you. It's wonderful to meet you. Seeing your name so often. And, you know, your your students are very, very lucky to to have you. And I'm sure you'll have great success with them. Thank you very much. Really nice to me. Thanks, Marty. Listen to all of our pods on Sound Cloud iTunes spotify Himalaya FM and on Italianline podcast dot com. Don't forget to send your tweets to eta wine podcast.