Off Air... with Jane and Fi - Wine Times LIVE - with Jane and Fi

Episode Date: December 23, 2022

If you've been enjoying 'Off air... with Jane and Fi' then perhaps you might be interested in another podcast here at The Times? So let us introduce you to Wine Times.And discussing and decanting with Suzi Ruffell and Will Lyons on a special live edition of Wine Times - up on the 17th floor of the News Building and in front of an audience of lucky - are Times Radio's newest presenting duo...Jane Garvey and Fi Glover. As well as four great wines to taste, Fi explains why she refuses to feel stressed about Christmas this year, Jane discusses her love for Cava, Will shares why Brits are big wine drinkers and Suzi delights in the idea of hosting her first Christmas lunch. Villa Broglia Gavi di Gavi 2021Purple Owl Pinot Noir 2021Saracosa Governo Rosso IGT 2021L’Epiphanie de Sauternes 2018 All the wines in the series are available at www.sundaytimeswineclub.co.uk Producer: Anya PearceSeries Producer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome back to Wine Times, brought to you in association with the Sunday Times Wine Club, with me, comedian and wine novice Susie Ruffell. And me, Will Lyons, the Sunday Times wine columnist and vice president of the Sunday Times Wine Club. Throughout this series, we'll be joined by a handful of your favourite celebs for some good wine and some great times. As always I'll be sharing my expert wisdom on all things grape related from the history of vineyards across the globe to the science behind your favourite wines. And I will take on my favourite role as apprentice of wine, voice of the people as I inquisitively ask the questions we're all thinking like why is it frowned upon to store red wine in the fridge? Well, Susie, actually, you can actually...

Will, Will, save it for the podcast. When will he learn? Today, we're sat at the top of News UK's Tower, looking out over London with a live audience, ready to sip the wine and, of course, have a good time. Discussing and decanting with Susie and myself today are broadcasters Jane Garvey and Phi Glover. Yes, Jane and Phi have been chatting on our airways for three decades now with radio shows across the BBC. And earlier this year, they were welcomed onto Times Radio with a shiny new afternoon show wedged in between Mariela Fostrop and John Pienaar. wedged in between Mariella Fostrop and John Pienaar.

Not to mention they are authors of their best-selling book, Did I Say That Out Loud? and host a daily podcast off-air with Jane and Fi. Luckily for us, they were happy to join us straight from their Live Times radio show for a tipple or two. Hello, Fi and Jane. Hello. Thank you for asking us.

Yes, thanks for coming down. It doesn't get better than this, does it? No, it doesn't. What are we, Monday night? Monday night. Monday night, drinking wine above the news building. It's very nice. The Monday night club. It's't get better than this, does it? No, it doesn't. What are we, Monday night? Monday night. Monday night drinking wine above the news building. It's very nice, the news building. The Monday night club.

It's what we always dreamt of. Yeah. All those years toiling at the BBC. What we really wanted to do was sit here and drink wine with a load of nice people on a Monday night. Absolutely. How long have you two worked together? Well, that business of decades I could have done without Susie.

Sorry. But although it is decades, we haven't worked together for decades. We were, could you say how were we put together by the BBC? I think they just needed a couple of middle-aged women to make a podcast. And we were literally just standing there like spare parts. Yeah, what about those two? Yeah, they'll be all right. And it was pretty much that, wasn't it? It was. We hosted the Radio Festival, which is our industry's annual shindig, back in the day up in Salford. And I think we were the first women to ever host the festival. And this was 2013. And it came as an enormous shock to an industry where, you know, bear in mind, half the audience is female,

that two women might be vaguely entertaining as hosts. So from vaguely entertaining, I think there was a commissioning editor in the room who thought, oh, they're quite funny doing this. So let's put them together and send them off to do a podcast. But Jane's right. It was very early doors in the podcasting world. And we were a bit canaries down the mineshaft just so, know we'll put them out there see what happens and then fortunately just kind of uh took off really yeah and that's our previous podcast yes in our pre-times life yes yes of course that happened but yes we don't need to focus on it anymore no we don't like embarrassing uncle he's gone now and we're here yes do you both enjoy a glass of wine well that's actually slightly it's

not tricky territory um i would like to drink more wine but i just cannot process it i'm really sorry will i i can have usually one glass and then i'm just about done for she really is and if it's red wine i just get a pounding head headache after a couple of mouthfuls. But I write about this a lot in the column. I'm 46, I've reached middle age, and my palate has definitely changed. When I was first getting into wine in my 20s, I did a lot of book learning, and I love the big reds, those powerhouse, you know, lots of primary fruit, that subtle sort of high alcohol wines. Now I'm much more, I probably drink more white wine

than I do red wine. I think your palate changes. But also I think you'll have a lot more responsibility in later life. So as I was saying earlier, I think if you're, you know, if you're really busy, it's nice to sort of wind down

with a glass or two, but you can't obviously overdo it like we did in the 20s and 30s. I grew up with my grandmother in the home and she was well into her 80s and boy could that woman put it away and she was about i think she was about four foot ten you know she was a minute woman but i she really had drinking boots and i obviously gave her a great deal of enjoyment and i just i want to be her but I don't feel I'm ever going to be her actually I just seem to be the sort of person who just gets really affected by alcohol and I've been searching my

whole life for the drink that I can enjoy that doesn't give me a banging hangover can you help me well it's water is it water terrible feeling even I can't keep up with that generation my mother-in-law was 84 I stayed with her for a week in the summer. And come 12 o'clock, she always is mixing a G&T. And there was a comical moment this summer where the only thing we had in the fridge, I don't know where it came from, but it certainly didn't come from me, was a can of Stella.

And I walked out and she was like, I'm on the Stella. Drinking from the can. Because at 12 o'clock she must have a drink. And then at 6 o'clock it all happens again. And she gets up in the morning. But do you think that ability to drink more, do you think it comes back in old age? Are we just passing through a particularly

kind of sensitive middle-aged time? Well, possibly. Someone's laughing at the notion of us being sensitive. I'm probably not the best person to ask. Someone who drinks probably wine every day. Yeah. But I do think as you get older, I'm probably not the best person to ask someone who drinks probably wine every day yeah but I do think as you get older staying hydrated

as they do in Italy, drinking wine with a meal is a good idea what are we starting with? what are we all starting with tonight? everyone got a glass of wine? so we're starting in Italy and we have a wine here that I think, well I was saying to Jane earlier

you may have heard of it, it's a Garvey de Garvey so Italian wines are incredibly complex Starting in Italy. We have a wine here that I think, well, I was saying to Jane earlier, you may have heard of it. It's a Garvey de Garvey. So Italian wines are incredibly complex. I think Hugh Johnson said that, you know, trying to understand Italian wines like mapping the inside of a beehive. But there are certain wines in Italy that we've all heard of, like Suave, Prosecco, Chianti. And I'd probably put Garvey de Garvey in that so we're in piemonte thank you

so northwest italy there's a great variety called cortez and this had tremendous commercial success in the 60s 70s and early 80s it's known for its sort of citrusy light. Oh, it's very fruity. Yes, it's fruity and aromatic. I mean, this isn't really a natural wine for a December day when it's freezing cold outside. This is the first wine of the night when you're on your Tuscan holiday, your holiday in the south of France. And I think, you know, you've just had a shower, you've come, you've put on your best, your sort of relaxing clothes and you've come out for the evening, you're just going to have a sneaky glance in your room or on the terrace or wherever you are just before supper and this is the wine you want.

I'm in a caftan already, well. I really am. The view's sensational. It's a slightly kind of dusky evening. Yeah. It's beautiful actually. So would this be. Yeah. It's beautiful, actually. So would this be a drink that you would happily have without food? You're saying it's a bit more of an advantage. Maybe a glass. Yeah, maybe a glass.

But you want to know that dinner's on its way? Yeah. Well, we always want to know that. Yeah. And we don't want to be cooking much more importantly. Yeah. Fia, are you someone to have a glass of wine at home? So I, a little bit similar to my colleague here,

have lost the ability to really drink. I did really used to like a glass of wine, you know, back in my 20s, but that is quite a long time ago now. That's three decades ago now. But I've become an enormously big fan of cava and I'm interested to see will's reaction to that because i think somebody just laughed open in my face before somebody just did it here

and i don't know what to make of that really well because i just enjoy the uh i mean it's it's i i find it a kind of quite a sharp drink quite en enlivening. And, you know, a decent glass of that on an evening. Cava gets such a bad rap. It does, doesn't it? Yeah, why is that? Because I like it too. Well, it's obviously, let's just rewind it. So it's made in Spain in the same way as champagne.

So you have a secondary fermentation in the bottle. So a lot of care and craft goes into making cava. Different grape varieties from champagne. I always think it has more of a savoury, nutty character than champagne. The reason I think, and in my own personal opinion, why it gets a bad rap is because they chase the sort of supermarket crowd in the 80s and 90s. And as soon as you go down that sort of discounting you can't sort of claw your way back it's a little like the English sparkling wine industry at the moment in that it obviously

English sparkling wine is quite expensive but I think we need to keep it there because once you start discounting it's very hard to sort of then throw off the shackles people think it's a cheap product well how much do you pay for pay for a good English sparkling wine? £35 a bottle. £35? £30 to £35. Right. But a lot of craft goes into that.

You have to grow the grapes and make them, and secondly, fermentation. So coming back to your question, carver is the insider's choice. Oh, good. People have had the sort of... I think it's great. Fuey.

It's a great idea. In fact, we had a carver today, didn't we, as you came in with the clava? I find it a little less claggy than champagne. And that's a sentence I never really thought I'd say, Will, but I've said it now. I know, but I do say it. I'm pleased I was here to do it. Yeah, well, there's lots of different styles of champagne.

Will there be a time in your lifetime when we could do wine, wine? Well, very good question. We are living through the great English wine boom of the 21st century. We now have around 900 vineyards and 157 wineries. I say that because we have more vineyards in England than we do in Napa Valley, which is incredible. And are there going to be loads more vineyards popping up around the country? Yeah, I think so. I hope so.

So it started in Sussex. Now we have vineyards in Dorset, Devon, Berkshire, Oxfordshire. And I think the other thing that's going to be really good in England is wine tourism. Because like Champagne grew up around the prosperity of Paris, we still have the world's largest financial center behind us. And we're incredibly thirsty in this country. I mean, basically, we're the number one market for Prosecco. A couple of years ago, we drank more champagne than the whole of North America.

I think they've just reached parity with us now. And it's incredible. We drink a lot of cava. We drink a lot of English sparkling wine. We drink a lot of cava, we drink a lot of English sparkling wine, we drink a lot of cremeux. We know what we're good at. We are. But if you look at it,

you've got things like horse racing, weddings, everywhere. It's just like, open up the bubbly, isn't it? Should we move on to wine too? So we are leaving Italy. So we're crossing the Atlantic

and we're going to the sunny state, California. Now, we've had this one on the podcast before and it's one of my favourites. 6,000 miles across the Atlantic, and we're going to the sunny state, California. Now, we've had this one on the podcast before, and it's one of my favourites. 6,000 miles across the Atlantic. Here we are. Very good. I think the thing we can all agree on

is you can't make any generalisations about California. It's so vast and so different. I was there in March, and I drove up from San Francisco through Napa up to Sonoma. And as you go, you just go through lots of different microclimates. And I think when I got up to Sonoma and as you go you just go through lots of different microclimates and I think when I got up to Sonoma is all sort of small homesteads with giant redwoods and green wooded valleys I stopped at Bodega Bay where the birds were sport um but we're in the we're in the central valley so we're sort of um southwest of Napa and Sonoma so we're sort of southwest of Napa and Salona, so we're west of San Francisco.

We're drinking a Pied-de-Noir. What do you think? I think that's lovely, really, really lovely. And it smells a bit charcoal-y, doesn't it? Oh, do you like that? Would you have that with a big, lovely piece of beef? I think I probably would. Oh, yeah. The fruit here is from an area called Lodi,

which is actually one of the breadbaskets of America. I think I probably would. The fruit here is from an area called Lodi, which is actually one of the bread baskets of America. They grow lots of nuts there, lots of fruit. It's a big agricultural area. And actually it's famous for Zinfandel, which is a big pungent red wine. And they only have a little bit of Pinot. Who was the most famous wine lover you

shared a glass with? You must have at the BBC had a glass with him. We have at the BBC had a distraction at the end of the last week. We have no fun at the BBC at all. Well, no, I mean, Fee knows I very recently had dinner, no, not dinner, lunch, I wish it had been dinner, at the Ritz with Ken Follett. I know, who's a fabulous writer and incredibly successful. And it was all slightly complicated date set up by, well, it wasn't a date. Ken's very happily married.

I need to make that clear. You heard it here first. Someone tweet it. By, no, absolutely not. By a listener to our podcast who had heard me going on about Ken Follett's thrillers, which became a little bit of a talking point, unfortunately, our previous podcast. And there are all sorts of good things about Ken Follett's books. And there are some quite funny things about the way he describes a woman's breast through time, for example,

which Fee and I would occasionally take issue with. And we'd attempt to read out some of his descriptions of bosoms through a woman's lifetime. And anyway. Back on track. Yes, back right on track. Right on track. A listener saw, advertised, a chance to have lunch with Ken Follett at the Ritz with all the money going to charity.

And this fantastic woman bid, I think it was, was it £2,000? I think it was a bit more, actually. And she's called Veronica, isn't she? Agent B. She paid an incredible amount of money and couldn't, because I think she lives in Malaysia from memory. So she couldn't have the lunch so i went in her place and drank the most fabulous champagne with ken follett all afternoon at the ritz and that's what you drink champagne well i don't really yeah if i was going to be honest my favorite drink if i'm out for a treat i would

always just have champagne yeah i think it goes with everything i mean if i if i were to do a podcast it would just be called, you know, don't bother with wine, just drink champagne. It goes with everything. But I did have a most extraordinary hangover the next day. I wasn't fit for anything. But that's what I enjoy about drinking is those fabulous lost hours you can spend in somebody's company.

And Ken was a fantastic companion and just talked a great deal about the inspiration for his books and how he writes them. It was really brilliant. So I really enjoyed it. And I think lunch is ideally suited for that. Yeah, it's great. Because you feel quite guilty

that you're wasting away the afternoon. Well, you're not wasting it. No, no, it certainly wasn't wasting. It's not wasting, I assure you. It didn't feel like a waste. Ken enjoyed it so much he missed his hair appointment. Actually, I just think he got a tiny bit tipsy and forgot he had a hair appointment.

But anyway. And we got weeks of material out of it. We got loads of material out of that. So it was well worth it. Do you want to get us onto our next glass? Yeah, should we do that straight away? Yeah, before we begin chatting. What have we got next?

So we're going back to Italy. Good. We're going to where I think we should always go in a wine tasting. We're going to Tuscany, a wonderful region between Siena and Florence. Anyone who's been there, it's magical. And we're having a wine which is, I don't know if anyone's ever heard of Super Tuscans, but essentially the main grape of Super Tuscans, but essentially the main grape variety in Tuscany is Sangiovese,

which makes Chianti, one of the most famous wines in the world. And Sangiovese is a grape that has lots of sort of juicy, spicy character, some dried herb aromatics and cherry and berry flavours. But this is blended with a little bit of Merlot, just to temper it. And it's always a very popular wine, this, I think. This is the Saracosa Ghiverno. So part of the grapes were left to dry, and this is to get more concentrated. That gives it that sort of character.

Does that make them more sugary? Yeah, and more fruit. I mean, I think with Italy, you've got to start thinking about food. So we have to imagine we're having this with either crostini, small slices of bread with cheese and meats, or, I mean, wild boar. Who eats wild boar? Actually, can I just put my hand up?

I went to Lake Como on holiday a couple of years ago, and I had probably the greatest meal of my life. I had wild boar risotto. Oh, yes. And I live with a couple of, well, one vegan child and a vegetarian. So when I'm out, I just go mad for meat. And I still think sometimes about that risotto. I remember, in Italy they do risottos so well.

Oh my God. It was just unctuous. And I just can't begin to do justice to it. I don't have the words. Do you have the words? No, they're your words. You weren't there actually. I think you should grapple with some wild boar

in your local East West Kensington vicinity. Bring them down, Jane. Wrestle with the wild boar in your local east-west Kensington vicinity. Bring them down, Jane. Wrestle with the wild boar. Okay, I'll see what I can do. It's a beefy one, this. Yeah, it is. I quite like that one, actually. I can imagine eating that with a really good, strong blue cheese of some sort.

Yeah, I think... I also wrote down chickpea soup with olive oil. You know, if you're in the sort of... I'm not getting that. No, there's'm not getting that. No, there's no need for that. That's a bit too far even for me. Think about risottos.

We did a cook-along during lockdown, one of the lockdowns, with a celebrity chef. I can't remember who it was actually. But all the ingredients derived and I just couldn't believe how much butter he put in his risotto. And he was like,

well now we put the butter in. I was like, are you sure? That much? You just stir it. That's why it's so tasty, isn't it? It's so needy a risotto, though, isn't it? If you leave a risotto for two minutes, it's like, oh, I'm done. Sorry, I'm burnt.

You've got to be right. You've got to be on it. It's a lot of tension. It'd be perfect for tonight, the risotto. This is just sort of worth it. Absolutely gorgeous. But that's it. It's a whole evening of preparation.

It's an event. Yeah, it's a labour of love. Will you be cooking at Christmas? Yes, I will, yes. Oh, will you be cooking for the vegan and the vegetarian? Well, it gets slightly more complicated because I'm taking my children to my parents' house in Liverpool and, I mean, they are 89 and 88 respectively and I will have to do something that fits the bill for everybody

in a kitchen I don't really know trying to keep my mother out of the way as best I can which I feel will not be all that easy while my dad makes ham-fisted interventions and the children just probably resort to strong drink by the time 10.30 rolls around. So I imagine if you can picture the scene at about half past four on Christmas afternoon, I will be bright red in the face, probably crying and trying to do something, whip up some magic with a vegan sausage wreath or something. Nothing says Christmas like a vegan sausage wreath. No, literally nothing.

Will you do all the shopping here and take it up? Well, that's a really good question, Will. And I don't want to get technical or bore people, but actually I did make a call earlier on to a restaurant in Liverpool, which is actually brilliantly supplying Christmas hampers for people in exactly my sort of situation. So I just had to get there, pick it up, and then everything should be in the hamper.

So I'll let you know how it goes. If you I think you should post a picture I will at midday on Christmas day just so everybody here knows that it turned out all right well the thing is by the time Christmas day rolls around you know it will be all right won't it it's I I start my heart starts to basically everything starts to lighten for me when the shops close on Christmas Eve because then you can do no more um and you will manage with whatever you have to hand the next day and it's only a bloody roast dinner yes for god's sake that's all it is get a grip everybody yeah my mum always gets very stressed and this year I'm cooking for the first time and she keeps saying to me, she's like, oh, I'm very worried about your ham. I'm like, I'm not.

Don't worry about it. It's going to be fine. It's just dinner. She wants to meet my mother. They could have a conflagration. I don't know how useless their daughters are. We had Angela Hartnett on the podcast. We did.

Who was saying, don't do turkey this year. Do chicken. Do two small chickens. And actually I read Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall agree, you know, echoing that. Well, I think the turkeys are very hard to get hold of, aren't they? Because they run very quickly. Yes. Yeah. So just do the two small chickens.

Two small chickens. I'm escaping this year. So for the first time in 17 years, we're leaving the environment of Hackney in East London and going somewhere else for Christmas and I don't have to cook Christmas lunch which is the most weirdly liberating I mean we're you know when we're still what are we a week and a bit away but I haven't had to worry James James had to worry for a very long time about the hamper besides the kitchen all that kind of stuff and it's actually the most extraordinary sense of release not to have that one meal you know hoving into view it's astonishing how much we worry about it for then what it is and

you know hopefully i don't know does anybody in the room have people who genuinely would feel that their christmas was terrible if the christmas dinner wasn't perfect i mean i don't think i don't think people do really, do they? I think if you have anyone like that in your life, cut them out. Yes, very much so. Make a decision now. Just get rid of them. I appreciate you're my sister, but I don't think this is working out.

I'll see you on Boxing Day. But also, now I'm going to be a guest in someone's house. There's no way I'm going to complain if it's not. Oh, no, you're grateful. Yes, exactly. So why, you know, as the hostesses, we shouldn't be worrying so much ourselves. Because my parents always used to cook and then plate up everything for everyone, Yes, exactly. So why, you know, as the hostesses, we shouldn't be worrying so much ourselves.

Because my parents always used to cook and then plate up everything for everyone, like 16 round the table. And as a young boy, my job was to get my grandmother's, who always complained it was cold, and put it in the microwave for a minute. It's Susie's first Christmas, so... I'm not one. No, no, but it's your first Christmas hosting, isn't it? Cheers. So you seem not one. No, no, but it's your first Christmas Easter, isn't it? Cheers. So you seem very confident. Well, I just think, I just agree. I just think it's a roast dinner.

Yeah, it is. I'm very excited. It's the first time I've had a kitchen that's big enough to invite people round. So it's very exciting. And I've got a toddler who is so confused about what Christmas is. It's very excited. I told her, where we live, there's a windmill. And we go there sometimes to have a little walk around. And we went up there the other day and it was closed. And I said, oh, it's closed because it's winter. That's why it's closed.

It will open again in the summer. And she said, the winter's when Father Christmas comes. And I said, yeah, yeah, yeah. And somehow in her little two and a half year old brain, she's now decided that Father Christmas lives in that windmill. So every time we go past she's like hi santa but it is adorable so i think that that's why i'm excited it's less about cooking for everyone and more about but because we all take ages to grow up now i remember we only hosted our first christmas three or four years ago and that's why i don't want to put them off i was so stressed out about it and i did a timetable of it you know you have to did a timetable of it. You know, you have to do a timetable of when everything's going to be ready.

And was that fun for you, Will? Because the wine is the easy part. Normally I just do the wine, just pour the cork. Everyone says, oh, this is delicious. Yeah, we'll all be all right. A huge round of applause, please, for C&J and our guests this evening.

That's it from us. Thank you very much for listening to this episode of Wine Times in association with the Sunday Times Wine Club, produced by Anya Pearce and the series producer is Ben Mitchell. You can follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Just do this via your favourite podcast app. We'll be back next week

with more delicious wine and another great guest. Remember that all of the wines we tasted today are noted in the episode description and you can get your hands on all of them from the Sunday Times Wine Club website. From all of us thank you very much for listening and we hope to see you next week for more Wine Times.