Like Father - Like Son

There’s an old joke that sport was invented to give men something to talk about in the pub. These days, the same could be said about wine. Men, it seems, love to bond over shared obsessions, and if that happens to involve a father and son enjoying each other’s company over a bottle of something rather special, who can knock it?

Tim Waller, a former director with Hill Samuel and now a ‘property man’ living in Surrey, first became a regular at Berrys in 2000, buying wine for one of the London livery companies, of which he was Clerk, and is now Master. He introduced his son James (the elder of two), who was already developing a passion for wine, and now they both have Cellar Plans.

James runs a landscape gardening business, also in Surrey, and has two small children, Zachary and Elodie. He and his father share many interests, including golf, tennis and cars, but when they get together over Christmas dinner, there’ll be one subject on their lips

Tim - the father 

My love of wine was triggered in my 20s, by a very close friend, who I’ve now known for over 40 years. We don’t get to meet that often now, but when we do we always bring a good bottle to each other’s house and criticise it. 

He’s probably the only person I do that with apart from James. I went into banking and became a director, going out a lot entertaining clients. Armed with a decent expense account, I soon discovered what uninspiring wines I’d been drinking in the past. I remember going to Le Gavroche with a group of clients in the 80s. The outing made a distinct impression on me. We had a superb bottle of vintage Champagne, then a bottle of top Chablis, a magnum of Haut-Brion, and finally a bottle of unforgettable 1945 Cognac.

When I woke up the next morning I was fine. It was then that I discovered the value of drinking the very finest! One of my favourites is Savigny-Lès-Beaune – that’s a red Burgundy north of Beaune. I think the best whites are also from Burgundy, but it’s lovely to taste something special that you haven’t had before. I think that’s the fun of wine.

Wine is one of the great pleasures in life and people have really woken up to this during James’s lifetime. I first introduced the boys to wine when they were about 13, holidaying near Annecy in France. My mother was French and we’ve spent a lot of time there. I have to say James is more knowledgeable about wine than me. 

He was the first of us to set up a Cellar Plan with Berrys, although I suggested it to him as a good investment. Now we like to go to the Cellar Plan tastings together. We went to a great one back in June and tasted some incredible Spanish wines. I’d never heard of one of the grapes before – Mencia, from the north-west corner of Spain. The tastings are very informal. You can meet the Berrys’ people and talk face-to-face with some of the producers as you go round. It’s really educational, but it’s also a great excuse for the two of us to get together and discuss a subject we’re both passionate about..

James - the son

The love of food opened my eyes to wine. I used to work in marketing and, a bit like my dad, I’d be entertained in very good restaurants and put in front of really good wines. I realised that wine takes food to the next level. And then Berrys helped me to understand what I actually like, rather than what I thought I should like, which was quite a surprise.

I realised that what I like are things like Rhône wines, which are affordable and go far better with everyday food than some blockbuster Bordeauxs, which you’ve really got to be pretty careful what you eat with them. My first memories of wine are when we used to go on holiday to France. I remember visiting Ch. Monbazillac one year, on the way back from a family camping holiday. 

The car was already bulging under the strain of all our camping stuff, but Dad was determined to take a case of it home. Five or six years later he gave me a glassof the same wine at the end of a Sunday dinner. That was when I began to understand why Dad was so interested in wine.

I love the fact that Dad’s now got a place in Provence where we can clear off in the car and go wine tasting. I really do fizz off the passion of the domain owners and vignerons. I buy to drink and to invest. About four years ago I put a nominal sum into a Cellar Plan and I’ve done very well out of it. I’ve been buying ever since, building an investment portfolio on one side and what I intend to drink on the other. Now that my dad’s finally set up a Cellar Plan too, after me nagging him for years, we go to the tastings and go round together marking the wines. He’s got quite a different palate to me. He likes St Emilion, which I find a bit too earthy.

I prefer more fruit, like wines from Rioja and the Languedoc. But wine is something we’re both passionate about. I get a lot of satisfaction in finding wines that are brilliant value and stand up to what are deemed the numero uno of that region. And then I keep it to myself. I’ll drink decent wine with my brother and my dad, people who actually understand what it is, but I won’t dish it out to people who don’t appreciate wine. 

I’ve got my wife into wine and, as a family, we’re quite happy to share good wine with each other. It’s not a snobbery thing; it’s just a special treat, within a community that understands it. I like buying wine for special occasions. I bought 36 bottles of Gruaud-Larose ’05 for the birth of my son Zachary. For Elodie, I’ve earmarked a case of 2000 Lafite. I know what I’m opening on my 40th, I probably know what I’m opening on my 50th, but any day in between, now let me see... My dad’s right, wine is one of the great pleasures in life.

Unwrap something special in Christmases to come

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