Full name: Ilja Gort
Role: Wine Grower / Writer
DOB: DOB, let me think. Don’t Overdrink Bordeaux? [Ed: lol his actual DOB is January 5th, 1951]
Birthplace: Amerfoort, Holland
Twitter Handle: @iljagort
Website: www.slurp.nu
Fun Fact: Ilja secretly adores Burgundy wines.
J: Hello Ilja and thanks for taking the time to speak with us. I am honoured.
I: The questions are great. I’m honoured too.
So, it’s quite a career you’ve had so far! Drumming, writing advertising music, writing books. You came to wine making relatively late in life, right?
Making music is the nicest thing one can do with his clothes on. I composed music for Heineken, Coca Cola and I wrote the Nescafé tune. Still, when I came into contact with the magic of wine, I fell in love instantly.
For five years I tried to combine these two loves. But if’s like in a marriage: you can not have a wife and a mistress at the same time. You have to choose. I chose the wine.
How did you ‘get into’ wine anyway, were you always interested in viticulture?
Yes. I started loving wine when I was 20. I played in a rock band then. The guys in the band were drinking whiskey and that sort of tough stuff. I felt this was physically not good for me, so I switched to wine. This mysterious ‘blood of the earth’ fascinated me and I started reading every wine book I could lay my hands on.
Are you still ‘doing’ music now?
I’m afraid not. I miss it sometimes, but, quite unnoticed, the act of composing music has been replaced by writing books.
Could you tell us about your book writing? You’ve penned at least one novel and a children’s book too, right?
I wrote 3 wine books, 6 books in the series ‘Slurp’ and 2 novels. Next month my latest book will be published: ‘Château Fatale’, an exciting wine thriller about international fraud with wine. Oh, yes and three children’s books. (for details look at www.gortshop.nl)
When did your son get involved? He seems like a great guy and also is in possession of an excellent beard. Is he going to ‘take up the mantle’ one day?
Haha, Klaas is a hero. And I have the impression that he’s keeping himself well. He did his studies in London and fell in love with Britain and the British style. And all of a sudden, after nearly a year, he finds himself in a huge 13th century wine château trying to make a better wine then his father and doing international business. I’m very curious to see what will happen.
For the moment Klaas is very critical of all my (usually rather improvident) marketing actions. Also he checks my travel expenses, which he finds rather on the high side. He suggested I should spend my nights in small highway hotels, hahaha!
Could you tell us how you ended up acquiring the chateau? What was it being used for before you bought it?
I spent two years searching for a wine château and when I finally found it, I was lost. Instantly I fell in love with this medieval castle and her surroundings. The previous owner was a bit lazy and therefore the 13th century castle had been fairly untouched since 1800. The downside was that the wine he produced was of a quality you wouldn’t dare offer your worst enemy.
How much time do you spend in the Chateau? Do/can you live there?
The château is paradise on earth and I am still deeply in love with her. But if I stay too long there, I get sort of over-relaxed. A bit ‘French’, so to say. I also love the inspiration that a big city can give. Therefore we live the best of both worlds: a couple of weeks at the château, a couple of weeks in our house in Amsterdam.
How did you end up with your winemaker Michel Rolland? Why did you choose him?
Michel makes great wines. And more important, he has a talent that is rarely seen amongst winemakers: he is able to listen and to discuss. Personally, I am not a fan of wines that are dominated by oak. I’m thrilled by the fragile balance between fruit and oak. With our wines Michel did a fantastic job on that.
And I never met a person who loves wine as much as he does. At a bottling he once looked at the thick paper filter between the wine and the cuves and I heard him mumble: ‘Ah… Pauvre vin’ (‘Ah, you poor wine’)
Could you give us a brief outline of your wine ranges – Château La Tulipe de la Garde, La Tulipe and Slurp?
The Château La Tulipe de la Garde wine is harvested from our own merlot and cabernet vineyards and vinified at the château cellars. The number of bottles is about 100.000. But in 2003 the demand for our wines outstripped our supply. So we started to buy grapes from our neighbours and began our range Tulipe wines.
Because of the complicated regulations in the Bordeaux region, we raised a company in the Languedoc to vinifie our Slurp wines. (i.e good wine for the smallest price).
What’s your opinion on the idea of ‘micro-terroir’?
We work in a biological way and the only way to do that properly is to divide the vineyard in mini parcels of 0.5 to 1 hectare. We started to do so in 1997 and it works out fine: year after year the wine gets better.
What makes a damn good wine?
This sounds a bit silly, but I cannot say it another way:
To make a damn good wine you need four things:
1.The endless sort of love that is called ‘Passion’.
2.Good terroir.
3.Dedicated people, who share your passion and don’t watch the clock.
4.A huge sack of money. To invest in your dedicated people and in adequate technical equipment.
What’s the most memorable wine you ever tasted?
The taste of wine is not only caused by the wine itself, but also by the company and by the surroundings. For my television program I made episodes about Romanée Conti, Château D’Yquem and Château La Tour and tasted the wines there. But a bottle of Raimat (Spanish plonk for € 3,25 a bottle), which I enjoyed with my girlfriend Caroline before a tent at the bank of small creek in the Pyrenees tasted so heavenly that, as the old Greek says: ‘The gods would wet their soft beds from it’.
OK, why did you ensure your nose at Lloyds of London for 5 million Euros?
As you know wine tasting you do not with your mouth, but with the nose. The mouth is equipped with very poor number of taste buds: salt, sour, bitter, sweet and umami. A poor 5 and that’s it. The inside of the nose, however, is furnished with millions of taste buds.
Some years ago we had a tasting planned with the team to try our best wine before bottling. That morning I had a bad case of cold and my nose was completely closed. I couldn’t smell anything. That moment I realised how important my nose was and how much I, and the people I work with, depended upon it. It generated quit a lot of publicity, so the accountant agreed to deduct the costs.
What’s a ‘day in your life’ like? Could you give us an insight into the wine business?
As I make wine, write books and make television programs, no day is the same. Right now I’m in Spain, working in a sunny seaside hotel on the synopsis of a new thriller. Next week I’m at the château for the bottling of the millésime 2013 (and to see what eventualities my son Klaas has caused) [Ed: lol]. After that we leave for the Provence to record a new television series.
What’s your greatest/most memorable professional moment been, so far?
Me buying Château La Tulipe de la Garde!!!!!!!!!
Where do you get your ideas?
On an early morning on that fragile moment between dreaming and waking up. But also in the car, on boats, trains and plains, under the shower, waiting in line in the supermarket, in a café with Italian coffee, while making love, while having dinner and enjoying good wine. Yes, that specifically: when enjoying good wine.
Did you ever have a point where you knew it was working, or that you’d ‘made it’? Do you remember that point?
Yes. That was the evening in 2004 that I got a phone call from our winemaker from London: our wine had won a special award on the London International Wine Challenge; ‘Best Bordeaux wine’. I was lost in space for a couple of hours.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had, how did you overcome it, and what did you learn from it?
15 years ago I got divorced from my wife. I overcame it by time and that took quit a lot of it.
What did I learn? Don’t marry. Even if you are unstoppable in love, don’t marry in a rush. For 13 years I have lived with my fiancée Caroline (the most beautiful woman in the world and far beyond). I’m the happiest man on earth (although we are not going to marry).
Who’s the person who’s most inspired you in your work – wine industry or otherwise. Is there anyone that you draw inspiration or strength from? Do you have any specific influences?
To stay at the British side: I admire Sting for his energy, Stephen Fry for his wisdom, Jeremy Clarkson for his rudeness, Nicky & French for their thrillers and HRH Prince Charles for his patience.
What’s your philosophy?
I have a few:
1. Follow your instinct. (it’s more the 5 million years old and knows better than you).
2. Never, never, never give up. [Ed: Churchill?]
3. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do. Of course, you lend a hand from time to time. But if you don’t like your job, quit immediately. Otherwise you are wasting your life and someone else’s money.
4. Enjoy life. Every minute you are experiencing is unique and will never come back. Slurp life like it was a glass of priceless wine.
5. Smile, walk tall and sparkle joy.
What advice would you give to aspiring wine people who’d want the kind of results that you’ve had?
See above. And if you promise to do that, you may send me an email and if I can help in any way, I will.
If you weren’t doing what you do now, what would you be doing instead?
With music, wine, books and film, I think I am practicing the vital cultural disciplines in life. Maybe a job as professional lady lover could be a challenge, but I’m afraid my fiancée Caroline might have some objections against that. [Ed: Is that like doing porn for a living?]
What’s your ultimate aim and goal for the business? If you could achieve anything with it, what would you pick? Money and reality are no obstacle, so shoot for the moon…
Haha, the moon is no option for me. I am a European. I don’t like travelling outside western Europe. There is more to see in Amsterdam, Naples, Palermo, Madrid, Sevilla and in London then I ever will be able to see in my whole life. My ultimate goal? To write a book that brings joy to as much people as possible.
Where next for you?
I enjoy very much what I do right now, but I’m learning every day. So I have the strong intention to do exactly the same, but better. Not faster, not more glamorous, not for more money, just better. Every day better.
Anything I missed that you’d like to include here? (include as much or as little as you’d like)
No! Please, Jack! Help! Have mercy on me! This is already so much!!! Your questions are the best I’ve heard for a long time! I love them! Chapeau!
And we always ask three customary ridiculous questions…
If you were forced to fend off an alien invasion and singlehandedly save mankind using only the tools available at the chateau, how would you do it?
Haha, because of its strategic location on the top of the hill overlooking the Dordogne river, château La Tulipe de la Garde is a former stronghold from the Duke of Aubrey. We still have a 17th century canon at the front gate. I might try giving it a shot. Beside that we have the castle-dachshund. If the aliens are not larger then 2 inches, he will eat them.
If the army donated a functioning army tank to you (and paid its fuel/ammo expenses) what would you do with it?
Put in the castle park as a piece of art. Besides it might come in handy weeding the poison ivy.
You have acquired a pet T-Rex and are morally obliged to look after it. It is 13 ft tall at the hips, eats half a ton of raw meat a day, and likes taking long walks. What would you call it and what would you do to keep it entertained and housed?
I would call the pet T-rex Jack. To entertain him, I would feed him small pieces of book critics accompanied by a good glass of red Bordeaux.
If he would develop a good taste for this diet, I would build him his own T-Rex castle in the park. With a doorbell, crystal chandeliers and a comfortable lits-jumeaux. [Ed: Legitimately the best response to that question in the history of Tasting Britain]