By Kenneth Christie MW
Opimian was the largest part of my working life, especially during the 38 years when I worked as a wine finder and consultant for the society until my retirement in 2011.
Before working with John Sambrook, the founder of Opimian, I had first been a wine buyer and then became the Fine Wines Director of the wine merchant subsidiary of Allied Domecq, Europe’s largest wine organization, which, at that time, owned Hiram Walker and many other world-leading brands. During this period, in the late 1960s, I witnessed the emergence of the celebrated Beaujolais négociant Georges DuBoeuf and other firms in the region. They propelled the sales of Beaujolais to levels never seen before.
Sadly, it seemed to me that Beaujolais and its wines had lost their market appeal as the quality of the region’s wines declined. In my role as the wine buyer for a large company, I was determined to address this situation. In November 1970, I visited the region and purchased a total of twelve cases of Beaujolais Nouveau from the quality négociant house of Loron et Cie. I brought these cases back to London by train. Recognizing the significance of this, our company’s Public Relations team orchestrated widespread publicity for my small shipment of the youthful wine.
This became the early foundation of the maniacal craze in the subsequent years for the Beaujolais Nouveau fad. This fad rapidly evolved into an international annual wine event, where even the Canadian Liquor Boards joined the mad chase to get the Nouveau back to their market in record time by air freighting the wines to Ontario and Québec. This was particularly aimed at satisfying the growing thirst for the taste of wine in Canada.
Of course, the craze I started in 1970 with my initial purchase was never meant to last. Within a few years, not only did the rush to sample the wine from the new vintage lose its appeal, but also the demand for the unfinished wine of questionable quality dwindled. Concurrently, the production of the finest wines from the Beaujolais region, which had lost their consumer appeal, also declined.
This was close to being a tragedy for the many talented vignerons who were producing wonderful wines using the fruit of the Gamay Noir grape, the classic vine of Beaujolais and the vineyard region of southern Burgundy. Once again, I took to the road in my mobile home, which I always drove to the regions I wished to explore. This not only made my travels economically sustainable, but allowed me to return home carrying large volumes of samples for further tasting.
