José Peñín: “Balance is my one and only rule; I accept everything else”

The dean of the wine publishing industry in Spain, José Peñín has been taking the pulse of national and international news for over 40 years. Born in a small village in León in 1943, in the midst of the Second World War, his father's work in the military meant that the family moved to Morocco until 1953, when they returned to Madrid. 

After trying his luck in various fields, he made his way into the wine trade in the 1970s, in the midst of the transformation of the country and the industry. He founded the guide that bears his name in 1990 and his company was the first to organise wine showrooms in Spain. Author of as many as 30 books on wine and some 2,000 articles, Peñín managed Sibaritas magazine until its demise and was the boss of Spanish Wine Lover's founder, Amaya Cervera, from 1996 to 2004.

This interview was conducted before the lockdown, but we caught up with him recently to hear his views on this worldwide crisis.  

First things first, are you in good health?
Since I returned from Bordeaux on March 4, I've been confined. You know that in our profession of writer-journalist, working in front of the computer at home is a regular routine, whether or not there is a virus involved. This lockdown is helping me to jumpstart my memories of 45 years in this business. Besides, I'm lucky enough that my wife is a doctor.

The death of Carlos Falcó and Alfonso Cortina marks the end of an era of wine in Spain?
Not quite that. In fact, the arrival of both figures in the wine scene is the result of the good practices that have emerged from entrepreneurs in other industries. The case of Cortina is what I would call "business intelligence", in other words, his expertise in other fields from a healthy business perspective applied to a specific field of agriculture. Falcó's example is different. His business experience was always questionable, while his involvement and understanding of agricultural science were instrumental in him becoming a pioneer. 

How do you think the coronavirus is going to affect the Peñin Guide's activity, very much focused on tastings, and especially the showrooms, which are a great showcase for Spanish wine both in Spain and abroad?
It's important to point out that if there is one sector less affected in this crisis, that is the food industry. Wine is in this sphere and we, in turn, are in wine and, to top it all off, the logistics are in good health. The tasting team can receive samples in the office and I hope that in the summer they will be able to travel to the regions with the greatest number of brands. As for the showrooms, some of them could be rescheduled for the autumn, at least the most important ones.
I would also like to say that wine-growing is always under threat from the vagaries of the weather and the uncertainty of harvests, and it is also a predominantly family-run activity. As far as sales are concerned, the worst off are those producers who sell to the hospitality business and who will therefore amass large stocks of wine. The fear is that if the large storage tanks and barrels are not emptied to take in the new vintage, some areas may not be able to harvest the grapes, as happened in Australia a few years ago.

Going back to the beginning, how did you start in wine?
A bit by chance. In 1972-73 I ran a financial business, after having done a thousand jobs. One day, my next door neighbour tells me that he has set up a wine club called Vino Selección with an Italian man to sell wines by mail order. I didn't really understand what that was all about -remember that we are talking about a different era. "It's like the Readers' Circle, but in books," he says. Then I understood it perfectly.

I've heard that you were also a medical supplies salesman.
Yes, that was before I got involved in wine. It was the time of my life when I worked less and made more money. I also sold lorries and cars. The first Mini to be sold in Spain was delivered by me, because there was a lot of demand. I was a great snake charmer and I was a good salesman, but my goal was always to be an entrepreneur. I thought that way I could get up whenever I wanted; I had a hard time getting up at seven in the morning to go to the lab.

And then, being a teetotaler, you set up your CLUVE wine club.
Yes, I didn't drink; it ran in the family. But for me the wine club was just another investment. When I saw how it worked, that it involved looking for anonymous, non-commercial wines and selling them through a mailing list of customers who joined for free, I realized that it was a good business because I didn't need to invest a large amount of money. At that time, I had not yet had a sensory and romantic attraction to wine.

And how did you discover the wines you sold through the club?
In 1974 there was a wine fair in Madrid called Vibexpo where the first bottled wines were presented, mainly from Rioja and La Mancha. I didn't know anyone but when I entered I saw a woman in a white coat in a stand with sensory analysis equipment. It was the illustrious Isabel Mijares, who was also starting at that time. 
I associated wine and oenology, which was a safeguard against a very long period of frauds. Based on a series of rules, the DOs represented a defence of public health, not only of the territory. Quality was important and the brands on the market offered guarantees. From that basis and with a strong interest in everything, I started to travel around Spain. A very well known journalist at that time, Javier Domingo, nicknamed me El Buscavinos (The Wine Searcher) and from there my career began.

How did you do your tastings?
I was self-taught. I tasted with Isabel Mijares and asked her 'which is the best? which is the worst?' and I relied on some basic sensory rules. Having the model of which wines were the best and possessing a good memory, I could define and describe the rest of the wines but I realised that the most important thing in any wine was balance.

Do you remember which was your first wine selection for the club? 
Yes, absolutely. The first one was an unknown wine from Rioja at that time. It was called Muga and it mentioned the vintage on the label. Another wine I discovered was Marqués de Cáceres, which was starting to be exported. It was the 1970 vintage and it was a success because it broke all the moulds of classical Rioja.

Did you go to the wineries to taste the wines you selected?
Yes, I tasted the wines in the bottle, because all the wineries we worked with had to bottle their wines; it was a condition we imposed at the club. In many cases we made special selections for the club blending different tanks because I sought balance and fruit. It was clear to me from the beginning, and I learned from Isabel Mijares, who had trained in Bordeaux, that oak was not the main driver. Now it seems normal, but fruit didn't sound too good back then. It was associated with cheap, young, bulk wine, the sort you drank in a tavern. In Rioja, they did everything possible to ensure that the wine from the previous vintage would resemble four or five years old.

You travelled across Spain in the 1970s in search of wines.
From top to bottom. In March 1975 I started to write about wine and five years later I wrote a book about Spanish wines. It became a bestseller because it was essentially a travel guide: my trips to lesser-known areas explained in a book. It spent eight or nine months on the fourth place of sales of books of all genres and about eight editions were printed. Never has a wine book sold so much in Spain.

So there was an interest in wine in those days.
It was the Spanish Transition and people were interested in wine, in politics, in erotica, in anything that felt new. I always tell people: if you are curious and show interest, you can learn about wine in three years. If you just want to be a winemaker, for purely technical reasons, you may spend 30 years learning about winemaking, but you will not have knowledge of wine. I learned 80% of what I know in the first five years, especially on my trips abroad. I may be the journalist who has spent the least time in the office writing. Even today, at my age, I like to be in the thick of things. 

Are you fully retired now?
I sold the company in 2003 but the new owners didn't want me to leave. I stayed on to run Sibaritas magazine until it closed in 2010 because it wasn't profitable, although it was the best. Perhaps I could have kept it with fewer collaborators and a shorter print run, but it seemed an infamy and we closed it down. 

My activity is now focused on image-building, traveling to the Peñín Showrooms in China, Russia or the US, for example. People like to see the person and  get their picture taken with me. It's an activity that doesn't take up much of my time and I combine it with the blog and consulting, which is mainly for wineries who want me to taste the wine before launching it and give them advice. 

How has wine changed since you started?
The world of wine has experienced more changes in the last 40-45 years than in the previous 2,000 or 3,000: new practices, countries that used to drink beer and now drink wine, new quality products, wine ceasing to be a commodity and becoming a hedonistic product, globalisation... 
We Spaniards have also introduced many changes. We still have the weight of bulk wine, but we evolved from a rural business with islets in Jerez, Rioja and a handful of brands in Catalonia, to the stainless steel revolution in the 80s. In the 90's, personal wines started to be made in Spain, small territories started to have some weight, viticulture experienced huge changes and the focus started to turn from the winemaker to the countryside. This translated into great wines and we thought that selling them would be a breeze with foreigners fighting each other to buy them. Then I realized that the Pingus and Ermitas were starting to be known because they were traveling and moving. Besides, the foreigners already knew that wine as well or better than us in Spain. One thing was missing: the skills to sell. For a long time I said that we did not know how to sell because we found a greater barrier than other countries when we visited an importer: we had a history of cheap wine, so our wines were pushed more than any wine from Italy, Germany, let alone from France. 

Italians also sold great amounts of bulk wine back then.
Yes, but they sold them more expensively and also bought a lot of wine from us in bulk which they then resold as Italian. This still happens, although the amount of bulk is smaller. The problem with Spain is that when we talk about our wines outside we lack confidence. And we offset that by selling cheaply.

Why does this happen if our wines have changed? 
We always waited for buyers because we have a tradition of selling raw material. Exports were entrusted to the fruit trade where they say: 'we give you this much and you don't complain'. When we started to have top-class winemakers and good quality wines, it was tougher for us. If an American asks a Frenchman for a price discount, he says: 'how vulgar, I'd rather burn down my château than sell at those prices'. In contrast, the Spaniard gives away two bottles for every ten and offers an extra discount on top of that. 

We haven't mastered the art of selling.
Since the Catholic Kings expelled the Jews, we've been left with the clergy and the nobility, who have no idea how to sell. Telmo Rodríguez told me recently that despite being one of the leaders of quality wines in Spain, he has more trouble selling his wines than his namesakes in Italy or France.

Wines are now technically better than before but has something got lost along the way?
Nothing has been lost, but nothing has been gained either. Bulk wine was sold at 30 cents per litre in 2013-14. Prices doubled the following year because there was no wine. The year after that there is again a surplus production and the price drops again to 30; we are incapable of scratching out anything, of maintaining the price at 40 or 45.

In the Peñín showrooms you visit abroad, how do people perceive Spanish wine?
Most importers are familiar with Spanish wines; the problem is that the shops find it difficult to sell them. Spanish wine, unlike Italian wine, is not known by consumers. The Italian publication Gambero Rosso hosts a show every year in New York and it is for the public, not for professionals. We can't do a Peñín Show for the general public; if we do, people won't attend. In the US, Spanish wine does not have its own status; it is in the "other wines" section.
Perhaps a return to indigenous or traditional varieties can help change that view.
Keen wine lovers seek out the human interpretation of their milieu. The forgotten varieties were forgotten because they were not profitable economically and because our elders stopped planting them when they migrated to the city. Those vines that are now returning are no better than Tempranillo or Cabernet, but they are demanded by new consumers who seek wines with ancestral flavours, natural wines connected with the land, with the surroundings and with a local tradition. And it's an international trend; Mediterranean vines are now being planted in Australia and the US. Cabernet and Merlot are left for consumers who demand power and flavour. 

Climate change is also forcing winegrowers to adapt.
In Spain we have more risks, but we also have more defences. The same as Australia, on our antipodes. We have varieties that have adapted to the heat and different methods of pruning to delay ripening. Grapevines were originally wild plants so they can adapt to any scenario; the question is the quality.

You're pretty active on social media. Do you like it or do you do it because you think you have to?
I'm not really sure, but we all have an ego. As for me, it's unforgivable because I've been starting my memoirs for three years and I can't quite finish them. Carlos [González, editor of The Peñín Guide], picks on me a lot and says, 'but Jose, everybody knows who you are'. It's a combination of curiosity, ego and a desire to keep abreast of things. I still have the journalist's calling to investigate and report, as opposed to the writer's, who sees, files and then writes. My journalistic side is preventing me from developing as a writer. 

It's not unusual to see you involved in heated debate on social media. 
Not long ago I had a dispute on Twitter. Some people talked about the wine of Jumilla and Valencia as if the standard was Enrique Mendoza or Casa Castillo. They are not. I said that the wines from Alicante and Jumilla are warmer and more Mediterranean than those from Bullas, but Víctor de la Serna himself rejected my arguments. He and I always fight like this. I enter the fray because I think it can be interesting for readers. But Victor doesn't beat me. 

He probably says that it's you who can't beat him. 
I don't think so, because it's me who has the last word and he doesn't go on. But we have a good relationship and there's no problem. I simply say things with a certain politeness, but I say them straight out. It's the same with Isabel Mijares, who I sometimes argue with. Arguing with them is something I can indulge in; that comes with age.

One issue that you have also had disagreements about on social media is alternatives to glass and cork.
We always end up accepting everything, but we do it later. And once we accept it, we throw ourselves into it and go crazy, without assessing whether it is the most suitable solution for our needs. I think the French have fully accepted the screwcap, and so have the Australians. I have had disputes on social media about the bag-in-box issue but it is clear that the most hygienic container there is today. Of course it doesn't happen at the table, but when you order a glass of wine at a bar, who tells you that an uncorked bottle has not been refilled?

Are bag-in-box and screw tops acceptable for all types of wine?
No, of course not. There is a ritual in wine that will never go away but bag in box and screwcaps are perfectly acceptable for supermarket wines. The same quality can be had both in bag in box and bottle, but we still have cliches that prevent us from raising our wine to the level it deserves.

Drinking cheap wine is seen as a poor person's thing?
Many restaurants in France serve wine in carafes. It's something fresh, cheap and meant to be shared. Not here. In Spain  it has to be Rioja or some other brand. We're narrow-minded in that sense. The bag in box is established in France and sells perfectly at €10/ litre. They are more pragmatic about it. When the bag in box was invented in the 80s, it was used in Spain as a means of reducing production costs and was used for the lowest quality wines; that is why this package is associated with bad wines here. I was the first journalist in Spain to talk about cheap wines. It was my idea to me to write about supermarket wines in 2003 so I was hired by Lidl for three years. The big change in supermarket wine  has occurred in the last 10 years. We journalists need to talk about the wines in the shopping basket, which is something we never do. We are always keen to boast that we have discovered great wines, but not the wines that are cost-effective for the consumer. When I talk about wines that cost €2-€3, people are interested. There are many consumers who have no visibility but who are interested in wines under €5.

You defend wines that are priced so low that they don't sound profitable.  Selling a wine for €2 adds up?
There are wineries that have subsidies and they drop the price of their wine by one euro. This is wrong. If you sell at €2 you should continue to sell at that price, little by little, not cash in at €1.5 and be forced to sell the following year at the same price or lower. Producers selling millions of bottles are able to make a profit, even if they only make 20 cents per bottle. But it's not profitable if you produce 100,000 bottles. The paradox is that the quality of supermarket wines made by the big players is inferior to those supermarkets brands whose suppliers are cooperatives. Try, for example, Pata Negra and compare it with any other wine. But Pata Negra has brand awareness and marketing and the cooperative wine does not.

Should subsidies be changed?
Undoubtedly. The largest subsidies should be used to create real quality brands, in order to place the most prestigious at the forefront. It would be much more profitable because those wines would act as a lure for buyers when they want to buy, say, a wine from Rioja. The other riojas would profit more if the quality wines were at the forefront. 

So, are 2 € acceptable?
For the business to be sustainable, wine should not be sold for less than €5, but that’s very difficult. Jerez is a good example. The new producers, those who make cult wines such as vintage wines and others who have stopped being suppliers to the big houses, are selling their wines at higher prices because they were born that way.  But increasing the price of Tío Pepe or Solear to from €5 to €10 is complicated. It would be desirable that all the wines raised their prices gradually to bring them up to their rightful level, but anything involving prices is frowned upon by Fedejerez. 

Are you a taster rather than a drinker?
Yes, I always say that I was a taster before I was a drinker. I like to taste everything but not so much drinking. Furthermore, I’m not sure I can call myself a wine drinker. I am incapable of eating a good dish and not drinking a good wine, but that is not the essential thing. My wife or my friends drink more than I do.

To be a good taster, is it desirable to be dispassionate?
Yes, of course. I can feel, not so much the emotion, but the surprise of finding an intriguing, different wine. I’m attracted to anything that is different although many of the things that surprised me 20 years ago no longer do.  The only rule I have is balance, I accept everything else.

So, do you like wine?
Yes, of course.  I buy wine with scores above 90 and I always check the guide. Carlos trained as a winemaker and his way of tasting is absolutely impartial. I think the current team tastes very well; in fact, I think the results are better than when I was scoring, maybe because at that time I also ran the magazine, a communication agency and wrote books. The team now are dedicated exclusively to tasting.

And what sort of wines do you buy?
All sorts, but generally Spanish wines. I don't ask the wineries because I know they would give them away to me, so I usually buy online. The €10-€12 euro range is a good price for me and if you look for top scores they are always a good buy. I love LZ by Telmo Rodríguez, Pétalos del Bierzo or the Bobal wines by Ponce. I like wines with complexity and freshness of fruit.

You are also interested in young, simple 'cosechero’ wines, the ones you find in many villages across Spain.
Yes, and in fact I would like to write a book about the producers who only sell these wines. You go to any area, even Rioja, and you realize that there are lots of small bodegas in the villages. If the Peñín Guide tastes 1,300 wines, there are still 1,500 more unlabelled wines to taste. These wines cannot be rated but they are part of an emotional world of human landscapes.

Do you like old wines?
I have lots of them at home, upwards of 1,000 bottles collected over the past 45 years, but I don't let myself be seduced by anniversaries or because of age. It usually influences many of those who taste old wines. But I look at the balance. I was the first to say in this country that wines do not improve but they rather change.

There seems to be a certain fascination now with old wines. 
I don't think there is more interest now than before; it just so happens that there are more people than ever spending money on these wines and sharing them. I understand that the fascination of old wine exists. I remember when Jancis Robinson invited us to her house around 2009 or 2010.  I don't speak English so we talk to each other in French.  We started dinner and she brought a bottle of Burgundy that was flat. So I said to her: 'Jancis, this wine is old but hasn’t aged well'. I always distinguish between and old wine and and old wine that has aged gracefully: you can drink the plain old one but it doesn't tell you anything, the nuances are muted. Her scores for old Port and Burgundy are consistently good.

Do you think the Peñín Guide has had or has a tendency to score high?
No, I think us experienced tasters score in a similar way. My scores are closer to those of Jancis, who scores a little lower than Robert Parker, Thomas Matthews or Tim Atkin, although that is not the important thing; what’s important is that each taster is consistent with his or her scores and in general we score high. As Parker said, I start with 100 points and then I take away points. In the first editions of the Peñín Guide there were wines scoring 60 points that were defined as "not recommended".

And the bodegas did not complain?
No, amazingly, there were no complaints. Furthermore, the same producers presented their wines to the guide again. They probably thought that they could scratch the odd point. Nowadays no wine deserves 60 points.

How do you see wine communication in Spain nowadays?
I think it's very interesting to have bloggers and so many people who show an interest in wine. Obviously there are good ones and bad ones, just like we have good and bad journalists. I think communication in a commercial relationship is positive, such as [online wine store] Bodeboca producer notes, which are very informative and complete. It’s also positive to have people communicating differently such as Colectivo Decantado, with a humourous tone and an attractive language for young people. 

And what about the media?
That’s another story. It is very unfortunate that Spain is the country in Europe where the food and wine press has had the least impact. The regional media does address wine at a local level, but the national press only writes about the economics of it, not the hedonistic side of wine.
The big media players show no interest in wine, perhaps because it is not profitable. But there’s one thing that greatly annoys me: at the end of the year all of them jump onto the bandwagon and compile lists simply to make money. There is no critique; only what’s widely know is written about, but that’s something people are not interested in. Many things are done to please the wineries, who buy advertising space so that we do not speak badly of them. That was done before and it is still prevalent in this country.  Magazines make their money with winery advertising so that they are kindly treated. Many journalists prefer not to speak ill of anything. I don't. I'm a critic, and if a wine is not right, I say so.

Is there a lack of criticism in the media?
Yes, that's right. Spanish Wine Lover also lacks criticism. I follow you and congratulate you, not because Amaya is a friend and once an employee. I once told her: 'I want you to be the Jancis Robinson of Spain'. She was later hired by Todovino but now the Jancis is out. I’m not known for store very few articles about Spanish wine but I collect information from Juancho Asenjo, who is outstanding, and you two because you explain the details without oozing exhibitionism, without saying 'read what we know', which other journalists like Víctor de la Serna do. What are we to do about it? But, to be honest, Victor has contributed a great deal, he is a great journalist and has always been on the cover of my magazine despite the fact that him and me are like water and oil, but I value quality in journalism. 
When I launched Bouquet magazine in 1980 the first thing I did was hire a journalist to be the editor-in-chief, because I am not a journalist. Journalism is important and that's what seduced me to the point that I didn't get "rich" precisely because of journalism. I could have been a rich businessman but I didn’t.

Do you think the industry has recognized your contribution?
That will happen when I die. I am an old glory but I still have many things to tell that haven't been told. We are in Spain, and we are unable to give praise. There is one thing that bothers me, and that is the groups of like-minded journalists, those who retweet anything just because it’s written by their friends rather than for what they say. I am not in any group, so if I get a retweet, that’s just amazing. Javier Domingo, who was an idol for me and taught me a lot about journalism, said to me in 1980: 'Now you are a young man who is starting; they will help you and they will write about you but when you are at the top, they will attack you'.

And how would you like to be remembered?
I don't know, I think that my definitive work will be the memoirs, the story of what wine has given me during these 45 years. I have many things to tell in the book, things that are known and things that are not because it was not politically correct at the time. They are not hurtful, but it’s like that job that you once did and try to avoid in your resumé. My intention is to have them published in the autumn of 2021.