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Stuart Pigott: Maverick writer changes flight path
© Jared Cocken
Wine keeps you young. How else would it possible for Stuart Pigott, at an age when many are counting down the days to retirement, to start from scratch? What drives someone at the age of 66 to decide to offer a fresh perspective on the fascinating world of wine?
With his loud, unmistakable laugh, British-born Pigott – who has been a German citizen since 2018 – is happy to explain. “I’ve worked in many different roles, but I’ve never in my life set up something entirely my own. I thought it was time,” he says. And so his new website www.stuartpigott.com was born.
For Stuart, dealing with subscription terms and conditions, tax advisers, the tax office and IT programmers is a new adventure. The subject matter, however, has been his life’s work, given he has been writing about wine since the 1980s. His articles and reviews have been published in many German-language media such as FAZ, Feinschmecker, Fine-Magazin and Vinaria. In 2016, Stuart moved to JamesSuckling.com, where he took up the position of Senior Editor and, from then on, delivered a prodigious amount of wine reviews from all over the world at breakneck speed. “Working with James Suckling is like a high-performance sport,” confirms Stuart: “This man has boundless energy and motivation.”
Stuart wanted to break free from the rat race. “Wine is so close to my heart that I want to devote sufficient time, attention and energy to every bottle.” This desire is not compatible with a tight editorial schedule that requires every region, every major winery and every vintage to be reviewed.
What's different?
Was the world waiting for yet another wine review platform? Certainly not. But Stuart manages to strike a good balance between ratings and long-form content.
He explores subjects, wineries and wines that aren’t among the usual suspects. He adopts perhaps a slightly unconventional perspective, describing a point of view that isn’t immediately obvious.
Maybe this has something to do with his past and his background. Pigott originally studied painting and art history at Goldsmiths, University of London, and later at St Martin’s School of Art and the Royal College of Art. His love of modern art is evident on the walls of his Berlin flat, which is filled with contemporary artworks from all over the world.
His first link between art and wine came through a student job as a wine waiter at the restaurant of the magnificent Tate Gallery in London. He began his career in journalism by writing articles for a New York art magazine. It was only after graduating that he devoted himself fully to wine and moved to Germany in 1989.
There, he soon developed a reputation for being a character, easily recognisable by his eccentric designer clothes and unbridled laughter.
Together with leading wine critics of the time – including Stephan Reinhardt, Chandra Kurt, Manfred Luer, Ursula Heinzelmann and Andreas Durst – Stuart Pigott published the first comprehensive tome on wines from German-speaking regions in 2006: Wein spricht Deutsch. 700 pages of text, covering the area from Eisenberg in Austria to the Saale in northern Germany and from the Mosel to Alto Adige in Italy.
A book full of encounters and stories, quotes, pictures, information boxes and maps. And without a single wine review. No ratings. 700 pages long.
Telling stories rather than just keeping score
Is Pigott returning to this noble aim with his new platform? Immersing himself fully in the wines and the thoughts of the producers, seeking to understand them and to translate them into words and stories?
It is true that on stuartpigott.com, you can read background stories and philosophical musings, but these are no longer the wide-eyed discoveries of a young journalist; rather, they are the insights of a seasoned expert who has known the world of wine for decades and who knows which wines have potential.
And yet, every wine tasted is accompanied by a score of between 80 and 100. It’s probably impossible to do without ratings these days. Ratings attract attention.
Having travelled the length and breadth of the wine world, how does Stuart decide which wineries to feature on his new platform?
© Bettina Keller
“I’ve tasted so many wines in my life. There has to be a certain thrill to it; the wines and their producers have to challenge me. I need to feel that I can immerse myself in something and discover more beneath the surface than what is already known.”
“I want to approach wines with curiosity and let creativity flow into the writing, rather than just ticking things off a to-do list,” is how he sums it up. Alongside him, there is a small editorial team. They are not conventional wine critics, but people who bring their own unique perspective to the table, often with an artistic background. The result is a colourful publication that aims to entertain and inform, rather than just scoring and passing judgement. And who is supposed to read this?
The subscribers come from all over the world and from all age ranges. What unites them is a desire to read and keep themselves informed. And an openness to new ideas.
“Hungary, for example, is a fascinating subject; there’s still so much to discover there, and you can keep an eye on newcomers and how they’re developing. That suits me far better than embarking on yet another Burgundy marathon just to tick off as many estates as possible,” Pigott says. “I was really impressed that it was our report on Hungary, in particular, that generated by far the greatest response.”
“I’m very proud of my readers. And I promise I won’t make them yawn,” he adds. And he laughs. Loudly and heartily. Then, turns serious again: “My aim is to reinvent wine journalism in an exciting and entertaining way.”
How to survive Single Vineyard Summit?
Stuart Pigott shared his personal survival tips with us for the 2024 Single Vineyard Summit organised by Österreichische Traditionsweingüter.
This year, the international summit – where visitors can sample the finest single-vineyard wines from Austria’s most important wine regions – will take place between 7 and 10 September at Grafenegg castle in Lower Austria.
