Meet the Wine Guy
TOM & THE EGG
To millions of people online, Tom Gilbey is the “Wine Guy”, a highly entertaining tour guide to the wide world of wine.
He’s also an EGG man. As anyone familiar with his snappily produced videos will know, Tom is never happier than when slowly roasting a beautiful piece of meat on his beloved Big Green Egg, ready to be enjoyed with a big, ballsy red. He’s been cooking on his EGG for nine years, all year round. “I love cooking outside,” he says. “I love the sense of freedom you feel. I love the smells. And I love it in all weathers.”
GILBEY & SON
After decades of sharing his expertise in more conventional ways, Tom’s rise to social media stardom has been rapid. And it’s largely down to his 27-year-old son Fred, who in January last year suggested they experiment with some video content. Tom’s presenting skills and Fred’s Gen X digital smarts proved a perfect pairing. “It’s just him and me doing fun stuff with wine,” says Tom. That ‘fun stuff’ has included everything from blind tasting 25 wines while running the London Marathon to sampling a 154-year-old cognac Tom found in his dad’s house.
Tom says
Make it a LARGE
Tom’s EGG, which has pride of place in the garden at his beautiful south London home, is a Large, the perfect size for someone regularly cooking for a family. We shared a couple of dishes while we were there. There was a chicken, spit roasted on his Rotiserrie – one of our most popular accessories – then spritzed with champagne at the end, giving a touch of sweetness to the crispy skin. That was followed by a magnificent ribeye steak, cooked in a Solidteknics skillet that he deglazed with a splash of excellent but surprisingly reasonable Bordeaux.
TOM’S APPROACH
Tom’s mission is to cut out the pretentious waffle and make wine as accessible as possible. “Wine is a drink that no one should feel scared of,” he says. His belief is that ‘good’ wine is about personal taste, not just price, and that knowing what you’re going to get when you open a bottle is harder than it ought to be. “The supermarkets now are doing such a great job, and it’s easier than ever to find a wine that you’re going to love, but the wine industry is terrible at telling you what it’s actually going to taste like!”
THE PERFECT MATCH
Finding a wine that works with the food you’re cooking on a Big Green Egg isn’t rocket science. “Basically, the stronger the flavour of your food, the stronger the flavour of wine that will match it,” says Tom. “So, big food, big wine. Delicate food, delicate wine. Generally, off the EGG, you’re going to be getting big flavours from all that heat and smoke, so you’ll want something with quite a lot of punch. Beyond that, no rules. I would play with all sorts.” To get us started, he gave us three suggestions for wine styles that will match a wide range of our recipes.
WHAT TO DRINK WITH SLOW-COOKED MEAT
PAIR WITH: Primitivo or Nero d'Avola
“For slow-cooked meat that’s so soft you almost you drink it rather than eat it, my perfect match would be a southern Italian red, either a Primitivo or a Sicilian Nero d’Avola. Both have these really ripe flavours, with loads of blackberry that matches the sweetness and succulence of the meat. Both also have lovely textures – absolutely perfect!”
WHAT TO DRINK WITH A WHOLE FISH
PAIR WITH: Viognier
“For a meaty, oily fish like a whole turbot or brill, I would go for a rich white wine. Maybe a Viognier. Texture is really important here – you want it to be velvety around your mouth, quite oily in character, to match the fish. The feel of a big Viognier will definitely be quite resonant in that way.”
WHAT TO DRINK WITH SPICY FOODS
PAIR WITH: Chardonnay
“Spice is only going to make the flavours more intense, so you have to go bigger. I’d go for a big Chardonnay – maybe from the US, where you find these rich, ripe, juicy flavours that are going to almost blanket the spice and absorb the punches. If you want a red, it’s a similar thing: something big and rich. Just up the ante. And nothing too dry, because that will only fight the spice.”
