thesprezzaturist

~ "studied carelessness"

thesprezzaturist

Tag Archives: bybo

“Babe, beginning of a great adventure”

18 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by juleslewis in Food, Wine

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bybo, Mother London, Wine

IMG_1485 (3)

I recently spent an informative day with Mother. Not my mother, although her day will come, but the uber cool creative agency in London. They have offices in New York and Buenos Aires, but my meagre expenses wouldn’t stretch to Argentina. I came away feeling energised, and a tad more hip – I have a beard which helps – although unlike my young creative advisers am a trifle nearer my sell by date.

I was informed that I was a challenger brand in a bull (not a reference to the Pampas) market, and that I needed a back story – most clients just make theirs up, they said. Mine happens to be true, although I’ll add some blarney later.

“A glorious day, an empty beach, freshly caught shrimp, crab and mackerel and no wine!
While I gutted fish, lit a fire and kept the kids from capsizing – I am manly like that – the VOR magnanimously volunteered to go shopping.
An experience akin to The Clash’s “Lost in the Supermarket” followed. “Unable to shop happily”, she returned exhausted and together we toasted the setting sun with something described as “Good with Fish”
“You should have gone yourself”, said the VOR.

She had encountered a common conundrum. Paralysed in the face of so much choice, many a wine consumer is forced to settle for fail safe, special offers, a pretty label or just getting “something French to be on the safe side”. Subsequent market research confirmed this to be fact. “You should help” said the VOR, “what’s the use of all that knowledge and experience if all you do is bang on about it at the dinner table”. She had a point, I should have gone to the shops myself.

Like the “King of Pop”, I wanted to be starting something and online was my preferred route. Being a shopkeeper meant less time playing with surfboards – but I was about to encounter some serious brainache. Online wine sites boasted exhaustive drop down menus, sorted by country, region, style, colour and price. A myriad, miniscule, bottles floating in white space flashed before my eyes, together with enough multi coloured offers and jumbled visuals to make a maniacally bill postered wall look minimalist. I struggled to get beyond the home pages and I’d failed my MW theory.

“There’s no emotion” said the VOR (a rabid and evangelical foodie), “You can’t weigh it, touch it or squeeze it like food. It’s impossible to physically interact with a bottle of wine until you open it and drink it”. She had a point, some feeling was desperately required.

“How are you to know if it’s an interesting, stylish and delicious drink – designed to go with food rather than dominate it – or an over produced, neutral, alcoholic and sugar – driven monster, deliberately created for mass market appeal” – She didn’t say that, I did.

Essentially it all comes down to pleasure. I believe that by approaching wine in a careful and thoughtful way, informed by food and occasion, increases the pleasure derived from it. Over processed, over produced wine is like its equivalent in food – it just doesn’t make you feel good!

So I did something, I started a wine and food matching company called bybo. It’s not like “A Man Called Horse”, but it’s just as emotive. It’s not really a hobby, although it does keep me off the streets, nor is it a desire to do a good deed – I have always considered myself selfish rather than philanthropic – but I do have a mission. I want to sell quality wine to people who care about value rather than price, supporting growers and producers to ensure they stay connected to the land and environment in which they work. I oppose a mono – branded world by favouring slow rather than fast food, field over factory, local above global. Phew, that’s philanthropic. Truth is, I just want to make enough money to spend more time at the beach. Got to go the tides on the turn”.

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • More
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

“Work in progress”

29 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by juleslewis in Food, Wine

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

bybo, Food, Gregory Porter, Liquid Spirit, Nigel Slater, Nigella Lawson, Wine

_MG_7789

“There is something quietly civilizing about sharing a meal with other people. The simple act of making someone something to eat, even a bowl of soup ….. suggests an act of generosity and intimacy. It is in itself a sign of respect.” Nigel Slater

I love food, and as Nigella so succinctly put it in How To Eat, “I don’t believe you can ever really cook unless you love eating”. I also love wine, but am constantly surprised and disheartened by the kind of undrinkable plonk that friends routinely serve up at the dinner table.
Wine goes with food, not as a faddy matching hint, but as an equal partner in a simple pleasure – life-giving and life enhancing.
Good food can be expensive, simple food isn’t, but cheap processed junk food comes at a high physical price. We are justifiably anxious about what we put in our bodies so why do we attempt to save money on the wine we serve – shouldn’t it be of the same quality as the food?
Ever been to a dinner party where the food was delicious but the wines came via an unscrupulous “3 for £10” or “was £9.99 now £4.99 “ offer designed to seduce us into accepting thin, sweet, raspberry juiced reds or neutral insipid whites as the norm. There are many producers who do not manufacture wine by the tanker full, making lovely stuff to go with simple food at prices that will surprise you. Such wines demand the spending of an extra pound or two but you are richly rewarded – and the food tastes better.

DSC_0006DSC_0008

I have just started a venture to promote the drinking of good wine – with the aim of giving folks some much-needed Liquid Spirit, a la Gregory Porter.
It’s called bybo and is the reason that my blogging activity has been less than prolific of late.

2014-01-17 12.26.03

We recently did a bit of food styling for the website, which was a fun way to spend a working day with friends – and a lot more difficult than I expected.
Although not narcissistic, possessing the kind of looks more suited to radio rather than photography – excepting Katie (the VOR) of course – we did fancy ourselves as competent hand models. Behind the scenes, things were not as perfect as Mark’s photos suggest. Tim and I smashed numerous glasses, ruined at least two tablecloths but had some great laughs and still managed to warm Katie’s lovely food up in time for dinner.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • More
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Recent Posts

  • Stakes & Stones
  • My Mate Marmite
  • The Joint is Jumpin!
  • Whimsicality killed the Cat
  • ‘Do The Macchiona’

Recent Comments

the #1 Itinerary on Stakes & Stones
juleslewis on The Joint is Jumpin!
the #1 Itinerary on The Joint is Jumpin!
Charlotte Whitta on The Joint is Jumpin!
the #1 Itinerary on Eau Naturel

Archives

  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • August 2018
  • December 2016
  • July 2016
  • May 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • August 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • December 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013

Categories

  • Art
  • Books
  • Food
  • Musings
  • Skate
  • Surf
  • Travel
  • Wine

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • thesprezzaturist
    • Join 629 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • thesprezzaturist
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: