5 questions for Helena Baker, the first lady of wine in the Czech Republic

Helena Baker, DEUG (en lettres modernes)

was born in Prague, however, most of her adult life has been spent in Great Britain, France, Monaco, Portugal and Germany. She holds a Diploma from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET). At present she lives in the Czech Republic, where she earns a living as a writer and journalist in the field of eno - gastronomy. She is a regular contributor to magazines such as Beverage & Gastro, Sommelier, Vinařský obzor (Wine Horizon), Hotel Revue, Víno Revue, BarLife and many more. On the world scene she has contributed to the Global Encyclopedia of Wine, the Oxford Companion to Wine, the World Atlas of Wine, Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book (the latter she has been translating into Czech since 2003). As well as this she is the author of the annual Kapesní průvodce po vínech a vinařstvích ČR (Pocket Wine Guide to the Wines and Winemakers of the Czech Republic), the publications Kohout na víně (Coq au Vin), Italská vína (The Wines of Italy), 100 bílých a 100 červených vín ČR (100 Select White and 100 Select Red Wines of the Czech Republic) and last but not least she also contributes to the coffee - table - book Kluci v akci (Lads in Action), which is a spin - off from the successful culinary TV series of the same name which is also an internet presentation. She is a regular judge on a number of world wine contests, a member of the international wine writers' federation (FIJEV), a knight of the orders Die Europäische Weinritterschaft and Chaîne des Rôtisseurs. Helena Baker has her own internet web site www.bakerwine.cz

1) Do you remember your first encounter with God's own beverage? How and when was your fate tied inextricably to wine?

At the early age it was sweet redcurrant wine at my grandmother's in the Czech - Moravian highlands and as a teenager growing up in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic I drank my way through much of the so - called Pražský výběr (Prague Selection) and other equally appalling headache - inducing concoctions until I became member of the crew of film producer Sam Spiegel's yacht, anchored most of the year on the French Riviera. Here I came into contact with the truly aristocratic drink that is wine. The rest, as they say, is history...

2) What is it that most attracts and fascinates you in wine?

Its diversity and versatility. And when somebody asks me which wine I like most, I have to reply that this is the same as asking a mother of ten children which one is her favourite.

3) What gives you the biggest worry in today's world of wine?

The so - called "new world" wines with all the quality of rainwater and a price lower than €0.30 that are shipped to European ports in cisterns, from where they make their way to, among other destinations, the Czech Republic, where they are bottled by respectable wineries before appearing on the shelves of the large supermarket chains, from which they are purchased by unsuspecting customers thinking that they are buying the real McCoy and this often to the detriment of Czech and Moravian wines.

4) What unique or unmistakable features in your wines are you most proud of?

I happen to have a small vineyard (about 750 vines), in an excellent position with a south - facing aspect in a locality called Pod dubňansků horů (Dubňany slope) in the Moravian sub - region of Slovácko, near the Slovak border, and this Genius Loci is reflected into the wine originating from its grapes.

5) Imagine you were stranded on a desert island and had to choose two bottles of wine to be shipwrecked with. One of your own production and one from another source. What would you choose?

Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 from the Dubňany slope and Château d'Yquem 1986 in an impérial size bottle (contents 6 litres). From the first wine there there is probably only one bottle remaining, whilst the second is beautifully complex, reminiscent of a host of scents and tastes: raisins, fígs, quince, marmelade, candied orange peel, to mention but a few – underlined with a hint of spices, fern and almonds. It is a wine with a truly enormous potential, which should only be tasted after many years – and a bottle of this size would certainly last until the moment a saviour ship appeared on the horizon...!