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The Oxford Times, Friday March 18 2005
Wine
By John Stimpfig
The Appliance of Science
Ten years ago, if you’d told Dr Karen Hyde that she would be teaching budding wine aficionados rather than conducting cutting edge medical research into molecular genetics, she would have looked at you as though you’d had a glass too many. But that was before children and before she’d been bitten by the wine bug. Now, a decade on and four children later, Karen is running the Oxford wine school ‘WineMatters’ and enjoying every last drop of her surprisingly new and successful career.
According to Karen, she first became interested in wine, when she met her husband-to-be in 1989. ‘Jon grew up around wine because his father had a good cellar. So I certainly remember feeling a bit intimidated by the famous names of all these Bordeaux chateaux. But after several memorable trips to French vineyards I thought it would be fun to find out more.’ She enrolled on an evening course with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust in Oxford in 1995. And so began another lasting love affair which resulted in her passing the Trust’s intensive, two-year Diploma in 1999.
Even then, she never imagined that the qualification would lead to anything more than an amateur’s private passion. But as it became increasingly difficult to juggle her scientific career with the demands of childcare, Karen also began to stand in as a tutor on some WineMatters sessions. The next thing she knew, she’d taken on the franchise from its founder, the Oxford Wine Merchant and Master of Wine, Michael Palij.
‘It’s a million miles from gene technology and molecular medicine,’ Karen admits. ‘So it was quite a scary decision to give up the science. But I have to say, it’s been a great experience and I’m loving every minute of the teaching.’
Understandably, she was a little nervous on her first evening course at the beginning of 2004. Now though, her confidence is sky high after a bumper harvest towards the end of her first year, along with some rave reviews. As a result, business is beginning to boom to such an extent that her last three courses have completely sold out with 17 people on each. ‘In September, I actually had to run two courses in parallel because we had so much popular demand,’ she points out.
Karen teaches two separate programmes both of which are modified versions of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s standard curriculum. However, the most popular is ‘The Introduction to Wine Appreciation Course’, which is targeted at beginners and runs for eight two hour sessions at Oxford Brookes. According to Karen, ‘I like to make the course both fun and informative. That way, people enjoy it more and also learn more. The last thing I want to do is make it stuffy or intimidating,’ she adds.
On the course, students receive a thorough insight into the main grape varieties and wine producing regions as well as the styles of wine which they produce. Critically, they also learn the secret tricks of the trade so that everybody can taste and assess wine like a professional. Karen also points out that all the wines (usually six per session) are carefully selected for each course. But that’s not all. ‘Quite a few are drawn from Michael Palij’s personal cellar which gives people the chance to try some older and more expensive wines than are currently available on the High Street,’ she says.
Students come from all ages and social backgrounds. ‘For instance, one came on last term’s Introductory course having only just retired,’ says Karen. ‘Going on a wine course was something he had always wanted to do. Now, he’s planning to go travelling and enjoy drinking wine all around the world. Equally though, at the other end of the age range, we’ve also had the eighteen year old son of the MD from one of Oxford’s largest independent wine companies. But on the whole, most people tend be between their late twenties and mid fifties.’
Someone who fits that description is Monica Payne, a local Solicitor. She is currently doing the Introductory course and confirms that, ‘the whole experience has been very social and great fun. And that’s entirely down to Karen’s relaxed, friendly and enthusiastic teaching style as well as her obvious knowledge of the subject.’ But having a good time hasn’t been the only benefit. ‘In addition, the course really has made me appreciate the finer points of good wine for the first time,’ adds Monica. ‘It has made me think about what I am drinking and I definitely enjoy wine much, much more because of it. And although it isn’t cheap at £240, I do think it’s been very good value.’
So much so, that like a lot of people, Monica Payne believes she will probably go on and do WineMatters’ next more intensive programme, which is the fourteen week Advanced Course. Naturally, Karen is thrilled and flattered that so many students decide to continue learning about wine with her. ‘Often, the Introductory Course just whets people’s appetites, so it’s important to be able to offer them a programme which goes into even greater depth’ she says.
However, once people have finished either of the courses, Karen still has another wine tasting option for them to graduate onto. That’s because she also happens to be the Secretary of the Oxford Wine Club, having taken over the post last year. ‘So many people finish the courses still wanting more that they frequently ask, “OK, where do we go from here?” Obviously, I can point them in the direction of the Club which holds excellent tastings once a month at Wolfson College,’ Karen points out. ‘I felt it just tied everything together.’
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