TASTEMAKERS
Can you bottle style? Jonathan Brookes speaks to three industry heavyweights about what drives finesse in the hospitality industry.
Restaurants, wine bars, or even just a glass of wine can emanate style. Three slick hospo heroes – Paul Schrader of Rita in Wellington’s Aro Valley, Hannah Wells of Wellington’s Puffin and James Pain of Pici on Karangahape Rd in Auckland – suggest that, while style shouldn’t be chased and you might feel it before you can see it, it is backed by careful thought, solid principles and plain hard work.
WHAT DEFINES STYLE AT YOUR ESTABLISHMENT?
Paul Schrader (Rita, Wellington): One of the things at Rita that influences our sense of style is trust. Trust in our own instincts to create the kind of restaurant you think people will come to and enjoy. Trust in the kitchen to deliver yummy food. Trust that the glass we put in front of you will be filled with something delicious and possibly new to you.
Hannah Wells (Puffin, Wellington): Style is something you can feel more than anything. Style at Puffin comes from us wanting it to be good and always moving towards better: the service, the staff, the atmosphere, everything. Style should be attainable and that means comfort is something that needs to be considered. The touch points of the whole experience feel good and focus on quality. The details are important and things need to work at the level where you, as a customer, sometimes don’t notice them operating. Like a movie, if you don’t notice that it’s a set, it’s working.
James Pain (Pici, Auckland): Celebrating the individual and diversity. Not having uniforms allows staff the opportunity of selfexpression at work. Everyone is welcome to eat at Pici.
The wine list is style-driven. Three particular wine styles are front and centre of the list (pet nats, orange wines and chilled reds). These are styles not normally seen on a conventional wine list, and so hopefully create an impact. I like the subversive, underdog element of the natural wine movement. By turning conventional wine hierarchies on their head, we can celebrate the diverse and esoteric. Wines which are often overlooked and underrated, but are as delicious and stimulating as ever.
WHAT/WHO INFLUENCES THAT STYLE, AND YOUR APPROACH TO WINE?
PS: When you only operate with a set menu, the wine list has to mirror that and then becomes influenced by the changing nature of the menu and its three-course storyline. Small producers, wines from unusual places and support for small wine suppliers all influence our decision making. And then it’s our job to tell the story and maybe introduce our guests to something new or a twist on a classic. The trust game again.
HW: Influence should be drawn from anything and everything. Travel and experiences, seeing other places we admire, how they operate, what they pour, what the service is like. The approach to wine at Puffin has always, and will always, focus on minimal intervention, organic and biodynamic wine. The ethos of those winemakers is purposeful and passionate. We want to be able to represent what they do in the best way possible.
JP: The natural wine movement is a licence to have fun with wine. It made me re-calibrate my palate to a whole new technicolour world of flavours not accepted or allowed in conventional wine, and I found that behind the wines are all the values that I really care about too: small producers, environmental consciousness, levity, community, diversity.
WHAT’S STYLISH IN THE WORLD OF WINE (OR OTHER DRINKS)?
PS: We are seeing more and more carefully considered imports of wine from different areas of the world, plus some locals producing wine we previously weren’t seeing much of. To name just a few, I’m loving wines from Jura and then closer to home there are a bunch of quirky delicious wines being made like those that the folks at Alpine Wine company make. I have also recently enjoyed wines from new producers Halite, and then the drinkable vermouths Dave Verheul is making in Melbourne.
HW: Not chasing fads and doing things with intention. Pedigree is always stylish. Good stories, engaging producers, confidence without ego. Letting the product do the talking. Hard work. As an example of style in the world of wine, Rippon and Nick Mills are pure style. Rippon embodies humility, good stories, incredible talent, acknowledgement of history, respect for what they have and what they do, and they are just downright wonderful people. JP: Orange wine is stylish. Again, it’s an underdog thing. It was a common part of winemaking in history, but about two generations of winemakers stopped making orange wines and they were considered bad and wrong. So the modern orange wine movement is a defiant reclaiming of a style that was pushed to the wayside.
WHAT’S THE MOST STYLISH THING YOU CAN DRINK?
PS: Campari. The ruby glow, the bitter cut through and the timeless everyday nature of it makes it for me.
HW: A well-made martini.
JP: Something grown or made by a grower or winemaker whose name you know.