Sara Cox loves recommendations.
“Whether it’s a good book or an album, I love good recommendations,” she tells me with that warm and easy-going charm that characterizes her. “Because I love seeing the passion in people’s eyes for a certain product.”
When she met Moez Seraly, founder of online wine retailer Perfect Cellar (or “the boss,” as Cox describes him), she discovered that his passion for wine “was contagious.” After several tastings over the course of a year – “they were the best meetings I’ve ever had, basically because we drank a lot of wine” – she has just launched her first wine collection with the brand.
With Seraly's guidance, he selected a grand cru Champagne, a petit Chablis from Burgundy, a rosé from Provence and a smooth, medium-bodied Bordeaux.
In fact, she finished a bottle of red yesterday, she tells me excitedly. “My friend came from Manchester and, even though it was a sunny day, we ended up opening a bottle of red and it was absolutely delicious.”
It was the story of Château D'Esteau that drew her to the 2019 cuvée d'eyssan haut-médoc. “There are four sisters – it sounds a bit like a fable or something – and it is the youngest of the four who runs the vineyard together with her partners,” she says excitedly. “It is medium-bodied, it is juicy, it has a bit of oak.” The wine’s versatility also had appeal. “I actually quite like heavier reds like a rioja, a malbec or a merlot, but this one is beautiful. You can drink it at any time, it is not heavy.”
She served it with a turkey bolognese she had just pulled out of the slow cooker. She loves food, she says, but she's trying to be a little healthier and “I don't get home from work until 8 or so, so I'm the queen of cooking in large quantities.”
The story behind the vineyard is also why she was drawn to Château Margui's rosé in Provence. Well, her husband is raving about it: it's not just any rosé, it's George Lucas' rosé. “I'll have to organise a trip and take my husband pretending to be my personal assistant or my masseuse or bodyguard or something,” Cox says with a smile.
While Château Margui joined the Skywalker Vineyard collection in 2017 (along with others in California and Italy), the estate can actually trace its roots back to 1784, with the vineyard being completely replanted in 2000 after a difficult 20th century. Its Rosé “is very pale and peachy. There’s a slight… when I say this, I doubt myself a little bit… there’s a slight tropical aftertaste, but it’s very subtle.” I assure you I read the same thing in the tasting notes.
If you've already figured out that she's not an expert in the world of fine wine, you're right. But that's what makes her the perfect customer for Perfect Cellar. “You're absolutely right about that,” she says. “I don't have a lot of knowledge about wines, wine regions and the process, but I'm very interested and would like to learn more in the meantime.”
Perfect Cellar has made a name for itself by demystifying and democratising access to fine wines, allowing customers to build their own “virtual wine cellar” to keep their wine collection perfectly organised and making their next order a breeze. Many of their wines are sourced from producers neighbouring the most prestigious estates in the best regions, at a fraction of the cost.
The partnership is aimed at the group of wine drinkers that Cox firmly places himself in. “We wanted to make it easier for people to find these fantastic wines at a reasonable price, but not just any wine,” he says. The wines are perfect for “when you have friends over for dinner, like I did with my girlfriend last night, or if you’re celebrating something, or if you just want a good wine for every day.”
That’s not to say she’s a complete novice – she’s been a radio DJ for 25 years, after all. Her first memory of drinking red wine was when she visited her sister in Paris when Cox was 19. “She was there working for the summer as part of her degree and I went to Paris and it really opened my eyes to travel and the world beyond Bolton, really,” she says. Her sister was the jet-setting type; Cox was more of a homebody. “My sister had always travelled, but it never captured my imagination that much.”
But in Paris, “I spent the day alone. Obviously, this was long before smartphones existed. I only had a small AZ and a few francs in my pocket. And I had a fantastic few days.”
One night, the sisters went out to dinner (again, not a fable). “We had a slow-cooked beef dish at a restaurant and my sister was like, ‘Try a spoonful of the food,’ and then she was like, ‘Well, now take a sip of this red wine. ’ And you know that moment when you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, when the flavors come together and complement each other. ’” It was a real foodie moment for her, she says. “It would be a bit of an exaggeration to say it was eye-opening, life-changing, but I remember thinking, ‘Well, I see this is serious stuff. ’”
I don't have much knowledge about wines, wine regions and the process, but I am very interested and would like to learn more in the meantime.
Sara Cox
A lot has happened since then. She got her first job in television when she was 22, presenting The girls show on Channel 4, followed by a few seasons on Channel 5 and MTV, a role in a short film called The bitterest pilland her revolutionary work as a presenter of The big breakfastShe joined BBC Radio in 1999 and, apart from maternity leave, has rarely left the station.
Her relationship with wine “developed over time,” as it often does. “I’ve been leaning more towards quality than quantity, whereas I think in my twenties it was the other way around. You just chugged the wine!” But when her children were born – she has three with husband Ben Cyzer, who doesn’t work in radio or drink – “I was really looking forward to having a little glass of wine after they went to bed. It was 7pm – boom! It was a little treat. A lot of parenting, as magical and joyful as it is, is quite repetitive. It can be a grind.”
Also in the collection is a petit chablis from Sylvain Mosnier, who has been making exceptional wines since 1893. “Its colour is like going back to my father’s farm, with that straw and rye tone. It’s really beautiful,” says Cox. “And it has a little peach flavour, but it’s very well balanced and that’s what I noticed most. With some white wines, I can find them a little acidic. When I was in my twenties, I stopped drinking it for a while, but with this chablis I rediscovered the power of a lovely white.”
On the other hand, the Champagne, a grand cru from Michel Genet’s Chouilly vineyards, is like “go big or go home … and buy a big, bold grand cru,” Cox says. “It’s absolutely delicious. It’s not particularly difficult to taste; it has a bit of citrus, a bit of lemon and maybe some grapefruit, and it’s a beautiful color. It smells a bit like freshly baked pastries.”
Cox also likes the natural approach that Antoine, Vincent and Agnès Genet take to viticulture and winemaking – in fact, they call themselves “grand crus makers.” “We thought it was a perfect example of a beautiful Champagne,” says Cox.
“I should have a glass in front of me if I wasn’t on air at 4pm!”
