In preparing to speak to Bruce Jack for this interview there were very apparently too many avenues to explore. Thankfully, Bruce doesn’t shy away from engaging and digging deep on subjects that one might not expect to cover in a wine orientated interview.
Instead of transcribing, that would take me forever, I have tidied up the interview for Youtube and as an inaugural podcast for the SecretSommelier podcast channel (I will not be waxing lyrical about anything on the channel but will be adding interviews with wine pro’s to the channel).
This is a summary of topics covered:
The Jack Journal was due to be published and launched in Dusseldorf at ProWein in March. This was largely due to the printer being the only carbon-neutral printer that Jack could find. As discussed in this interview, being a brand that stands for something is important, especially when the brand is your own name.
Portugal & history
My article for the Jack Journal was based up on four trips to Portugal in 2019 and an impressionistic/anecdotal view of how climate change was being felt in this North-Western part of the Iberian Peninsula (Vinho Verde, Douro and Dao).
Bruce uses Portuguese grapes in his own wines and says he is ‘enamoured’ with Portugal from a historical perspective as well as from the viticultural perspective, citing the Methuen Trade Treaty of 1703 that bonded Britain to Portugal, ensuring that we Brits were flooded with Portuguese wines for the duration.
Yum Yum factor in wine
We touch on Bruce Jack wines and the ‘Yum Yum’ factor, a translation of what I have previously referred to on this site as one-more-glass syndrome.
Personal mythologies - giving life meaning
The concept of identity is a major part of this interview. Not just Jack’s own identity but the sense of identity that we all have and how that connects us to our own perception of who we are based on what he calls personal mythologies.
South African pandemic crisis
The Jack Journal is certainly a publication that explores values and interests that Jack has on his mind, however, the postponement of its release due to the pandemic gains wider definition with the crisis that engulfed South Africa when locking down the population and shutting down the economy.
Jack discusses how he and his team have pivoted to from winemaking to being aid workers in the Cape region seeking out and helping those people who have ‘fallen through the cracks’ and are most vulnerable to starvation, abuse, or any other impact from privation.
Of course, the Jack Journal is now live and can be read for free online here. The interview below gives some insight into the identity of the inquisitive man who conceived it… so charge the glass and have a listen.