Ahead of Viva’s 2024 Wine Awards, we’re revisiting this Q&A with wine editor Dr Jo Burzynska. Below, the expert shares the highlights of her role, the intricacies of her wine-focused PhD and her favourite spot for dinner and drinks.
What is your role at Viva and how long have you been in that role?
I’m Viva’s wine editor, responsible for the magazine’s wine content. This spans news and features to big specials, such as Viva’s New Zealand Wine Awards (stay tuned for that this week). It not only involves writing but tasting a lot of wines — sometimes hundreds a week. I started in the role with a weekly column back in 2007, with a break from 2016 while I decamped to Australia to do a PhD, and returned to the fold in 2020.
Where does your interest in wine come from?
I’ve always been fascinated by flavour. From an early age, I was a keen cook, while regular trips to France as a young person expanded this interest into wine. Wine has some of the most complex and interesting combinations of flavours and is also grounded in culture, another of my interests. When I left university after my English master’s, this led me to join the wine trade in London, take wine qualifications, start writing about wine, and get thoroughly bitten by the wine bug.
Can you tell us about your PhD?
This was interdisciplinary research that blended art and science to investigate the ways our senses interact. Its focus was the relationship between sound and taste, using sound and wine, and identifying a number of sonic/musical properties that influence the perception of specific wine characters. For example, low pitches made people perceive the body of a wine as being fuller. I also explored how these could be applied in the creation of aesthetic experiences that involve sound/music and wine. This research grew out of my parallel careers in wine and sonic art.
Is there a story, issue or project you’ve worked on at Viva that was particularly memorable for you, and why?
Covering the rapid evolution of the country’s wine industry has proved riveting. In the 15 years since I first joined Viva, there’s just been so much improvement, and the wines are just continuing to get more and more interesting. It’s a very exciting time to be writing about wine here in New Zealand.
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Advertise with NZME.What’s the best thing about your role?
Apart from all the delicious wine, it’s the people I get to meet. Those who make wine tend to be driven by a passion and creativity that makes them great to engage with. These interactions regularly make my job a joy, and full of interesting stories to tell.
Describe your personal style.
Bold and vintage-inspired. I love 60s aesthetics, especially mod styles, which manifests in quite a lot of my outfits. I have clothes from that era, but I like to mix these up with modern items, which are often inspired by Japanese clothing. I wear a lot of black or bright colours, geometric patterns, interesting cuts, patent and big jewellery. In wine, I look for more restraint.
What are your favourite New Zealand stores or brands?
Being a great believer in buying second-hand, I frequent shops such as Recycle Boutique, Tatty’s and Vixen Vintage. As my wardrobe spans six decades, I don’t have any favourite brands as such.
What’s the most special item of clothing in your wardrobe, and why?
A chiffon drop waist dress that was my mother’s in the swinging 60s. It’s a lovely cut, beautifully made, and the fact that my mum was rocking it when she was young makes it extra special.
Where’s your go-to spot for dinner and drinks with friends?
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Advertise with NZME.Christchurch’s Gatherings is a great spot for relaxed get-togethers over beautifully prepared local produce and interesting natural wines.
What’s your favourite meal to cook for company, and for yourself?
I make a mean gołąbki z grzybami, a traditional Polish dish that I like to share of cabbage leaves stuffed with all kinds of mushrooms and buckwheat, served in a tomato sauce. For myself, a go-to is salmon poached in a miso broth with soba noodles.
And what wine would you pour for the occasion?
With the gołąbki I’d serve a fresh young New Zealand pinot noir with a strong savoury element. For the salmon, an umami-rich barrel-fermented chardonnay.
What else do you read, listen to or watch when you’re not reading Viva?
After starting my own Oenosthesia: Blending Wine and Music substack, I’ve found this newsletter platform quite addictive. There’s just so much variety, from Patti Smith and politics to perfumery. The radio is my regular companion in the kitchen, where my listening ranges from RNZ to documentaries via the likes of the BBC app. I do still like a good print magazine, and tend to get The World of Fine Wine (for wine) and The Wire (for music).
A book (or two) you couldn’t put down?
In anticipation of his visit to NZ later this month, I’ve just been propelled through Gabriel Krauze’s semi-autobiographical novel, Who They Was. Incredibly compelling reading with vivid depictions of violent power struggles and morality on London’s estates, counterpoised by moments of poetic beauty and the protagonist’s engagement with literature. Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing’s The Mushroom at the End of the World, which explores contemporary capitalism through tracing the trade in a rare mushroom, also got me entangled in its mycelium.
On your time off, what do you like to do?
When I’m not writing about wine, I’m making multisensory art, through which I’ve come to really enjoy making perfume. Music is ever-present in my life, experienced via my extensive vinyl collection, or live. I’ve also recently gained some raranga skills and enjoy unwinding with a bit of weaving.
Originally published in August 2023.
