Putting the Nigel into Wine

Or the wine into Nigel

So, at the Proprietor’s table last week, there were no less than three Nigels.

All Nigels present agreed, as Nigels are wont to do, that calling your child Nigel is rather like handicapping a horse – the child will struggle to catch up for the rest of his  life under the extra weight of a name that most of the world finds pretty risible and pretty poncy.

One of the Nigels present was  Nigel Greening, Proprietor  of the distinguished Otago winery Felton Road*, makers of excellent pinot, which must be some consolation at least for the name Nigel. Another was our local Doctor, who, if the stress of being Nigel became too much could at least, we suppose,  self-prescribe something of a comforting nature. And then of course the Proprietor, the only one smart enough to change his name to Sam at the age of 10, but still secretly seething at the wretched unfairness of it all !**

Then a week later, the Proprietor was chatting to the immensely successful Nigel Lythgoe, creator and producer of, among other things, American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. Nigel Lythgoe said it was bad enough being called Nigel, but try growing up in Liverpool, the toughest of cities, and being called Nigel. Then compound that by becoming a dancer!

Then oddly enough, we  subsequently see that Nigel Lythgoe has his own winery in California, Villa San-Juliette.

Perhaps we are all actually self medicating? Or maybe a shrink might think we were all compensating in some way by striving for something transcendently great like a magnificent wine. We leave this to the experts.

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* At a tasting of past vintages recently at Felton Road, the Proprietor was completely inspired by their older Riesling vintages, and so moved, dug out some older Two Paddocks Rieslings, and astoundingly  they are generally developing beautifully! More on this later.

**Choosing the name Sam may not have been the smartest thing in hindsight - a name much favoured by Labrador owners for their doofus dogs.