Wine Lister has inaugurated its 'Words with' blog series with a first conversation with Stephen Browett, who is this year celebrating four decades at the helm of Farr Vintners. Now Chairman of the leading London merchant and a Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole (an award given to those who have significantly contributed to France's agricultural industry), Stephen is also co-owner of Premier League team Crystal Palace F.C. - roles that take him from the banks of Bordeaux to the stadium sidelines.

Over the coming months, Wine Lister will speak to a handful of industry legends from the fine wine trade, offering a glimpse into their interests outside wine and sharing their insider insights. Read on to learn about Stephen's tipple of choice when he's not drinking wine, and his tear-jerking experience with Latour '59.

Wine Lister: Tell us about your current "house wine".

Stephen Browett: I would hate to drink the same wine every day, no matter how good it was. Our go-to wine at home is often a Burgundian white from Jean-Marie Guffens and as for a red, its Les Cruzelles from the late, great Denis Durantou. I am very much a believer that “variety is the spice of life” so we do drink all sorts of interesting wine from all over the world. Right now, the bottle in the door of the fridge is a white wine made from Rolle by Domaine de l’Ile on the island of Porquerolles - where we have just been on holiday.

WL: What do you drink when you're not drinking wine?

SB: I’m a huge fan of cask conditioned beer (real ale) and my desert island beer would be “Citra” from Oakham Brewery. I always look out for breweries like Magic Rock, Cloudwater, Marble, Thornbridge, Bathams, Roosters, and Ossett on my travels. Northern beer is usually the best, and the mad thing is that top quality hand-made craft beer is often cheaper than the dreadful, mass-produced brands. That’s very different from wine!

WL: What does "fine wine" mean to you?

SB: Fine wine doesn’t have to be rare, and it doesn’t have to be very expensive, but it has to made in a great vineyard from great grapes by people who really know what they are doing. It needs to have a sense of “terroir” as they say in France.

WL: The best restaurant wine list in London?

SB: That’s easy! It has to be Noble Rot. But honourable mentions to Chez Bruce, Trinity, Lorne, and Medlar.

WL: What emerging region are you most excited about?

SB: I’m very keen on New Zealand Pinot Noir, especially from Central Otago.

WL: What is your standing on natural wine?

SB: I’m all for producing grapes by the most natural methods possible, but winemaking is a human activity, and the production of great wine involves the skills of a winemaker. I just don’t get the idea that a serious wine can be made “naturally” with minimum intervention. Many natural wines that I have tasted have faults that disguise where they come from, or what grapes they are made from. There are, of course, exceptions, but for an awful lot of these wines it seems to me that the cult of being natural is more important than the quality in the glass.

WL: Your go-to wine shop in London?

SB: I don’t really buy wine in shops but “Shrine to the Vine” seems to have a good selection.

WL: If you could share a glass of wine with one person, dead or alive, who would it be and what would you drink?

SB: One of my greatest pleasures is drinking good bottles with my four sons. I never got to share a glass of wine with my Dad who died when I was very young, so I’ll choose him. A bottle from my birth year, 1959, would be nice – and I think that it has to be Latour. The last time I drank Latour ‘59 it was from the cellar of a very generous old friend and my wife said that it brought tears to my eyes.

WL: If you weren't working in wine, what would you be doing?

SB: I started off, aged 20, as a van driver for a wine shop in 1980 and I’ve always imagined that I could go back to that if this wine career doesn’t work out. But I am lucky enough to have two jobs already, having been a co-owner of Crystal Palace Football Club since 2010.

WL: To finish, can you share with our readers one producer to watch?

SB: Wild Irishman in Central Otago.