GLT Show speaker, Jilly Goolden talks to us about wine, food and travel

What’s your own experience of group trips?

As a journalist, all trips are group trips. I’ve travelled extensively around the world and many of my travels have been as a wine journalist, being taken by the host country to look at their vineyards. I used to organise group skiing holidays before I got married and had a family.

Is part of the pleasure of a wine tour being with other people?

It depends who you are. As a journalist it’s been more of an individual mission because I’ve got to give my opinion of what I think and not what others think.

I was in Germany last September visiting vineyards in the Rhine (pictured top) and Mosel area with a group. It was amusing seeing what people thought, especially on the very polarising subject of German wines, which people certainly have their own take on.

What is the most unusual travel experience you have had?

The most exotic place I’ve been to is Madagascar. One night I slept in a little wooden hut with a man outside guarding me with a spear.

The Orient Express is something very exotic and accessible to travellers. I’ve done both the European and the Far Eastern route. On the Far Eastern route, from Singapore to Bangkok, they have a wonderful viewing platform out at the back, and you just look out and it’s a different world. The London to Venice route is very gorgeous indeed and the Orient Express itself is too; it’s a great experience.

Where have you visited that you would love to return to?

I always want to go back to anywhere I’ve been. I can never bear the thought that I wouldn’t go there again because I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad experience. One of the things I did as a journalist was travel around the South Island of New Zealand in a camper van and I’d love to do that again. I loved Anguilla in the Caribbean too and a road trip in the USA. I’ve never been to Japan and I haven’t done Egypt in a big way but it feels like I’ve covered most of the world.

“When I was at the sharp end of things I would taste 150 wines a week. Now I’m down to about 80 which is my threshold at a single tasting.”

What is the importance of food and wine on your travels?

It’s very much part of the voyage of discovery. Sometimes it can be incredibly rewarding and gorgeous and sometimes it can be quite shocking. I travel to Champagne quite frequently and a little-known fact is that the traditional dish of Champagne is something called andouillette which is tripe sausage. 

Where have you had the best wine?

The Rhône Valley is a good wine destination/producing area, the northern area in particular. I did a very unusual trip travelling through the northern Rhône region, riding a horse with a group, which was lovely. I love the wines of the Northern Rhône and this combination of travel and wine was heaven for me.

What are the biggest changes you have seen in travel?

Things have really leapt forward on the travel front. Cheaper flights have made everywhere accessible. The Douro didn’t have any tourism at all but now you can go on a cruise and travel through the valley. There are still places, little nuggets that are relatively unspoiled such as areas of Northern Spain just inland from the Costa Brava.

“I always want to go back to anywhere I’ve been. I can never bear the thought that I wouldn’t go there again because I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad experience.”

Where did your love of wine come from?

A lot of things happen by chance rather than design and my involvement in wine was definitely chance but serendipitous and I’m very grateful for it. I wanted to be a journalist, and I was a journalist from a very young age and worked for all sorts of big magazines in the UK including Brides. The girl who was supposed to be writing the column about wine was unavailable, so I decided to write it myself. And consequently my editor sent me on lots of wine courses to learn more about wine.

Post Brides, after travelling around America I decided to go freelance at the age of 24 and wrote about all sorts of things including travel and wine. When the TV programme Food and Drink began in 1983, I was invited to present the wine content on the first programme and I did it for 20 years.

When I was at the sharp end of things I would taste 150 wines a week. Now I’m down to about 80 which is my threshold at a single tasting. I don’t spend a fortune on wine because my heartland was always talking to the man or woman in the street and not talking to someone with deep pockets. I have been very faithful to that.