Dr Akshay Baboo is a winemaker, rootstock specialist, lecturer in oenology, and the wine research and curriculum consultant at Plumpton College in Sussex. He has consulted for leading wine producers in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and India. Besides English, he is fluent in French, Occitan, Italian and six Indian languages. His current research focus is in wine chemistry, wine ageing and rootstock-site compatibility.
How did you get here?
I studied botany, zoology and chemistry at university, but I made my first wine aged seven, after reading how to do it in Encyclopaedia Britannica. I worked my first harvest when I was 16 and was hooked. After university, I did a master’s in viticulture and oenology, and worked in Bordeaux and Champagne for three years. Following my studies, I started consulting across Europe and then, in 2018, I took up a role at India’s Grover Zampa Vineyards, managing 4,000-plus hectares of vines and producing 19 million cases a year.
What’s the best thing about your job?
That’s easy: teaching oenology, particularly the interesting concepts in wine chemistry, such as ageing. It’s fascinating, and it is a very active area of research, where we know very little.
And the worst?
Also, easy: marking, because, while I would love to give lots of feedback to students, I am limited by time.
What’s the most common misconception about your job?
That winemaking is easy and requires very little formal education.
What has been your greatest moment, professionally?
So many of them. I’m proud of the range of expressions of Shiraz (The Signet Range) that I created for Grover Zampa… And I feel a sense of achievement around my in-depth knowledge of the complexities of rootstocks… But the achievement that stands out most is the award to Plumpton College of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize, last year, for our services in the education, research and training of the UK wine industry.
And your greatest mistake?
Forgetting about a barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon for two years (the wine was delicious though), or managing to overturn a tractor while spraying, in the Languedoc.
What advice would you give to someone starting out in your profession?
Don’t be afraid to do the grunt work – it will serve you later on. Be curious and learn any skill you can or have access to (I can now braze metals after repairing leaky plumbing in one of the wineries I worked at, and have mastered basic electrical skills from sorting out an old screw press).
Do you need to have a ‘science brain’ to be a good winemaker?
A science brain is curious, and will not baulk at the idea of making a mistake – to learn from it. In that sense, yes, one does need to have an analytical brain to be a good winemaker.
Which courses are proving popular, besides straightforward winemaking?
Our short courses, across the board – in winemaking, grape-growing, wine business, sparkling wine, wine faults, and more that are being written to address tourism and practical applications, informed by industry consultation. Watch this space.
To what extent is Plumpton behind the boom in English winemaking?
Plumpton started teaching wine in the 1980s and you would be hard pressed to find a winery in the UK that doesn’t employ someone who has attended Plumpton. There are so many well-known alumni I wouldn’t know where to begin. Many of the top winemakers and vineyard managers in the UK are Plumpton graduates.
