JOHN BAKER
I have many dear people to thank for this book’s arrival. Having tried to write it myself, I realised how difficult it is to write a book when one is not a writer. Oh, I had written a lot of newsletters and articles, by having them just spin off my consciousness, but when I tried writing this story it faltered after not that many pages.
I was most fortunate to be recommended to a literary agency, Cameron Creswell, and on speculatively sending Jane Cameron an email of my adventure hoping she may be interested, it led to Jeanne Ryckmans taking me on as my agent. Jeanne introduced Nick Place to read my partial manuscript and massage it into the current book. I am indebted to Jeanne for her professional management of the process of publishing and for sympathetically working with me.
Nick has been marvellous, learning about the rarefied world of fine wine, our plunge into Tbilisi, Georgia, and in getting to know me. No mean feat! I thank Nick for making this story come to life, his understanding and his friendship.
Alison Urquhart at Penguin Random House Australia has been encouragingly supportive and enthusiastic about this book from the start, and Clive Hebard, our editor, has been enlightening and constructive in his careful editing. I love good wordsmiths like Nick and Clive.
Kevin Hopko, my accomplice in Georgia and friend of many years, has been very helpful in remembering details that I might have missed.
Finally, I wish to thank my good friend Peter Holder, who has been an invaluable confidant from the early days of ‘how am I going to get this story written?’ to the finished copies.
NICK PLACE
Stalin’s Wine Cellar has been a remarkable project, giving me great joy, creativity, knowledge and some new friendships.
I’d like to sincerely thank Jeanne Ryckmans, my agent at The Cameron Creswell Agency, for being involved in the first place. Thank you, Jeanne, for your enthusiasm, belief and support, as well as for championing me as John’s potential co-writer from the start. And thanks to everybody at Cameron’s Management more broadly, including Jane, Sophie and Jo.
Big tigerish thanks also to Ali and Clive at Penguin Random House Australia for everything, as the project moved from a memorable, speculative coffee in Sydney to a finished manuscript. It’s been brilliant, being welcomed into the family of the side-glancing Spheniscidae.
And of course, a heartfelt raise of the glass in the direction of John Baker, who fully embraced some Melbourne guy he’d never heard of being given charge of telling this wild, huge story that he’d lived. John’s willingness to listen and accept my storytelling demands, to help make the yarn live and breathe, has been vital to the manuscript’s success, and he has been not only endlessly gracious and accommodating, but has also become a mate along the way.
As for Kevin, Winnipeg’s finest, well, you couldn’t hope to invent a better character, let alone realise the actual person has done all the work for you by just existing. Thanks, Kevin and John, for allowing me to sketch the book versions of you. And for the breathtaking wine you’ve introduced me to along the way. Hopefully more of that to come!
Also, a shout-out to Victoria Heywood, who bobbed up with a perfect book, Georgian Feast, just when I needed it, giving me a sense of the food, culture and ambience of Tbilisi circa 1999. And to all the authors I’ve read and everybody I’ve spoken to along the way about Tbilisi, French wine, Stalin and the many crazy angles in this tale.
Away from the actual book, thank you to my wife, Chloé, for her support, love and so many days of selflessly giving me the time and headspace to write, especially with Colette la Punkette and Whirlwind Cassius rampaging through our lives at the same time. You know how I feel, Cloclo. Thanks, as ever, for the love and support of my big boys, Will and Mack, and the rest of my family and crew, in Australia and France, who have savoured this story from the very beginning. Big love also to my mum and sister, and I so wish my dad had been here to read this one. He would have adored it and asked a million questions. Unfortunately, he missed the first meeting I ever had with John by less than a week.
RIP, Papa Ronnie. This one’s for you.