Click here to view a print-only version without photographs.
Sub-editor's column Paul Howard reflects on the insidious practice of 'greenwashing'...
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Click here to view a print-only version without photographs. |
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Sub-editor's column Paul Howard reflects on the insidious practice of 'greenwashing'... |
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| An Appreciation | |||
| Germany - an in-depth trip report from this April's AWE visit to Germany... | |||
| Beaujolais (25th to 28th April 2008) - reports from the first of two trips to Beaujolais this year. | |||
| Hong Kong wine educator and guest contributor Debra Meiberg on the sexual confusion in Chablis... | |||
| Beaujolais Trip 12th to 15th May 2008 | |||
| Varietal Vinho Verde - a focus on the single varietals behind the blend. | |||
| European Wine Educators Conference | |||
| Wink Lorch and Brett Jones visit the famous Scharzhofberg vineyard. | |||
| AWEsome Review - Tokaj: A Companion for the Bibulous Traveller by David Copp | |||
| AWEsome Facts - Thermovinification by Richard Bampfield MW | |||
| Anthony Stockbridge discovers something rare in Champagne - a 100% Pinot Blanc cuvée! | |||
| Susan Hulme MW attends the 21st Miguel Torres Wine Course | |||
| AWEsome Wine by Laura Clay | |||
| AWEsome Internet - The Able Grape search engine, reviewed by Wink Lorch | |||
| AWE Member Updates | |||
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Editorial by Susan Hulme MW
There is a certain green theme to this issue, starting with Paul Howard’s thoughts on ‘greenwashing’ and my report on a recent Torres trip and the modern viticultural methods they are using to deal with the effects of climate change. The green theme continues with Debra Meiberg’s humorous look at pheromones in Chablis and (I admit, perhaps a bit tenuously) with an article on Portugal’s green wine region, Vinho Verde.
Aside from that, the issue of wine education and its regulation is uppermost in our minds; Anthony Stockbridge reports back on the first European Wine Educators Conference in Vienna and Richard Bampfield MW addresses our concerns in his Chairman’s column.
Unusual grape varieties get an airing too as Anthony Stockbridge looks at a Champagne made from Pinot Blanc and I learn more about some intriguing native Vinho Verde varieties, not to mention Torres' attempt to revive old Catalan varieties.
Recent developments in Germany and Beaujolais feature heavily in this issue too, with detailed AWE trip reports on visits (two in the case of Beaujolais) to these areas. We also have Wink Lorch and Brett Jones' private visit and report on the famous Saar vineyard of Scharzhofberg.
The last few weeks have been a busy time for the AWE with an excellent AWE trip to the Loire and a well- attended AWE Voice Coach seminar in Birmingham. This was followed by an exceptional Lanson Champagne tasting with some delightful older vintages including the 1976. These events will be reported on in the autumn issue of this newsletter.
Since our AGM in May we have a new council and I would like to personally welcome the new AWE council members Laura Clay and David Luck and our new Chairman Richard Bampfield MW. I am sure we all wish them the very best and hope the AWE continues to go from strength to strength.
And finally, I would like to wish you all a very enjoyable summer. Phew! I'm off to cool down with a glass of something delicious. See you in the autumn!
Susan
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Chairman’s Column by
Richard Bampfield MW Many thanks for all the messages that I have received from members since I have become Chairman of the AWE. I understand that anyone who has reservations about my appointment will probably not be the first to write but, all the same, it has been heartening to hear from you. It has also been encouraging to receive so many communications from members about such a range of issues – the continuous flow of correspondence reinforces my belief that the AWE is a highly dynamic organisation that is keen to grow and to improve the service it offers both its members and its audience. Or maybe I am naïve and you are just testing how much I can put up with!
If the latter, I am totally at ease because my fellow members of Council are nothing short of prolific. They have hit the ground at a rapid pace since the AGM and progress has already been made in areas such as New Members, Trip Guidelines, Responsible Drinking (you may have seen the alcohol unit grid now on the website) and plans for a new directory / prospectus.
European Wine Educators Conference I suspect that many of you are interested to understand how the AWE plans to address the issue of the European Wine Educators Conference that recently took place in Vienna, particularly since the early report on decanter.com was misleading. Anthony Stockbridge, who attended the Conference, has kindly written a report that is included in this newsletter. Anthony points out that the Conference raised more questions than answers, and that the only real conclusion was that there was a desire amongst those involved in wine education in Europe to ensure minimum quality levels in the provision of wine education and in the training of providers. The next conference is set for September 2009. I intend to speak to Pepi Schuller MW, who coordinated the first conference, and to ensure that the AWE is involved in future discussions.
In the meantime, I do not believe that there is any reason for the AWE to be nervous. Firstly, there does not appear to be any urgency on the part of the European Conference, so I do not believe we will miss out on imminent developments. Secondly, maybe again I am being naïve, but I cannot help thinking that wine educators will continue to prefer to attend seminars in their own country and to participate in trips where the same language (their own) can be spoken throughout. As it happens, I suspect the AWE is ahead of the game since the member selection procedure we have in place is probably the most advanced accreditation process in Europe for wine educators, alongside that for WSET tutors.
We will keep you informed. And, in the meantime, please keep the communication coming.
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Sub-editor's column by Paul Howard
Opinion: Green is the new grey Have you heard of greenwashing? American environmentalist Jay Westerveld coined this in 1986. “It is an act of misleading consumers about the environmental practices of a company or the supposed environmental benefits of a product or service”. Buying any green product should mean buying into a set of genuine environmental and social values. But as these can be exploited for marketing and monetary considerations, perhaps it is not that surprising that Green is becoming the new grey.
Greenwashing often uses minor or dubious green benefits to cover other objectives. According to Westerveld, hotels that promote re-using towels are primarily interested in increasing profits rather than their stated aim of helping the environment. Perhaps this is no more than vested self-interest or maybe Westerveld was being cynical.
However, examples of greenwashing are becoming common in many consumer markets. A car with a 5 litre V8 engine is marketed as eco-friendly because an auxiliary electric motor gives it lower CO2 emissions in that class of vehicle. Let’s be clear, in reality it’s still a planet-buster. Lax regulation allows beauty products containing non-organic additives to imply organic credentials. Images of unspoilt Nature are widely used in packaging and advertising, with their messages perverted by language too. What is an “environmentally friendly pesticide?” Doesn’t that sound harmless?
Thus far, I don’t think I’ve encountered large scale greenwashing in the wine industry. But then again maybe I haven’t been paying close enough attention. I have certainly encountered some low-level instances at the product level.
One is where wines are described as organic or biodynamic in UK trade catalogues. When I follow these up with producers, they often tell me that they make no such claims. Are these instances misprints, sloppy research or deliberately misleading?
Then there are those vague wine trade phrases designed to convey environmental goodness, replicated on websites and in promotional literature. Some common examples include “sustainable methods”, “naturally made” or “respect for the soil.” These are reasonable statements but they are incapable of definition. My favourite is “near-organic” – is that like being half-pregnant?
Clearly one way to give clarity and prove green credentials is to obtain third party accreditation from a recognised independent body. At least then Organic and Biodynamic wines can be defined. But they concentrate primarily on viticulture as a way of benefiting the quality of the end product.
There is of course a whole process to wine-making that can environmentally detrimental. In many cases has also become industrialised on a vast scale, meaning that many large wineries are factories where efficiency and volume are paramount. The resultant impact of company practices on the environment can be harsh, for example, how a winery stores chemicals, or how they approach waste disposal and recycling.
All wineries use vast quantities of fresh water, so are there water conservation initiatives in drought areas? Is waste water cleansed before it re-enters rivers and lakes - spare a thought for fish! Then there is the question of energy use, packaging and transportation and I haven’t even started on carbon neutrality.
Many wineries are of course facing up to their environmental challenges with genuine initiatives and it’s also why schemes like IPW in South Africa or SWNZ in New Zealand are important. But these are still only of passing interest to the majority of wine drinkers.
Most green issues do not have easy solutions, and wine is no exception. However we should champion those wine producers that are making the effort to manage the totality of their environmental impact and at the same time shame those that prefer greenwashing to real actions.
© Paul Howard 2008
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The AWE Council would like to record their appreciation of the exceptional contribution that Susan Hulme MW has made to the AWE during her 6 years on Council and as Chairman. The AWE has been highly fortunate to have had such dedicated Chairmen in the past as Wink Lorch and Carolyn Bosworth-Davies, and Susan has been a worthy successor. At the risk of embarrassing Susan, it is worth highlighting some of her achievements
Susan’s energy and dedication to her responsibility to the AWE have been genuinely awe-inspiring, and all Council members who have worked with her know that she normally puts aside most of a weekend following a trip to keeping up to date with AWE business. She has the rare ability both to juggle the long term strategy of the AWE and to attend to the equally important day to day activities. Council is enormously grateful to all those who have given so freely of their time and expertise as Council members over the years and who have been instrumental in building the strong foundations the AWE now boasts. Thanks latterly to Susan’s stewardship, the Association enjoys a higher profile than ever and we very much hope that she will follow in the footsteps of previous Chairmen and continue to contribute actively to the ongoing development of the AWE.
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AWE Germany Trip April 6th to 9th Max Ferdinand Richter; St. Urbans-Hof; Van Volxem ; MoselJünger; Philipp Kuhn; Reichsrat von Buhl; Dr. von Bassermann-Jordan; Tesch ;Reh Kendermann
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Max Ferdinand Richter, Mülheim an der Mosel, by Christos Ioannou
The Mosel estate of Weingut Max Ferdinand Richter was founded in 1680 and remains in the same family ownership 300 years later. It was initially set up as an export company and to this day exports 90% of its production, with the USA being their biggest market. Dr. Dirk Richter (of the 9th generation) welcomed us to our first visit of this study tour. Although Dr. Richter has been largely responsible for running the estate for many years, he told us that his father, who is 92, still likes to know what is going on!
Soil composition The estate comprises 40 ha of holdings in the Middle Mosel, which translates to an annual production of 11,000 cases. The soils in their steep vineyard sites are generally made up of grey slate, but the slightly different compositions of ferruginous (Brauneberg), mineral quartz (Veldenz) or clay parts (Graach, Wehlen, Mülheim) allow a number of single vineyard wines to be made. Two Monopole sites, Mülheimer Helenenkloster and Veldenzer Elisenberg are also owned by the family.
Precision
According to Dr. Richter (pictured
below), Riesling
viticulture is all about precision. The longer the grapes stay on the
vine, the more tartaric and the less malic acid will be contained in
them. He therefore aims to allow the grapes as much hang time as
possible, so that no malolactic fermentation is necessary.
In 2007, due to the weather patterns over the summer, the grapes were not picked until 135 days after flowering as opposed to the normal 100 days. This allowed for very slow ripening which, according to Dr. Richter, resulted in ‘fresh, high mineral structure as in 2004, with crystal clear flavours and a lovely fruit balance.’ It’s not surprising that everyone is raving about the quality of the 2007’s.
Early flowering The unseasonably hot weather in April 2007 (rather different to the blanket of snow which greeted us during our trip!) meant that the flowering in 2007 was the earliest since 1921. However Dr. Richter cautioned against jumping to the conclusion that this was due to the inexorable rise of Global Warming, as he reminded us that there were 5 vintages between 1911 and 1921 when the flowering was as early.
Oak fermentation In the winery all of the wines are fermented between 12° C and 15° C in old oak casks or fuders (from local forests), which are used for up to 60 years. Dr. Richter is not trying to get any flavours from the oak, but rather is looking to give his wines ‘broad shoulders’ from the small amount of oxidisation that takes place.
Tasting We started the tasting with a lovely fresh Deutscher Sekt Riesling Brut, which had pinprick bubbles, a citric nose and finesse on the palate. Eiswein is used for the dosage. Dr. Richter explained that there is an association of 50 sparkling wine producers who use common equipment based in Trier, though he uses his own staff for riddling.
This was followed by a wonderful tasting of 15 different Rieslings ranging from QBA all the way up to TBA and Eiswein, covering almost every level in between, including several single vineyard and Monopole wines. The quality of the whole range was so high that it’s hard to single out one particular wine. However if pressed I would have to choose the Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese trocken 2007 – my notes read, ‘a rich floral, honeyed, slatey nose; on the palate dry, intense mouth filling fruit, very long, power with elegance, very fine indeed.’ Photos and text © Christos Ioannou 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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“Animal, vegetable and mineral” - St. Urbans-Hof, Leiwen, Mosel. By Claire Blackler
“Sweetness belongs to Mosel like bubbles belong to Champagne”, was for me, the most memorable of many quotes from the highly entertaining anecdotist and owner of the St. Urbans-Hof Estate, Nik Weis. St. Urbans-Hof is a family owned estate and was founded two generations ago by Nik’s grandfather. For the record, St. Urbans is the patron saint of wine-makers and ‘hof’ is German for ‘estate’.
Nik’s quote was spot-on. Some of the best wines we tasted during the whole trip were the sweet Mosels and personally speaking some of the worst were the dry Mosels! The sweetness is essential to balance the inherent high acidity of Riesling grown in this region and the resulting wines are refreshing and absolutely charming.
Delicate character Nik is fortunate to be able to produce wines from two of the finest vineyards in the Mosel, Piesporter Goldtröpfchen (translating as “little drops of Piesporter gold”) in Piesporter and Leiwener Laurentiuslay (“slate hill from St. Lauren) in the town of Leiwener. Both are on steep, south-west facing slopes, giving the vines the best chance of soaking up as much of the warm sunshine as possible. As with all the best sites in the region, the soil is slate and this undoubtedly contributes significantly to the wonderfully delicate mineral character in the wines produced.
The Mosel has a cool climate with a long, warm and sunny ripening season. The weather is highly variable and if too hot or dry a problem arises in the form of undesirable ‘petrol’ aromas in young wines. While ‘petrol’ is a classic Riesling character, Nik explained that it should only really become apparent as part of a complexity resulting from maturation.
Like many winemakers in the Mosel, Nik concentrates on producing high-quality premium wines that reflect terroir. He happily admitted that he does not compete in the market with the generic wines of Australia or Chile. It would not be possible to make high-volume inexpensive wines from his vineyards. Nor, I imagine, would he want to!
Minimalism He emphasised his belief in minimalist wine-making practices in order to retain the authentic nature of the wine. He uses natural yeasts, avoids süssreserve and terminates fermentation by chilling the vat and dosing with sulphur. The wines are fermented in the traditional Mosel “fuder” which are 1,000 litre capacity barrels made of old oak. His wine-making is clearly intuitive and is all about doing what he feels is best for the wine. The use of natural yeasts adds both animal and vegetal flavours to the wine which were particularly noticeable on the Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Kabinett and Spätlese.
It was a real treat and education to taste all three Goldtröpfchen wines in one sitting. Moving from the Kabinett to the Spätlese to the Auslese, all made from grapes essentially grown in the same conditions, gave as pure an example as you’re likely to get of the effect of the ripeness of fruit on the resulting wine.
Saar In addition to Goldtröpfchen and Laurentiuslay, Nik also owns part of the Bockstein (buck’s stone) vineyard situated in the town of Ockfener in the Saar region. The Saar is a cooler region than the Mosel and the chilling cold air stresses the vines such that they produce wines that are even more aromatic, floral and delicate. Nik felt, quite logically, that in order to ensure continuation of the reproductive cycle with attractive fruit, that vines produce more flavours in cooler climates as a way of compensating for the reduction in natural sugar levels!
Eiswein The cold conditions are perfect for the Eiswein produced here. Nik is not an advocate of the Trockenbeerenauslese style, arguing that the botrytis introduces too many of its own characters resulting in a loss of the essential terroir. The Eiswein process however retains the vineyard character and concentrates it into the glass. This was beautifully demonstrated with the 2002 Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Eiswein (6.5% alcohol, 150 g/l residual sugar, 12g acidity and 6-month fermentation). This was simply stunning, with concentrated floral characters. What a shame he can’t make it every year!
Nik was an affable and interesting host for this enlightening visit to a top vineyard and his wines were....simply delicious! © Claire Blackler 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Van Volxem, Wiltingen, Saar by Rosie Bainbridge
11.20 am we set off in the direction of Trier and on to Wiltingen. Everywhere under a grey sky, damp, and chill with light snow flurries, sometimes settling, and sadly, responsible for us abandoning the Volxem vineyard visit, where the slopes could have been somewhat testing.
Roman has vineyards on the best Wiltingen sites – steep, slate slopes in Braunfels, Klosterberg, Gottesfuss and the most famous grand cru of all, Scharzhofberg.
New generation He is one of a new generation of innovative winemakers who follow a policy of ‘hand-crafted’ wine production. ‘Every generation brings new talent’ he says, ‘the new wine movement is changing the character of the wine landscape, regaining a market for German wine, much destroyed by the big cropping vineyard’.
Low yields Yields at Volxem are low, averaging 34hl/ha with some 50% green harvested in August. Each vine will be checked several times before harvesting which is as late as possible; well into November, giving must weights in the Spätlese and Auslese categories. However, with the exception of the botrytised wines, all are fermented to the ‘classic’ style, described as ‘harmoniously dry’ and therefore suitable to drink with food.
Space does not permit a lengthy description of all the wines tasted but quality was consistently high. The tasting began with the 2006 Saar Riesling a brilliantly clear, dry, fruity wine – white peach, with minerality. ‘Minerals’ he explained ‘are the key to his wines, not acidity’. ‘Why’? ‘Too much acidity and wines are indigestible’.
Tasting We compared three different vintages from the small Alte Reben parcels. - 2006, 2004 and 2003 - the latter was superb, with aromas of dessert apples, honey, flowers and off- dry, soft and velvety on the palate.
The 2006 Schartzhofberger was extremely elegant, but then the ‘flagship’ 2006 Volz was too, though dry, herby, with minerality, fruity and mouth-filling; a food wine if ever there was, but in Roman’s words ‘not with fish, it’s too big’. On that note a wonderful buffet lunch (prepared by Roman’s wife) arrived – quiches, salads, meats and cheese, a small feast in fact.
We continued with more wines from different vineyard parcels, and different vintages reinforcing again how Riesling reflects regional differences in soil and weather. Finally we tasted the exceptional, 2005 Schazhofberger Riesling Auslese, a rich, full- bodied, honeyed perfection, tasting of grapefruit and rhubarb with just a touch of acidity!
With well over three hours at Von Volxem, Roman had generously hosted an informative tasting, emphasising his philosophy for naturally made wines; using extremely disciplined regimes – totally organic, with little intervention, ‘There is a market for high class wines, this is where the future lies’, he added.
Text and photo © Rosie Bainbridge 2008
Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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The “MoselJünger”
Riesling dinner in Trier, by
Paul Howard The emergence of networks of young German winemakers is an important aspect of the current German wine scene. These are showing a new sense of dynamism and bringing back confidence to German wine. Created in various wine regions, they are groupings based on friendship and shared values, generally with several objectives. These include improving quality, communicating the unique identity of a wine region, pooling marketing effort and “exchanging ideas rather than envious looks”.
Examples of these networks include “Message in a Bottle” with 20 members in the Rheinhessen region, “Jünges Schwaben” with 5 members in Württemberg and the “MoselJünger”, formed in the Mosel in 2006 by 16 members.
Jünger means the younger ones in German. Youth is certainly a shared characteristic of the membership but perhaps another meaning is also implied - disciples. The MoselJünger members are based along the length of the winding Mosel and Saar; from Pommern in northern Terrassenmosel all the way south to Wehr on the upper Mosel, with the biggest concentration found in the Mittelmosel around Trittenheim.
The Mosel is famous for Riesling, so it is natural that Riesling is central to the MoselJünger - their catchphrase is “Riesling Reloaded”. Three MoselJünger members with deep roots in the Mittelmosel hosted dinner at the Nell’s Park Hotel in downtown Trier to show their Rieslings and explain further:
Peter Regnery from Weingut F. J. Regnery in Klüsserath – founded in the 17th century;
Thomas Ludwig from Weingut Gebr. Ludwig in Thörnich – founded by the Ludwig family in 1628;
Holger Breit from Weingut Manfred Breit in Piesport – a family estate with a 350 year history.
Holger Breit explained that Riesling Reloaded isn’t seeking to reinvent the unique style of Mosel Riesling. Instead, the group wants to promote a modern appealing image. Furthermore, “we want to convey our passion for terroir and also to illustrate the differences between us, while working together for mutual benefit”.
Naturally, each bought a selection of three of their own Rieslings, designed to match the dinner menu. These are listed below, with my own preferences marked by an *. Of course plenty of good natured discussion ensued and varying conclusions were reached!
Flight 1, a starter of warm bacon and goat’s cheese
Regnery, Klüsserather Bruderschaft Grosses Gewachs 2005, 13.5%* Ludwig, Thörnicher Ritsch 2006, 12% Breit, Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Kabinett 2006, 9%
Flight 2, Zander on a bed of tagliatelle with horseradish and saffron sauce
Regnery, Klüsserather Bruderschaft Spätlese 2006, 12.5% Ludwig, Thörnicher Ritsch Kabinett trocken 2007, 12% Breit, Piesporter Falkenburg Auslese halbtrocken 2004, 12%*
Flight 3, Fruits of the forest berries with cream
Regnery, Klüsserather Bruderschaft Auslese 2003, 11% Ludwig, Klüsserather Bruderschaft Auslese 2005, 7.5%* Breit, Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Auslese 2006, 9.5%
Appropriately then the evening’s honours were evenly shared between Peter, Thomas and Holger. All the Rieslings shown were authentic examples of terroir and the three members showed their passion for both innovation and tradition with consummate ease.
We concluded the evening with an appropriate nightcap, 1999 marc from Weingut Clüsserath-Weiler, another MoselJünger member. Made from Riesling pomace with nutty chestnut flavours, it made a perfect toast to the future success of the MoselJünger.
We expressed our hope for an opportunity to meet the other MoselJünger members in future. It was suggested that a UK based walk-around tasting of all the MoselJünger wines with a chance to meet the winemakers would bring significant impetus.
© Paul Howard 2008
Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Weingut Philipp Kuhn by Carolyn Bosworth-Davies
Leaving the spectacular scenery of the snowy Mosel we drove to the Pfalz to visit three wineries.
The first was to the family run Weingut Philipp Kuhn, currently run by the engaging and modest Philipp Kuhn (Jnr) who took over from his parents in 1992. It is a member of VDP Pfalz.
This is because from his twenty hectare estate Philipp produces fifty percent red wines, from Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Merlot, Sangiovese and the indigenous Blaufrankisch and Dornfelder. His white wines are not exclusively Riesling – he grows Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sauvignon and is experimenting with Viognier. He explained that he no longer has time for hobbies like football and experimenting with international grape varieties is now his hobby!
Continental climate Despite having a reputation for being the Garden of Eden for vine and fruit growing, the Pfalz according to Philipp has a continental climate – especially from a red vine grower’s perspective – with the northern influence often being disastrous. In 2000 he made 80% rosé for example. However, often its climatic advantage is an extremely long growing period. In 2007 there were 140 days for his Riesling.
Cover crops The vineyards of eight year old Riesling behind his winery were striking because of the size of the cover crops between alternate rows. This looked akin to Mr Macgregor’s cabbage patch! Not grass but giant radishes which would be cut back and ploughed in, in a couple of weeks. The cover crops are kept cut back during the summer as one of the biggest problems of the Pfalz is shortage of water. Soils are loess with limestone pebbles over bedrock of limestone.
Philipp follows organic principals as far as possible but is not adverse to using chemicals if bad weather causes problems. Biodynamic is for him ‘too risky and like throwing bones – too mystical’.
Since taking over from his father he has changed from the concepts that dominated the Pfalz twenty years ago. Then bulk production from Müller Thurgau ruled. His father was a farmer who did everything. Now life is more technical and they have sixteen workers, they hand harvest whereas in the Pfalz 80% machine harvest.
Tasting In his cellars we were treated to a tasting of seven different wines from his portfolio - which made a refreshing change from just sampling pure Riesling.
And what a range it is. Firstly the Sauvignon Blanc 2007 from eight year old vines and a variety that Philipp is planting more. Up front Kiwi-like aromas, attractive green fruit and herbaceous flavours and good balancing acidity. Better though for me was his Pinot Blanc 2007 from twenty year old vines grown on a limestone site called ‘Mandelpfad’. This had a wonderful texture and greater complexity than most Pinot Blanc. His Riesling with only 7 grams of residual sugar was dry and balanced with limey citrus and honeyed fruit and mineral notes. This had a wonderful finish. All were around 10 Euros at the cellar door.
The Pinot Noir 2005 aged in 70% new oak for twenty months. This had good ‘pinotosity’ though the oak still was very dominant – Philipp suggested it need another 5 to 6 years for the fruit to really shine. This was followed by his 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon that was full of vibrant cassis and leafy aromas and had a strong tannic structure. This was dry but had great fruity acidity on the finish.
As if we were not impressed enough already we were then treated to his extraordinary Cuvée ‘Luitmar’, a blend that varies from year to year. Remarkably the 2005 includes Sangiovese from ‘experimental’ vines. This was a cepage of Sangiovese, Cabernet, Blaufrankisch and St Laurent. Aged for 20 months in 70% new barriques this had an attractive spicy vanilla, mineral and cherry nose with a lot of oak but is backed by wonderfully concentrated ripe fruit with supple tannins. Truly amazing for a wine from such northerly vineyards.
Work in progress To finish we sampled his ‘work in progress’ Viognier 2007 – which was aromatic Germanic in style with good acidity. Again it is made from from experimental vines and is labelled Qualitätswein aus Versuchanbau – meaning 'quality wine under experimentation' – a new classification for me!
Such was our enthusiasm for Philipp’s wines – many of us bought bottles to bring home, since they are sadly not available in the UK. We also bought two bottles of his Sekt from his Spätburgunder, which he makes only because ‘his mother likes Sekt’. We tried this as an aperitif before dinner later that day and it was another wow! The best Sekt of the trip – awash with red fruit- strawberries and redcurrant aromas and fruit on the palate, with a gentle mousse and creamy texture and so so moreish. It left us wanting more. Photos and text © Carolyn Bosworth-Davies 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Reichsrat von Buhl by Matthew Hudson
The Pfalz estate Reichsrat von Buhl, based in Deidesheim, was founded in 1849 by Franz Peter Buhl. Through good marriage his son Franz Armand acquired for the estate vineyards around the neighbouring village of Forst.
His stewardship of the estate saw Buhl build on the already high reputation of these vineyards and the estate is proud that its wines have punctuated great events from the opening of the Suez Canal to the 100th birthday celebrations of Britain’s Queen Mother.
Today the estate, now Japanese owned, comprises 57 hectares including significant parts of the celebrated Jesuitengarten, Kirchenstück, Pechstein and Ungeheuer vineyards of Forst; the Herrgottsacker, Leinhöhle, Mäushohle and Paradiesgarten vineyards of Deidesheim and Reiterpfad of Ruppertsberg.
The winery also buys in grapes, notably Pinot Noir for its red wine and (until 2007) sparkling wine production.
Our visit began with a vigorous stroll accompanied by the sales director and shareholder Christoph Graf (pictured below). This “Mittelhaart” part of the Pfalz is protected from Atlantic weather systems by the Pfältzenwald hills to the west. It is a gentle, open landscape with hamlets of airy chalets, old farms and older churches.
We had already learned that the names of German vineyards, once translated, often give useful geo-political clues as to their nature and sometimes their terroir. In such a way the Pechstein (pitch stone, or black stone) vineyard is specked with dark stones: a belt of black basalt underlies this vineyard – giving its wines a spicy, flinty character.
The partly walled Kirchenstück vineyard just a few yards away has a fruitier flavour profile due to its rich mix of white basalt, sandy clay and limestone. The soil profiles pictured show how different adjacent terroirs may be.
Consequently one may see terroir expressions of Riesling like:
Kirchenstück – Rich, sandy clay, limestone, white basalt – fruity notes, rich feel Pechstein – Clay, black basalt – spicy stone flavours Ungeheuer – Clay, sandstone, some limestone – fruity, floral
L to R below, Pechstein, Kirchenstück & Hohenmorgan soil profiles
In their immaculate old cellars we were presented with a 2001 Blanc de Noir [Spätburgunder] Sekt, (slightly unsettled due to having only been recently disgorged, but showing well defined fruit and vivid acidity, no M-L) and a 2006 Spätburgunder predominantly from Forster Stift fruit, redolent of juniper, violets, cracked pepper, 50:50 German/French oak.
Under the enthusiastic tutelage of Klaus Küsters – and following a lunch of superb local foods – we were delighted to see wines made to Grosses Gewächs criteria (Grand cru vineyards, in this instance 05 Pechstein, fermented to 6.7g RS, 12.3% Alcohol, 7.2g total acidity; intense minerality, savoury notes of pineapple, brie, walnuts) and trad QmP’s (06 Forster Ungeheuer, 8.5% alc, 111g RS, 9.8g total acidity - soft lilac, jasmine, honeysuckle, some funk, demure botrytis character).
A word goes to Franz von Stuck, artist, tutor to Kandinsky and whose magical woodcuts provide von Buhl with a family of instantly recognizable labels. They serve their wines well, in clarity showing strength; in simplicity, skill; in structure, beauty.
A more complete visit would be difficult to imagine – the von Buhl welcome was generous and warm, their organization impeccable, their wines infinitely elegant; our thank you goes to Christoph and Klaus: thank you Reichsrat von Buhl.
© Matthew Hudson 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Weingut Dr. von Bassermann-Jordan, Deidesheim, Pfalz, by Patty M Green
Bassermann-Jordan was our final visit on Day 2, a pleasant ten minute stroll in early evening sunshine from our hotel, in the centre of a rather sleepy Deidesheim.
The estate was founded in 1718 by Pierre Jordan from a family of politicians & writers. Today the estate is managed by Achim Niederberger who purchased it in 2002. It comprises 46 ha, of which 43 are planted to Riesling and 80% of the wines produced are trocken (dry wines). In the last 10 years additional plantings include Chardonnay, Pinot’s Gris/Blanc/Noir and Merlot.
BJ expect to achieve organic certification within two years and are also introducing biodynamic practices – a philosophy echoed several times during our trip by other producers. Stainless steel was introduced in 1996 by new winemaker Ulrich Mell and production has since focussed on the drier styles. Oak is used for fermenting some of the white Pinot and ageing the reds. This is a mix of French, Austrian and German oak, the latter imparting a milder oak influence than the French variety.
Annual production is 400,000 bottles and this covers a wide selection of styles to suit both the domestic and export markets – again this appears the norm from the producers visited on this trip.
The wide variation of soil types found in the Pfalz, often within just a few hundred metres, justifies the oft-made comparison between Grosses Gewächs and the Burgundy Grand Cru system. During our tour of the cellar we studied profiles of soils in three of these Grand Cru vineyards:
The underground cellars meander for over a kilometre and also reveal a private Treasury Cellar with wines dating back to 1811. We tasted a selection of more youthful vintages!
In general the 2007’s are already delicious; apparently a stellar vintage, the BJ Rieslings are already very drinkable with excellent balance of fruit intensity and acidity. 2006 was problematic with a lot of unwanted botrytis due to persistent rain and I often found the wines lacking the expected zing. Unusually, the TBA grapes that year were picked before the healthy berries for the dry wines!
The 2005 vintage appears to be the star of the show throughout Germany, and the Deidesheimer Hohenmorgen Riesling Auslese stood out for me with its slinky texture and delicious intensity of classic botrytis flavours and grapefruit zing.
A delicious supper followed at the Freundstück restaurant which we would all highly recommend. Converted from the old stables and garages, this is very modern and stylish with a menu to match. We enjoyed a selection of wines, and though beyond taking notes at this stage I do remember that Siegrist’s Pinot Noir Barrique 2003 from the Pfalz Südliche Weinstrasse was truly outstanding. Text © Patty M. Green 2008 Photo © Alison Moller 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Tesch, Langenlonsheim, Nahe by Quentin Sadler
This trip to Germany contained many great visits; I enjoyed them all and learnt something from each. At Tesch I really felt that I, at last, began to understand terroir.
Tesch is a small winery with a 300 year past but a very modern present under the leadership of Dr. Martin Tesch (pictured right). His excitement and enthusiasm is infectious and must in part explain why I so enjoyed the visit.
We arrived at his beautiful vineyards overlooking the Nahe River, it felt peaceful and the vine covered hills seemed gentle, until we climbed them anyway. Martin said that all wineries are the same, so we were only going to see his vineyards, which was music to my ears and the walk was a true delight, a trip highlight indeed. Surrounded by his vines Martin told us that he had taken over the winery in 2000 and quickly constituted changes. He wanted to get away from producing Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Silvaner, Scheurebe & Gewürztraminer and more, at QbA, Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese levels in feinherb, trocken & halb-trocken styles. He removed all the grapes that he thought did not suit the terroir (as well as Gewürztraminer which he just doesn’t like) leaving the focus on Riesling with tiny amounts of Weissburgunder and Spätburgunder.
He does not want an international wine making style for his wines. Of all the wines we tasted his were the ones that most exhibited austerity, something that I think suits Riesling. The wine making imprint is very slight at Tesch, as he says “Riesling has a backbone; it is not an easy drinking peachy, sweet wine.”
So now he basically just makes dry Rieslings, with some tiny amounts of other grapes and Eiswein when conditions allow. He bottles it all under the new Alcan STELVIN® Lux closure and is the first producer in Europe to use it. This is more resilient to knocks and because the closure has no externally visible screw-thread it looks much smarter than a normal screwcap and plays a part in the award winning designs for his wine range.
The only non-vineyard site wine is his standard bearer: Riesling Unplugged®, an exemplary modern take on Riesling, bone dry, austere, fresh and cleanly mineral with a long finish and amazing balance.
The other 5 wines he showed us each came from named vineyard sites (Lagen-Riesling) and all were vintage 2007. They were all different and all had more weight and finesse than Riesling Unplugged:
For me these were tremendously exciting wines as there was little or nothing between the taster and the wine, no oak, no blockbuster power, no overwhelming winemaking imprint, just Riesling and the terroir right there before you in the glass.
I liked all the wines, their purity and finesse really spoke to me, but even more I loved the simple message they conveyed. These were wines from a specific place, with a heart and a soul. The fact that they were delicious was a bonus.
Photos and text © Quentin Sadler 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Weinkellerei Reh Kendermann at Bingen, by Alison Moller
What a contrast our last visit was! Hitherto, all the producers had been small family run firms and although Kendermann’s started like that, things have really changed and they have an annual turnover of €80 million.
We were welcomed by Matthias Abt, the Assistant Export Manager. He gave a very interesting presentation based on the marketing side of the operation. Kendermann is the 3rd biggest producer in Germany, exporting 65% of their production to 54 different countries. They have 250 employees worldwide including 180 in Bingen alone.
Other than 2 ha of the Leiwener Laurentiuslay in the Mosel they own no vineyards and buy all their grapes by contract. These contracts are strictly controlled and quality is encouraged by their pricing strategy – € 140 for the top quality grapes on a sliding scale down to € 60 for the lowest acceptable quality.
All grapes are harvested into Kendermann’s own containers and taken as quickly as possible to one of the four press houses spread over the vine growing areas. Here the grapes are pressed and the must sulphured before transportation to Bingen for fermentation. At Bingen they have facilities to cold ferment 25 million litres at a time. The wine is then stored in tank and bottled to order.
Black Tower is their best known brand – and thanks to a boost from being featured on Big Brother it passed the milestone of 1 million cases sold in February 2008. Slightly less well known is their Weight Watchers wine which is the Number 1 diet brand with Asda, Morrisons and Tesco. Although off-dry it evidently only has 80 calories per glass because of its low alcohol level.
Philipp Maurer, one of the two senior winemakers, joined us for the tasting. His presence added greatly to the value of the session since he not only patiently answered all our questions, but his dedication and enthusiasm were infectious. He and his colleague Christine Pröstler spend most of their time and efforts ensuring the quality of the bulk wine, but unsurprisingly it is at the quality end of their spectrum which excites them and where their passion lies.
Philipp is very proud of their 2005 Leiwener Laurentiuslay Riesling Auslese which won Gold at the IWC. Only small quantities (3,000 bottles) are produced from their own vineyard in the Mosel and then only in very good years. Despite being very sweet (110 g/l residual sugar), the acidity gave it a refreshing marmalade tang and when retasted at lunch went well with a surprising range of foods.
For me, the most interesting range was the Riesling Terroir Series. Made from low yield (for Germany – 60 hl/ha) vines, with no süssreserve and treated in exactly the same way the differences in the three wines in the range is down to Terroir. The Roter Hang from the red slate slopes of the Rheinfront in Rheinhessen had a darker colour and more exotic flavours; the Kalkstein from the limestone area of the Pfalz was much more restrained and flatter tasting, while the Schiefer from the Mosel slate vineyards had a delicious citrus minerality very much to my taste.
We then donned the fetching coat and cap necessary for the winery visit (see left). The sheer size and number of tanks, the huge bottling line and a massive cross flow filter were all most impressive and one could easily believe our guide when he told us that 15-20 truck loads of dry goods (labels, corks and boxes) are used each day.
Wine making on an industrial scale - but with a very human touch.
Text and photos © Alison Moller 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter Many thanks to Wines of Germany and Phipps Public Relations Ltd
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AWE Beaujolais trip - April 25th to
28th Maison des Beaujolais; Château des Jacques; Christophe Coquard; Cave de Bully; Domaine de la Roche St. Martin; Domaine Dominique Piron |
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Maison Beaujolais with Amé de Saint Charles, by Jayne Bridges There is no doubt that here in the UK Beaujolais has been seriously out of fashion for some years. Take a quick look at any supermarket or wine shop shelf and you will struggle to find more than a few bottles. Typically these will be Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages and something by Georges Duboeuf. So what are the producers and the region doing about the situation? Fighting back, that’s what.
New Initiatives On the first AWE trip to Beaujolais in April 2008, the aim was to look at new initiatives, discuss long term strategy and of course to taste the wines. We got off to a brilliant start after our arrival and lunch. We were whisked off to the Maison des Beaujolais in Belleville sur Saône. This is a relatively new facility with a shop, several tasting areas and a lecture salon equipped with spittoons and tasting tables. Here we met with Amé de Saint Charles, a third generation wine grower and oenologist. Having trained in France for some years he worked in a number of wineries in the US and Australasia before coming home to concentrate on the family business.
Although we were familiar with the appellations he refreshed our memories and guided us through them, while explaining the complexity of the soils and the terroir. When it came to the tasting, there is little doubt that most had either not tasted Beaujolais Blanc for some time-or had forgotten how refreshing and enjoyable it is. These 100% Chardonnay wines are straightforward, honest wines that are fresh, vibrant, completely unpretentious and at a cracking price.
Value for money It is fair to say that there was hardly a white that disappointed and compared to many more expensive Burgundian appellations offered excellent value for money. The reds were all good examples of their Cru but after going back and retasting many of us favoured the Chénas, which had a savoury spiciness which was appealing, followed by the Moulin-à-Vent which had plenty of structure and body.
Amé explained to us that within the confines of the Appellation they are experimenting to maximise the fruit flavours and to maintain freshness. At first sight they seem to be succeeding. Like the other winemakers we visited, Amé was confident that Beaujolais will recover from the problems that have beset it over the past few years and will find its way back on to the shelf.
With many people now looking for less alcoholic and softer wines he may well be right. © Jayne Bridges 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Château des Jacques, Romanèche-Thorins By Quentin Sadler
Many Beaujolais winemakers told us they could make a “fruity” wine or a “serious”, rich wine. I am sure we would all agree there are serious, rich wines that are also fruity. Is the French definition of fruity different from ours? I think some Beaujolais winemakers tie one hand behind their back before they start by this view, so perhaps they should employ outside consultants?
Our second visit showed what can be done and to a degree the pace here is set from outside Beaujolais. Château des Jacques is owned by Maison Louis Jadot, who aims to produce the best wines of Beaujolais. To achieve this they appointed the charming, ex-cavalry Major, Guillaume de Castelnau (pictured below). I could have listened to him forever and my understanding of vines and wines would have been the richer for it.
Guillaume’s mantra is, “we are part of nature”, and so he set about returning a natural balance to the vineyards using biodynamic methods. His chief advisers are his bees, if they stay in it means bad weather is coming.
In the winery, they use a sorting table and all the grapes are de-stemmed. I think Gamay cries out to be de-stemmed and that is proven by the results here. They mainly crush the Gamay and use partial whole berry fermentation, but no carbonic maceration.
Guillaume does not control the fermentation temperature, merely adjusting it a degree or so. All the fermentation uses wild yeasts at temperatures of between 25-30º C in open top vats with pumping-over twice a day. All the red wines are aged in barrel.
He gave us eight wines, firstly three Chardonnays from Château des Jacques’ Clos de Loyse vineyard. Then there were two wines from Château des Lumières in Morgon, (which he also manages) and finally three from Château des Jacques including two from their Clos. Portions of the estate’s five Clos are held back for special treatment, including 12 months in new oak.
This was a tremendous visit that was inspiring and it seemed to me that all their care in the vineyard, de-stemming and seemingly low yields produced some of the best wines that we tasted on the trip because they had generous enough fruit to tame and balance the bitter granite taste of the terroir in the Cru and Beaujolais-Villages areas.
Château des Jacques was the high point of my trip to Beaujolais.
Tasting
Notes
Photos and text © Quentin Sadler 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Maison Christophe Coquard, Theize en Beaujolais, by Linda Simpson
On our arrival into Thieze we were struck by the distinct ochre stone of the buildings, known locally as “The Golden Stones”. We entered a courtyard strewn with flower pots, children’s toys and a few remnants of wine making equipment. This is after all both Christophe Coquard’s family home and newly established business premises rolled into one.
Although a descendent of a long line of
wine growers and makers in Beaujolais, the last vintage made here was in
2003. Christophe is a winemaker and marketer. He worked for Layton’s in
London for three years and has made wine around the world - including
Villa Maria in New Zealand under the watchful eye of Kim Milne, Anthony
Hamilton Russell in South Africa and also in California. He set himself
a goal to make wine in three different continents before the age of 30
and celebrated his 30th birthday in South Africa – job done!
Christophe set up his own company in 2005, offering wines from AOC Beaujolais-Villages and the 10 cru. He acts as négociant, selecting wines and bottling them under his own label. Around this time, Beaujolais was in crisis and he felt the offering needed to be fresh, quality driven and with a point of difference. How could he achieve this without compromising the style and typicity of Beaujolais wines?
He works closely with growers and winemakers to ensure the wines meet the quality and style criteria. He does not blend himself but has influence regarding vineyard management, vinification techniques and quality checks. He can stipulate on topics like spraying, stabilisation and fermentation in order to achieve freshness and quality. He hopes to reward them with new markets and expanding sales, building up their reputation and steering away from the ‘nouveau’ image. He maintains passionately they are not achieving the prices they deserve for the hard work going in. All wines will be available in cork or Stelvin to suit the export markets. The UK Agent is Bottle Green.
The original wine store and cellars still house the old oak foudres and he has plans to create a tasting room and offices within the original winery including a small museum of some of the old equipment. His wife will be allowed to pinch a space too – to showcase her textiles and handmade clothes! A talented winemaker in her own right – she previously made wine at Francis Coppola’s - now mother of two and creative artist.
A lot of effort has gone into marketing, with artists being commissioned to design 12 labels all depicting a family house – ‘Une Maison de Tradition’. The marketing is slick, modern and creative and the wines deliver in the glass too. We vowed to return in five years to see if he succeeds. If his enthusiasm, passion and vision are anything to go by today, he will be there and you will know his wines.
Tasting Notes
Beaujolais Rosé – a floral raspberry nose, light red fruits on the palate, with a crisp fresh finish;
Beaujolais Pierres Dorees 2007 – a soft rounded fruit driven wine with good balance;
Clochemerle 2005 – red and black berry fruits, robust with further development potential;
Chiroubles 2007 – red cherry and subtle oak, with a soft creamy texture;
Chénas 2007 – red berry, floral aromas with a savoury character and supple tannins;
Moulin-à-Vent 2005 - intense deep colour, generous cherry fruit and potential to age. © Linda Simpson 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Cave de Bully, Bully by Kevin Powell
At our only co-operative visit we encountered a very different scale of operation. We were greeted by Patrice Lobjois and Bernard Couzan, who explained that the Cave is part of the even larger “Alliance des Vignerons de Beaujolais” which brings together co-ops in Chénas, Chiroubles and Le Perréon for marketing purposes.
This southern Beaujolais alliance involves more than 600 growers that jointly produce nearly 90,000 hl of wine. It has enjoyed great success since its foundation, as evinced by year on year sales increases of 20% by volume and 32% by value for the bottled wines. However, the great majority of production is still either sold in bulk to négociants and large retailers or sold as “bag in box”.
Cave de Bully is by some margin the largest co-op in the Alliance (and is indeed the biggest in Beaujolais) and concentrates production on AOC Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages together with the new Vin de Pays Des Gaules. In addition to this the co-op offers a couple of newer style wines – a pétillant red and a rosé with an alcohol level of 7-8% and residual sugar around 50-80 g/l. 60% of output is Beaujolais Nouveau and 75% of the bottled wine is exported.
The winery has enormous capacity in stainless steel tanks, including 34 rotovinifiers, which carry out fermentations most effectively. Whole bunches begin an enzymatic fermentation lasting 2 or 3 days, which produces the characteristic aromas and flavours of AOC Beaujolais rouge. After this, the must is placed in large hydraulic presses (each with a 250 hl capacity) and the must squeezed into tanks below, where it continues the alcoholic fermentation.
Cave de Bully can process up to 500 tons of fruit a day and as a result enjoys significant production economies of scale. Membership of the Alliance augments this with administrative and marketing economies. As unit costs of production are lowered because of the scale of production, the decision-makers at the Cave can pass on these lower costs to customers. This has attracted buyers from British supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, Somerfield and Morrisons.
A Dutch fête was being held during our visit featuring traditional Dutch products - further proof of the Cave’s international outlook. Japan was the featured nation last year.
A wide-ranging tasting of the co-op’s wines from both tank and bottle concluded the visit. © Kevin Powell 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Domaine de la Roche St. Martin, St. Lager, by Christos Ioannou
Jean Jacques Bereziat's Domaine is in the village of St. Lager, right at the foot of Mont Brouilly itself. His wines frequently win medals and trophies as we witnessed in his tasting room and he is highly recommended in the Guide Hachette. The 10 ha estate includes 6 ha in Brouilly and 1 ha each of Côte de Brouilly and Régnié.
Brouilly and Côtes de Brouilly are the southernmost Beaujolais Cru. Brouilly, with its pink and grey granite-rich soils, makes one of the most sophisticated of the Cru wines. And the Côtes de Brouilly is distinguished by the rose quartz crystals that are found in the soil throughout the appellation.
Jean-Jacques combines modern equipment with traditional winemaking techniques to produce wines that are truly terroir-expressive, which was clearly demonstrated in the tasting. Typically he will de-stem 1/3 and whole bunch press 2/3 of the harvest. He uses a combination of three fermentation methods, which varies according to the style of wine and the vintage:
Tasting Notes
The Brouilly 2007
had a nose of dark cherry fruits and on the palate ripe tannins, good
fruit and medium body. The Côte de Brouilly 2007 was made in the
same way, but was much richer and more robust, reflecting the volcanic
soil and steep slopes of the Côte – a nose of black cherries and bitter
chocolate, on the palate full, structured, more ‘serious’ with much
greater length.
To finish off an excellent tasting Jean-Jacques opened a bottle of Brouilly 1996. The nose retained hints of red fruits though was distinctly vegetal; on the palate red cherries intermingled with strong vegetal notes, and the whole impression was one of a delicate, fragrant, mature wine which was still hanging in there. © Christos Ioannou 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Domaine Piron, Villié-Morgon, by
Anthony Stockbridge Our final visit was to Domaine Piron. Dominique Piron is the 14th generation to manage this estate. After thirteen generations, one could find a deep rut of tradition, but not here. As to whether Dominique was helped out of a rut by Kristine Mary, his new American wife, (herself a winemaker in Virginia), our host was not prepared to admit - but a smile crossed his lips when asked what influence she has had since their marriage. One thing is certain - great changes are afoot. Situated near Villié-Morgon, the biggest village in the district, overlooking the old volcanic hill of Py, Piron specialises in Cru Morgon but also produces other Beaujolais appellations: Brouilly, Chénas, Fleurie, Moulin-à-Vent, Régnié, Villages and blancs Beaujolais and Bourgogne. The ubiquitous Nouveau aids cash flow.
Dominique’s father was INAO President in the 1980’s. Then it was easy to sell wines and vineyards were in great demand. When Dominique took over he started buying-in grapes and by 2000 he had extended the estate to some 60 ha with four wineries.
Excellence There followed some poor harvests and a strategic decision was made to strive for excellence. That meant reducing the vineyards (to 50 ha) and the amount of bought-in grapes, embracing a high level of ecology in viticulture and vinification and bringing all of the winemaking together at Villié-Morgon, a mere hundred metres from where Dominique was born.
Work has now started and an enormous effluent treatment plant is being installed to recycle all wastewater. By 2010 Piron will boast a new winery and visitor centre.
In the vineyards, high-density bush trained Gamay are low and tight and can only be managed using manual labour. In 2006 the appellation allowed vines to be trained as guyot or cordon. Piron has seized the opportunity to modernise and the vines, with an average age of 60 years, are being retrained. Although handpicking remains mandatory, machines are used for routing, tilling, canopy-management and spraying tasks.
Change has been introduced in the winery too. Cellar hygiene is a high priority. Dominique is moving away from stainless steel because he feels that it introduces electromagnetic activity that would affect the wine. 4,000 hl. concrete tanks lined with epoxy resin will be used exclusively in the new cave.
Traditional semi-carbonic maceration is used, however, the grapes for the Cru Morgon are de-stemmed between 50 to 100% according to the year and then a long maceration of from 13 to 20 days achieves the typicity of this appellation.
The policy here is to keep intervention in the winery to a minimum. Temperature control is used for flavours and colour, while length of maceration controls tannin levels. Dominique also favours light oaking for 3-4 months in foudres.
The mantra is ‘Ripe, healthy grapes from healthy soil makes the wine that represents the name of Domain Piron’. May Dominique and Kristine Mary continue to make such wine for many years to come.
2006 Beaujolais Blanc, Domaine de la Chanaise. It had a mineral/fresh pineapple nose and a fresh creamy palate of pineapple and lemon curd. 20% was given 4 months in oak and two-thirds malolactic fermentation.
2006 Brouilly, Domaine De Combiate. A beautiful ruby with hints of violet on the eye. Dark, spiced fruits on the nose then a fresh, acidic palate that was light and floral with hints of lavender followed by dark plums and sloes and finishing with dark chocolate.
2006 Moulin-à-Vent, Les Vignes du Vieux Bourg. The soils of this Cru are laced with manganese, which give floral, spicy nose, a structured, silky palate of dark plums and black cherries with a long, dry finish.
2006 Morgon, Côte du Py. The volcanic-rich soils give this wine its good structure. A fruity nose with hints of dark chocolate and liquorice. The palate was generous with cherries, plums and almonds with a very long, clean finish. This will age well.
2003 Morgon, Côte du Py. Surprisingly youthful in appearance with a ruby core and broad, purple rim but the nose displayed the developing savoury aromas and dried sultanas. The palate was fresh with a firm, balanced structure with spice and prunes. A delightful wine now but I would love to come back to it in 10 year’s time.
2007 Chenas, “Aroma”. An intense mineral aroma supporting peony blossom, ripe plums and cherries. The palate had ripe, silky tannins, still taught in their youth. Liquorice and cloves on the finish.
2005 Chenas “Quartz”. Floral minerality on the nose and a firm structured palate with cooked fruit, spices and lavender. All in balance and harmony and very long. A truly delicious wine.
Text © Anthony Stockbridge 2008 Photos © Brett Jones 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter With grateful thanks to Sopexa
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Sexual Confusion by Debra Meiberg Chablis is a hotbed of sexual confusion. “This entire area,” Matthieu Mangenot of Domaine Long-Depaquit informed me with a sweeping arm, “is sexually confused.” Not only Chablis but all of Burgundy, much of nearby Champagne and many other vineyards scattered around the world.
Vineyards often inspire romance and this is certainly the case with moths. Eyes meet, wings flutter and soon little larvae are trampoline bouncing on vine leaves. The rapacious baby caterpillars munch their way through the vineyard abandoning partially chomped leaves and punctured grapes in their wake, rendering grape clusters vulnerable to moulds and infections. Globally, the little nippers destroy about 3 million acres of crops annually, the equivalent of 1.3 billion gallons of wine.
Vineyard managers are an environmentally friendly lot. Long gone is the uninhibited use of environmentally damaging pesticides; these days most vineyards are managed with careful attention to the ecosystem. Still, vineyard pests can be an annoyance. To prevent proliferation of moths, viticulturalists make use of pheromones. Because pheromones prevent male and female moths from communicating, they cannot mate. Apparently moth mating rituals are more highly evolved than those of humans; lack of communication doesn’t seem to stop us from mating.
Various forms of ‘’sexual disruption” systems are in use. In Burgundy “la confusion sexuelle’’ is a village-wide effort. Pheromones in little brown capsules are suspended along vineyard wires at about the same time to permeate the air with female pheromones. Another technique encouraging moths to “just say no’’ is an electrostatic powder coated with female hormones. The powder is strategically placed in dispensers about the vineyard. Like a bar in a red-light district, the dispensers are initially attractive to the male. Once the male flies away from the girlie bar, however, he is unable to detect female moths due to the powdery scent clinging to his own body. Even if he is lucky enough to bump into a female at the pub, he will appear to be female himself and so will be rejected. Human mating deterrents are not so dissimilar: a man reeking of female perfume is also likely to find himself rejected by members of the opposite sex.
One added twist for the mixed-up moths, however, is the perfumed males – who now smell like females—suddenly become very attractive to other male moths. When the aroused male suitors shimmy up to the male drag queens, they catch the cross-dressing vibe themselves. And we thought Lan Kwai Fung was confusing.
Even grape vines are a touch befuddled about their sexuality. While male and female vines both exist, they don’t seem to need one another. Grape vines typically self-mate, or self-pollinate. Clearly vineyards aren’t nearly as romantic as we thought. It seems less sex in the vineyard results in a better glass of wine, which is converse to conventional thinking – that a good glass of wine results in better sex. © Debra Meiberg 2008
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AWE Beaujolais trip - May 12th to 15th
2008 Domaine Longère; Maison de Beaujolais; Domaine de Bel Air; Claude Berger and Olivier Coquard; Au Goutillon Beaujolais; Domaine Piron;Les Maritonnes;Le Hameau du Vin
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Domaine Longère, Le Perréon by
John Ducker
The reason I mention Clochemerle however, is that many tiny parcels of vineyard there are included in the 15 ha estate owned by Jean-Luc Longère whose Domaine lies in the neighbouring village of Le Perréon. The mosaic pattern of vineyard ownership is obviously as fragmented in the Beaujolais as it is in the Côte d’Or.
We arrived at the Domaine under threatening skies and the watchful gaze of a suspicious tabby cat to be met by Jean-Luc himself (pictured below), an affable and modest man who learned his craft from his father. He is a sixth generation descendent of the original winemaking family, now selling principally to private clients both in France and the UK. The property has been working towards balanced viticulture and integrated wine production since 1985, a factor that was not too difficult to observe in the clean characteristics of the wines we were offered to taste. In any event Jean-Luc and his wife Régine are proud to be able to hand over ‘pure’ vineyards to their daughters as and when they come to inherit the estate.
Overview Regardless of the fact that he was addressing an audience of wine educators who might be supposed to have a good general grasp of Beaujolais, Jean-Luc began by giving a simple overview of the geography of the region, stressing the importance of the soils on viticulture. Clays for AOC Beaujolais; variously sandy soils for the thirty-eight AOC Beaujolais-Villages (indeed some of the buildings in the local villages we drove through appeared to be built of Cotswold stone); and granites of various kinds with manganese deposits in various places for the ten Cru.
Basic reminders certainly do no harm in any case, including the fact that of the 30,000 ha of Gamay planted in France, Beaujolais sports the lion’s share of 22,000 ha.
20% of Jean-Luc’s plantings are of Chardonnay, and we were introduced first to a Beaujolais Blanc 2007 bottled in January 2008: Inox vinification, no wood. Fresh, balanced, with a somewhat soft finish. Not a wine with much ‘race’ perhaps, but supple, and very clean-tasting in a pleasant aperitif style.
Rosé We were mindful of the increasing UK market preference for Rosé, and learned that 15% of the Domaine’s production is dedicated to the style. Our tasting example, vinified from 100% Gamay ‘as a white’, had been given two days maceration on the skins. We are talking salmon rather than baby pink here and there was freshness, lightness and purity of expression on the palate. Again, no wood.
Another infant wine, this time with a more familiar Beaujolais colour and taste, was ‘Le Vin des Roches’ 2007. Due for bottling in July 2008 the grapes had spent twenty days in vat with temperatures lifted to 30°C for optimum colour extraction from the skins, plus maturation in some second-year-use wood.
Semi-carbonic With Beaujolais, of course, we are talking about carbonic maceration. However the distinct kirsch or banana flavours found in Beaujolais Nouveau frequently derive from a semi-carbonic maceration. Could we be enlightened please as to what actually goes on within the grapes in the vat to achieve this? ‘Semi-carbonic’ rapidly became our watchword as we asked every winemaker we met to explain the process to us so that it could be clearly understood. We thought it wise to discount the varying professional opinions we received across our trip that included the word ‘magique’ – and came to the conclusion that an enzyme process within the skins of the grapes themselves might be the correct answer.
Sparkling Gamay After three years experimentation Jean-Luc had finally produced a Sparkling Gamay utilising the time-honoured méthode ancestrale as practiced in Limoux and elsewhere. Declassified to a Vin de Table and labelled “Rose ?”, this cuve-fermented wine might not have won awards for the world’s most inventive wine title but its hugely appealing nose of strawberry or ripe apple led to one of the freshest, fruitiest palates I have encountered in a while, thanks in part to the modest 8% abv. Not too sweet, either, with sugars held to a refreshing 35 g/l. Lovely.
The future Beyond the eponymous sparkler at the end of our tasting another question mark hung in the air: what of the future for Beaujolais? Reading between the lines it was clear that forward-looking winemakers like Jean-Luc and Régine Longére and the others we visited were still required to work within a proscriptive, static and ultimately backward-looking system. The Clochemerle syndrome? It must have been easy for writers like Ray Galton and Alan Simpson to poke fun at wine-village politics when adapting Chevalier’s hilarious novel for the screen, but for today’s Beaujolais pioneers I suspect that living with the wider reality is no laughing matter. I suspect also it must be heartbreaking at times. All we can do is to admire their spirit, their integrity and, of course, their wines.
Text © John Ducker 2008
Photos © Brett Jones 2008
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Maison de Beaujolais,
by Brett Jones At La Maison de Beaujolais in Belleville-sur-Saône we were greeted by Regan, a representative of our host, Inter Beaujolais. Whilst the tasting wines were found, the presenter Amé de Saint Charles (pictured below) invited us all to go down to the tasting room. We were grouped into twos and threes around desks, each was equipped with a flushing spittoon but had nowhere for our legs!
Amé, a wine grower and oenologist, trained in Bordeaux. He has travelled to many countries to make wine and was a product manager for Ehrmanns as well as Hardy’s before returning home in 2001 to take up the reins at the family business, a winery and a cooperage, Château du Bluizard in Brouilly. In 2005, he set up OenoProd, a company that produces natural products for wine making.
A man of great experience, Amé has a forthright view of the state of Beaujolais at the moment. Beaujolais is a ‘little cousin’ of Burgundy and since the early ‘60s has wanted to expand beyond Lyon, its local market. “Lyon was crossed by three rivers: Rhône, Saône and Beaujolais. Now the wine of preference is no longer Beaujolais but Côtes du Rhône!”
“Beaujolais is in a bloody difficult crisis” because they still don’t understand the world market. This region of 22,000 ha with 3,000 individual growers needs to be reorganised but that will take at least 10 years. Since the first crisis in 1987 when sales slumped dramatically, Beaujolais has been run by a gerontocracy. When Amé returned from abroad he was shocked by the situation. The region must change its structure and those who have defended the ‘tradition’ of Beaujolais have lost the plot, as “we are struggling to show what we can do. Beaujolais should be a monument, but it is in fact a museum”.
Although some regulations have been changed in the last two years, density and pruning for example, the original appellation rules were based on production in 1936. Back then 3.5 ha of vines would provide a living for one producer, now 10 ha are needed. Amé often used the word ‘mosaic’ to describe the vineyards as more often than not a wine producer’s estate consists of small plots all over the place. On average there are 8-10,000 vines per ha, making mechanisation very difficult, so production costs are high. Unfortunately, the average sale price of the wine is only €200 per hectolitre as most is bought by négociants. Thus the vicious circle continues with over-production by wine makers who don’t understand quality, thinking that it is quantity that maintains their livelihood.
More mechanisation should be allowed which would reduce costs. At the moment, 75% of all Beaujolais is sold in supermarkets and too much effort is spent on Beaujolais, which is 30% of total production. “We don’t want to live off subsidies”.
Two people have influenced Amé. The first was Alexis Lichine who introduced his father to winemaking and marketing at Château du Bluizard. Lichine travelled with a group of winemakers, coopers and merchants, teaching and encouraging good viti- and viniculture. The other person to impress Amé was Anthony Hanson, who explained that many people would enjoy their Brouilly wines if there was no mention of Beaujolais on the label!
We also learnt about the structure of the Beaujolais region: the 10 Crus are in the north of the region, on slopes, where the soils are predominantly granite; Beaujolais-Villages is mainly in the north as well, on slopes with sandy, clay soils on top of decomposing granite; and the south is mainly straight Beaujolais on chalk and clay. A little Beaujolais rosé is made. The perle rare is the 1% Beaujolais Blanc; made with Chardonnay, the white Beaujolais impressed time and again on this trip.
We also learnt, as we would do at every winery, the intricacies of carbonic maceration, or intercellular fermentation. Rarely is all the fermentation carried out by this method, unless the whole bunches are of exceptional quality. Normally it is semi-carbonic maceration where the fermentation is started by enzyme action until the berries burst on reaching 2-3% alcohol and aerobic fermentation continues.
During this presentation, we tasted ten wines to give us “an idea of what we do in Beaujolais”. Although there were no tasting sheets this was overcome by announcements about the wine labels.
Tasting Notes Two wines stood out for me: Beaujolais Villages Blanc, Château du Bluizard 2006. Lime flower with a touch of oak on the nose. Dry, bright lemony notes with a prospect of hints of beeswax developing as it ages. Delicious and a fine introduction to Beaujolais Blanc. CWS £6.99 (sold out). A bargain!
Côte de Brouilly, Domaine de Conroy 2006. Grown on schistose soils this elegant, light ruby coloured wine has a bouquet of flowers and red fruits. Dry with fine fruity tannins and a bright minerality.
At 1.30pm we repaired to the restaurant of the La Maison de Beaujolais which was full of people enjoying their Bank Holiday lunch, as we did. We were served three La Maison de Beaujolais wines. I did enjoy Amé’s forthright honesty as well as the wines, and I wish him every success in his struggle to encourage this great wine region to improve its situation and overcome the current crisis. Photos and text © Brett Jones 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Annick and Jean-Marc Lafont / Domaine de Bel Air, by
Tom Jarvis Jean-Marc Lafont is based on the steep slopes overlooking Beaujeu in the Beaujolais-Villages zone. His business is roughly 50% négociant (the Jean-Marc Lafont label) and 50% estate wines (Bel Air). He wishes to change this proportion by buying into appellations that he does not yet own. Apart from his Beaujolais-Villages (c. 6 ha), his vineyard holdings extend to the Cru Brouilly (c. 6.5 ha) and Régnié (c. 1 ha); about 13 ha in all.
His négociant activity enables him to offer a virtually complete portfolio of Beaujolais, allowing him to adapt to instances of high demand. He buys-in selected vats from friends who have similar methods and philosophies and whose wines show good typicity for their Appellation. The majority of his négociant activity is however for lesser wines. Jean-Marc had previously combined with Dominique Piron in Villé-Morgon to make the excellent Chénas Quartz cuvée, but this has ended due to differing business plans, particularly with regard to distribution.
Vinification All the wines are made using semi-carbonic maceration. Open vat fermentation and pumping over is avoided, and the process is kept as anaerobic as possible. For racking between tanks, a gravity-fed system is used whereby the juice is run from the fermentation tanks (inox and epoxy-lined cement) and raised in an elevator to be poured back in at the top. This is done to limit vegetal characters. Jean-Marc also feels that the finished wines take a touch longer to come round when made this way.
After an impressive tasting we jumped at the chance to go to visit the Gorge du Loup (Wolf Gorge) lieu-dit in Brouilly. Though producing the grapes for one of his négociants rather than Bel Air wines, this seemed to be a vineyard he had a strong involvement with. This turned out to be very informative.
Training methods Jean-Marc is in the process of changing the training of his vineyards and so was able to show us both his old and new methods. He prefers a higher training method than the 70 year old gobelet vines at Gorge du Loup, as the latter are more prone to disease and botrytis. In this richer argilo-granite and sand soil with a clay base he has practised enherbement (grass between the rows) for several years to control vine vigour. The grass sucks up rainwater before it gets into the vine roots, which in turn have to go deeper.
Less herbicide But with the old, low gobelet vines the grass can get too high, which leads to a lot of work carefully directing herbicide onto the grass, avoiding the vine leaves. Obviously this is the flaw in the system, but Jean-Marc would rather use enherbement than carry out green harvests to control yields as he gets double the number of bunches (20 vs. 10) per vine without grass. Therefore he is changing the vines over to a new higher trained system spread longitudinally on wires. The Gorge du Loup vineyard will change to a double cordon which will be as vertical as possible because, as Jean Marc logically points out, sap rises. This process has been happening gradually since the new system was accepted by the INAO in 2005. He can have grass around the vine base as the grapes are higher, away from retained moisture in the grass. This change also has obvious ecological benefits as he is using less herbicide.
The Gorge du Loup plot and his Domaine de Bel Air holdings have a high vine density at the moment: 8-10,000 vines/ha. He could go for higher canopies, taking out every second row for mechanisation, but with the vines closer together in the row. This would give a figure of 6-7,000 vines/ha.
I would have been happy to sit for a while amongst these vines, overlooked by the Mont de Brouilly, but we were soon back on the bus. This was an excellent visit with super wines and a fascinating vineyard excursion (the only one of the trip). A selection of Jean-Marc's wines is available through Champagnes and Chateaux, Pimlico Dozen, John Earle Jacobs and Laithwaites. Be aware that his name is spelt in several ways (Lafon, Lafond, Lafont) depending on the supplier! Tasting Notes Beaujolais Blanc 2006 Jean-Marc Lafont; aromatic and minerally, combined subtlety with good depth and length. (€4.50 -5.00)
Brouilly 2007 Domaine de Bel Air; was young and lively but had very clean pure fruit and elegant minerality. As with the Régnié this is aged in oak tuns. (€6.40)
Régnié 2006 Domaine de Bel Air; a lovely strawberry scented and well balanced palate and added to the impression that wines from this appellation have more acidity than others - though this may be due to their relative lightness amongst the Cru.
Fleurie la Madone 2006 Jean-Marc Lafont; another step up and had a lovely velvety texture with great elegance and finesse. La Madone is a vineyard where many growers have plots, and this wine comes from three different ones. (€8.00)
Brouilly Gorge du Loup 2005 Jean-Marc Lafont finished on a high. This is aged in 1-3 year old barrels for a year, and because of the oak one would be hard pushed to pick this blind as Beaujolais, but that is more due to quality and my ignorance than lack of typicity. It is a well-integrated wine with a lovely mix of sweet oak, fruit, herbs and flowers and a long, long finish. A very good wine, which Jean-Marc feels, is a successful mix of low yields (35 hl/ha), a very good year, and barrel ageing. (€8.50)
Photo and text © Tom Jarvis 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Claude Berger and Olivier Coquard, by
Vivienne Franks We met with Claude Berger and Olivier Coquard at Domaine Berger des Vignes. Both men are passionate vignerons making exciting Beaujolais wines from Gamay and Chardonnay with a few surprise experimental varietals being grown, including Syrah, Viognier, Gamaret and Garanoir. Both winemakers adhere to the ‘Terra Vitis’ system of respecting the environment.
All ‘Terra Vitis’ producers are committed to quality production. They restrict the use of chemicals, preserve water quality and maintain the ecosystem. All wines go through organoleptic tasting procedures and are tested by an independent panel of oenologists and sommeliers.
The terrain of Pommiers, on two different hills up to 350 metres high, is a mixture of chalk and clay as well as basaltic soils of volcanic origin. Some vines are up to 60 years of age.
All harvesting is done by hand; for the young easy drinking wines, whole bunches of grapes go through a semi-carbonic maceration fermentation procedure. Both Claude and Olivier make two styles of wines, fresh and fruity with crisp acidity and good balance for early drinking and rich full bodied oak aged wines for long keeping.
We tasted a couple of Olivier’s wines, a 2006 Beaujolais Blanc and his barrel-aged red, ‘Cuvée Roman’ 2005. Both wines had great intensity of fruit, acidity depth and concentration.
As we were actually in the Domaine Berger des Vignes winery, we were able to taste a wider range of wines. We tasted Claude’s 2006 Beaujolais Blanc, his 2007 Beaujolais Rosé and Rouge, and his 2007 Vieilles Vignes Beaujolais Rouge. All were very fresh and fruity styles, Claude insisted that they could be kept for up to 4 years. He then brought out his 2005 ‘Authentique’ red which had great structure complexity and elegance.
Sadly none of these wines are currently available in the UK, although both Claude and Olivier were hopeful that their attendance at the LIWF would lead to importer possibilities.
© Vivenne Franks 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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pictured right: Claude Berger, of Domaine Berger des Vignes, a 14 ha estate in Pommiers.
Claude has been producing wine since 1990; his change from cement to stainless steel tanks has given him much better control and longer maceration options in the winery. |
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pictured right:
Olivier Coquard of Domaine Olivier Coquard, a 9ha estate in Pommiers.
Olivier started producing wine in 1996 after a stint at Boschendal in South Africa.
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Lunch at Au
Goutillon Beaujolais, by
Sandy Leckie For lunch on day three we were made welcome at Au Goutillon Beaujolais in Lachassagne by owners Patrick and Valérie Chabassier. Their charming Bistrot Beaujolais is perched high on a hillside with panoramic views across the valley of the Saône. Patrick is in charge of the kitchen and Valérie is front of house.
It was a warm, sunny day and so a large table had been laid for us on the restaurant’s terrasse ombragée. It was clear from the table setting that a lot of thought had gone into the selection of the restaurant’s china, glass and tableware.
Comme boisson, our hosts proposed a Mâcon-Viré Blanc and a Beaujolais from the Cave de Saint Bel. Feeling the warmth of the day, a number of the party expressed a preference for a petit coup de rosé and our hosts were pleased to oblige. The rosé, like many tasted during our tour, was light, gently fruity and refreshing - a simple, undemanding drink.
The rouge was served chilled and decanted into traditional 50cl pots, which were replenished regularly. This was Beaujolais at its simple, fruity best - a perfect food partner and the serving temperature was spot on!
An amuse-gueule and baskets of crusty wholemeal bread, baked on the premises and hot from the oven, were served as we made our menu choices.
To begin the meal, the choice was between a warm and a cold starter. The warm starter consisted of slivers of local goat cheese wrapped in filo pastry and served warm on a bed of salad leaves with a sprinkling of pine nuts – a wonderful mix of tastes and textures. The rosé didn’t add much to this dish. Perhaps the Mâcon-Viré might have been the better choice after all?
The cold starter was salad of avocado, shrimps, pink grapefruit and fresh herbs – a delicious, tangy palate cleanser and appetizer. The rosé worked rather better here.
For the main course, the choice was between fish and fowl. The fish was grilled filets of Sandre (pike/perch) served on a bed of pommes lyonnaise. The fish was soft, moist and delicate – simply delicious.
To complete the meal, we were offered a trio of gourmandises – a miniature crème brûlée, a cube of creamy chocolate cake and a small pot of fresh strawberries, sliced and tossed with fresh tarragon leaves.
This was a meal of simple dishes, made from fresh local ingredients, cooked to perfection and served graciously in a charming setting.
I took a handful of cards from Patrick and Valérie as I left. Their website address is www.au-goutillon-beaujolais.com © Sandy Leckie 2008
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Domaine Piron, Villié-Morgon, by Stephen Barrett
This is a family estate, tracing its roots back to 1590 where 10 hectares were farmed in the near vicinity. Today Domaines Piron own around 55 hectares comprising some of the very best vineyards in Morgon, Brouilly and Chénas.
Dominique Piron and his American-born oenologist wife Kristine Mary, produce wines that express true characteristics of their location and place an emphasis on developing the Domaines using only the very best fruit to express the vintage.
Minimal intervention is the bye-word as the developed style of wines produced could be termed Vin de Garde. The course set by Dominique and Kristine is one closer to Burgundy than Beaujolais with the addition of a touch of semi-carbonic maceration to a portion of the ferment.
De-stemming is also a very important factor as each vineyard is carefully assessed before deciding to de-stem or not. Optimum ripeness and special attention to the pips, (he likes to hear them crack), ensure healthy grapes at the winery reception. After extended maceration and fermentation the fledgling wines are interned in either stainless steel or third-use oak or foudres. Using older barrels will ensure the expression of the wine to be enhanced without a marked expression of oak.
Domaines Piron is a serious winemaker with an eye on the world market. 30% is exported to UK, USA and South Africa. Plus there is a newly opened market in India and Kosher wines to New York.
Beaujolais Blanc 2007. 20% still in barrel; just beginning the malolactic fermentation. Prickly, aromatic yet subtle. Like many Beaujolais Blanc we tried this was excellent yet only 1% of the total area is planted with Chardonnay. Quality like this makes me think more attention to Beaujolais Blanc might not be a bad thing! Although here it is labelled Bourgogne Blanc!
Morgon 2007. Bottled two weeks ago with the classic cherry scent just starting to show.
Morgon Côte du Py 2006. Again just bottled. This was delicious with notes of crushed cherries and minerals, a wine to savour over the next five years.
Morgon 2005. This had a peppery note over a red fruit base, again will develop over the next five years.
Chénas Quartz 2005. A joint venture with Jean-Marc Lafont showing just what can be done with rigorous selection, allowing true expression of terroir. Classic notes of Peony and Violets over a complex mineral base make this a sure fire winner. Drink up to 2012.
Morgon Côte du Py 1999. Freshly opened and at cellar temperature. Considering this wine had hardly a chance to breath it was very, very good, Pinot-like and elegant. It had truly gone “Burgundian” whilst retaining archetypical Beaujolais acidity and floral lift. Grand!
Text © Stephen Barrett 2008 Photos © Brett Jones 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter  |
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Les Maritonnes in Romanèche-Thorins, by Sue Crabtree
Dinner at the delightful Les Maritonnes in Romanèche-Thorins was a wonderful way to spend our last evening in Beaujolais and celebrate Michelle Cherutti-Kowal’s birthday. This 4-star restaurant and 3-star hotel is a typical Beaujolais house decorated with 17th Century furniture and when we read the ‘Menu saveurs et traditions’ we knew we were in for a treat.
Poulet fermier de Bourgogne façon (“coq au vin”) with tagliatelles fraîches or Escalope de saumon sauce à l’oseille proved the restaurant’s claim for traditional gastronomy with innovative flair. The desserts were a feast for eye and palate – Fondant du chocolat noir Valrhona et coeur laité was merveilleux!
We had looked forward to toasting the birthday girl with a glass of Château St Jacques Roche Noir 2005, but sadly the bottle was bouché (corked). It was replaced the next morning – I think Guillaume was a little surprised to see such an early return visit. A great evening.
Text © Sue Crabtree 2008 Photo © Brett Jones 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter
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Georges Duboeuf, Le Hameau du Vin, by
David Morgan We drove up from Villefranche-sur-Saône to Romanèche-Thorins to visit the wine theme park opened by this famous wine family. To quote from Anthony Hanson’s book on Burgundy, “before Georges Duboeuf, let’s be honest, Beaujolais growers often went hungry. He’s not only promoted Beaujolais, he’s also made us live.”
Le Hameau du Vin is a wine museum, with a Disney-like approach and takes visitors through the whole process of viticulture and vinification. This great tourist attraction was opened in 1993 and from a tourist point of view this is a super way to promote the wines from Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages and the ten Cru.
As Fabien Vignal, tourism manager for the Beaujolais region said, “this attraction brings many tourists up to Romanèche-Thorins who would not normally come up to the Cru villages.”
So twelve wines, one for each month of the year. If 12 of us drank a Beaujolais wine each month that would be 12 cases extra. Talk to 12 other people and we would soon have more people enjoying some of these consumer friendly wines!
A very enjoyable end to what for me was a very good educational trip about Beaujolais. Tasting selection Brouilly, Domaine de Grands Croix 2007 Fleurie, Clos de Quatre Vents 2006 Chénas 2005 Juliénas, 20% of the wine in new oak for 8 months and this added to its complexity. Moulin-à-Vent 2000, which had been oak-aged for 1 year - would you have guessed it was Beaujolais? Text © David Morgan 2008 Photo © Brett Jones 2008 Top of trip report; Top of newsletter With grateful thanks to Sopexa
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Vinho Verde by Susan Hulme MW
Highlights of a press trip to Vinho Verde, June 2008 It had been more than 10 years since I last visited Vinho Verde and I was keen to see all the changes that had taken place. Lying north of Oporto, it has a lush green hilly landscape, and is dissected by fast flowing rivers – more dramatic in scenery the further north you go towards the Spanish border.
One of the fascinating things about this trip for me was the opportunity to get to grips with some of the Vinho Verde grape varieties and get a better understanding of their characteristics. In the past most Vinho Verdes I had tasted were blends of these traditional varieties but on this visit there was much more of a trend towards varietally-labelled wines which made for some interesting comparisons as there were big differences between them. Many of the visits stood out for one of these intriguing native grape varieties more than another so I have highlighted the variety where possible.
Afros & the taming of Vinhão The highlight of the whole trip for me was our visit to Afros (www.afros-wine.com), also known as Casal do Paço, where we met owner Vasco Croft. In producer terms, this is a small-scale, handcrafted operation. Vasco has a 20ha farm and only 7ha under vine, cultivated biodynamically and producing 20,000 bottles a year (5,000 litres), although he aims to increase this to 100,000 bottles eventually. Although the family have owned this property since the 17th century they are new to wine production and this is only their 4th vintage.
Perhaps it was the
pervading sense of calm and peacefulness that made this visit so
attractive, together with the warmth, hospitality and slightly spiritual
air of our host who had more than a passing resemblance to Richard Gere.
Or perhaps it was the beautifully rustic surroundings of the family dinning room accompanied by Vasco's family (bother, sister in law and young daughter) and the delightful lunch which started with a very fresh and fragrant sparkling wine aperitive and a colourful salad of wild flowers, goats cheese and figs, followed by delicately flavoured black pasta with cream and ham. What stood out as well of course was the obvious high quality of the wines; it all made for a special occasion. The white wines had a lovely purity and delicacy and the reds were a revelation. Vasco also made a very useful broad comment on Portugal – “The north is cool and, the colours are all green and blue, the soils are granite and the people are traditionally more right-wing; the south is hot and the colours are red and yellow with limestone soils and it is politically left-wing."
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Some key facts about Vinho Verde:
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Quinta de Santa Maria The estate is run by Antonio Vinagre, whose family have been here since 1926. His father and grandfather worked in banks in Oporto and came here at weekends. Their 70 ha vineyard took four generations to consolidate into one area.
Their Quinta de Tamatiz is 100% Loureiro but they have also planted Alvarinho and Arinto before the law changed in 1978. They don’t use herbicides but use grassing between the rows (see right).
This visit was characterised (like so many) by the very warm hospitality of the owners. The heavy scent and striking presence of a linden tree dominated the courtyard. We stood around a barrel in the tasting room tasting the individual white Vinho Verde varieties accompanied by chunks of rustic bread and delicious local cheeses.
The tasting finished with a 20yrd old brandy, made from Vinhão and here my tasting notes become briefer:
Golden amber, powerful yet smooth and spicy – Wow!
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Quinta da Aveleda & a non-Vinho Verde variety
Another visit that stood out for different reasons was the visit to Quinta da Avaleda with our host was the handsome Francesco Guedes Almeida (a member of the Guedes family who own the company) and the affable Luis Silva (pictured left), the export sales manager.
World-wide brand Aveleda are famous for a number of reasons: they are the biggest Vinho Verde producers producing a total of 14 million bottles. They produce the biggest–selling Vinho Verde in Casal Garcia (8 million bottles). Casal Garcia has been around since 1947 and is sold in over 70 different countries so it is a world-wide brand.
Quinta Aveleda also produce wines from the Douro and Bairrada as well as Vinho Verde. They are a very old aristocratic family, having been around since 1671 and they have the most magnificent gardens and beautiful park-like setting.
The estate we visited is approx 200ha, comprising 30ha of gardens, 30ha of forest and a 150ha vineyard. They pick 95% of the harvest by machine and are one of the few who do this. This has reduced harvest time from 3½ months to 3 weeks! Varieties planted are Trajadura, Alvarinho and Arinto.
Professional We were given the most wonderful hospitality and a very professionally organised visit. The tasting was held in a supremely professional tasting room with our own individual wash basin style spittoons. They took us through the range from Casal Garcia to the Aveleda Follies range and their wines from the Douro and Bairrada. The two wines that excited me the most here were the Aveleda DOC Bairrada 2005 Touriga Nacional (lower yields at 50 hl/ha)/ and the 2003 version of the same wine. The latter was definitely the star of the show.
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Quinta de Lourosa - Putting a sparkle into wines We also had an excellent visit and dinner at Quinta de Lourosa, in the sub-region of Sousa, with Joana de Castro as our host. Joana’s father Rogério was a professor of viticulture at Lisbon University and was busy doing exams at the time of our visit so could not be there. He had invented a training system called 'Lys' which had later become very popular in Portugal and was used in some of their 27ha vineyard. I liked very much their red (Quinta de Lourosa Vinho Regional Minho, Red Superior 2003), the sparkling white (see note below) and the sparkling red (Espumante Red) which went very well with the roast pork spare ribs we were given at dinner.
Quinta de Lourosa Vinho Verde Espumante 2005 - predominantly Arinto. Quite deep, yellow-gold, very fruity on the nose and palate. Not very leesy, more citrus and peach fruit. Creamy mousse with soft bubbles. Deliciouis as an aperitive.
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Quinta de Linhares - There was a big focus on single varietals here and their single varietal wines were all exceptionally clear, fresh and well-made with great purity and focus; but when tasted by themselves I preferred the classic Vinho Verde blend although with food the Avesso really came into its own.
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Co-op Cave Monção – very competent winemaking. I liked the Muralhes de Monção 2007 but the Alvarhinos stood out for me. Their new rosé which is a blend of Vinhão and Alvarinho had a very commercially appealing style.
Alvarinho Deu La Deu 2007 - heady fragrant peach and musky notes, much richer texture, quite silky with an off-dry initial impression ending on a slight bitter almond note adding interest and length to the finish.
Alvarinho Deu La Deu Caso de Caravalho 2007 - Mid lemon yellow, much deeper than Loureiro in colour. Hints of vanilla and toast on nose and on the palate smooth, creamy notes combined with lemon sorbet. Buttery, creamy but still fresh and vibrant.
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Quinta da Lixa – a very professional operation who gave us a comprehensive tasting of their range and reinforced the differences once again between the varietals. I liked the Quinta da Lixa Loureiro best.
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Quinta do Toutiçal – located in a stunning setting on a tortuous bend in the river near Castelo de Paiva.This was a very professionally organised tasting but the wines here were more to local taste than most we had tried, having some astringency on the finish. The winemaker believes keenly in not de-stemming and feels this does not make for bitter wines but I beg to differ.
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Their best wine is the Cristopa Vinho Verde.
They were extremely hospitable and not only hosted an excellent meal with their wines but had organised a group of musicians to play the particular style of Fado associated with Coimbra. It made for a memorable and quite moving end to the evening.
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© Susan Hulme MW 2008 With grateful thanks to Nuno Silva, Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos Vinhos Verdes
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European Wine Educators Conference by
Anthony Stockbridge On 28 May, 39 delegates (including 8 MW’s) from 15 countries attended a conference hosted by the Austrian Wine Academy at Rust, on the shores of the Neusiedlersee. Over the four days, formal and informal debates raised many issues but resolved none. However, there was a positive outcome.
Who needs wine education? On the first afternoon, Joanna Locke MW delivered the keynote speech, ‘Who needs wine education?’ She spoke about the explosion in wine education and the number of providers and how, despite the abundance of wine information on the Internet, consumers still need direction and assistance. There is a need for education both in the wine trade and for consumers. Joanna also emphasised the need for educators to become leaders in the responsible approach to alcohol.
A panel discussion moderated by Arne Ronold MW discussed ‘Challenges for wine education in the 21st century.’ Arne appealed for standardisation of wine education, referring to the producing countries who concentrate on their domestic products and differentiating between mature and immature markets. He suggested that all courses should be certificated but asked what the syllabus should include in this modern world.
Threats and challenges Ian Harris responded by listing the threats; social irresponsibility and uncertain economic conditions and the challenges faced by wine educators; ongoing professional progress, getting more quality people to teach and meeting the needs of different markets.
Joanna Locke spoke of the threat of authority getting over-involved citing labelling laws and social responsibility. She also raised the issues of the Bio/organic/free trade and the on-going closures debates, bottling wines outside their region, climate change and the higher demand for wine education.
Workshops The delegates the broke into two groups to complete two workshops. One considered ‘Challenges for trade orientated training’ and the other for consumer education. The former group started by being concerned as to who should attend courses; on trade, off trade, consumers? They then went on to consider ‘what is important in wine education? Is food and wine matching indispensable? How important is the issue of chemical residues? In a diverse industry that ranges from the simple bistro to Michelin starred restaurants, is the need for a range of qualifications to match?
The ‘Consumer’ group asked, ‘what do consumers really want to know?’ They challenged teaching skills and challenged the need for certification. It was pointed out that, generally, consumers attend events ‘to have a nice evening.’ The need for trainer skills and knowledge was recognised but what should be the source for these? ‘How can we generate interest in wine with non wine drinkers?’ was a question that was posed.
The conference broke up into groups of three or four to be taken to wineries in the Rust area by the makers for tastings.
Wine and health The second day started with a presentation entitled ‘Wine and health – the state of the art’ given by Dr. Erik Skovenborg of the European Research Advisory Board, Denmark. Dr. Skovenborg is also a practising G.P. and brought a deal of freshness to this important topic. He talked, in depth, about the potential relationship between alcohol and cardio-vascular disease and the misreporting of medical studies. He pointed out that no scientific studies into the effect of alcohol consumption have been carried out. These would be studies carried out on a sizeable target group over a number of years compared to the performance of a control group of equal population. What governments base their policies on are cohort studies, case studies, cross-sectional studies, case reports and expert opinion. He concluded by saying, ‘A truth is something that has not yet been proved wrong.’
Technology A panel discussion on online wine education, moderated by Jouko Mykkanen of the Haaga Wine School, Finland explored the future of information technology for wine educators. Breaking out of the space/time constraints of the classroom were considered to be of benefit to a growing number of potential students. Antony Moss of WSET outlined the progress he was making in this field. He explained that online courses would encompass features such as conferences, notice boards, blogs, web trails, links to other references, pod lectures and video clips. The problems associated with tasting and security issues associated with on-line assessment were acknowledged.
Certification The most heated debate of the conference centred on the panel discussion ‘The certified wine educator – who can educate’ moderated by Dr. Joseph (Pepi) Schuller MW of the Austrian Wine Academy. First, the panel listed the attributes they considered essential in a wine educator then moved into the area of ‘who is to accredit the wine educator?’ and ‘How often should they be re-accredited?’ No consensus was reached.
Frank Smulders MW of the Netherlands moderated the final discussion at Rust entitled ‘Standardisation – v – national relevance.’ Lynn Sherriff MW, Dermot Nolan MW and Annemarie Foidl, Technical Director of the Association of Sommeliers International each brought a different approach to the question but, yet again, answers were there none.
Pepi Shuller in his closing address acknowledged that many question were hanging in the air then announced that Professors Schaller and Christman of the Forschungsanstalt, Geisenheim had agreed to make office and secretarial resources available at the University to enable a European Association of Wine Educators to be formed. The inaugural meeting will be at Geisenheim in September 2009. A great outcome.
In addition to the conference work, delegates were treated to several social and pleasure highlights amongst which must be noted visits to Schloss Esterhazy, the Stift Klosterneuburg near Vienna, the wine cellar of the Palais Coberg and a pre-opening visit to the Vienna wine trade fair.
The conference was considered a success on several fronts; a unique opportunity for networking with our European colleagues, very lively discussions, extensive tasting of Austria’s many grape varieties from all regions and four days of brilliant sunshine and record May temperatures (35º!). © Anthony Stockbridge 2008
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Scharzhofberg – a close-up study, by
Wink Lorch Moselwein (the promotional body for the Mosel – formerly the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer - region) and David Furer offered an unusual series of one-day press/study trips, focussing on a single famous vineyard site in the Mosel. Brett Jones and I were able to attend the day dedicated to the Scharzhofberg vineyard on the Saar. This was neatly arranged to take place the day after the VDP Grosser Ring tasting in Trier.
We were joined by three journalists, one each from Germany, Holland and Lithuania. Our new friend from Lithuania, Karolina, was greeted effusively by the larger-than-life Roman Niewodniczanski (pictured below) of Van Volxem in Wiltingen. His family originally came from Lithuania but later made their fortune with the Bitburger (“Bitte ein Bit”) brewery. Roman took over the Van Volxem estate in 1999 and is one of the eight owners of the 27 ha Scharzhofberg vineyard.
As an aside, he employs many eastern European workers including Lithuanians as he maintains they work harder and longer hours than the local Germans. Very much the amateur philosopher and historian, Roman believes that whereas western European countries have held sway in the past century, the balance of power will shift to eastern European countries quite soon.
Scharzhofberg: a microcosm of the Mosel? In our introductory talk in Van Volxem’s grandly restored house, Roman noted that the Mosel (with around 9,000 ha) is the largest wine region in the world in terms of steep vineyard land (43% of the vineyards are steeper than 30 degrees).It is also the largest region to grow Riesling (representing 59% of plantings). He also noted that the region’s wines, whether dry or sweet, are the most exported wines that have a balance of fruit, minerality and low alcohol. (Note here that even if exports to the UK remain slow to grow, the USA and other markets are buoyant).
Moving to the next smallest entity, the Saar’s 743 hectares of vineyards presents an extreme version of the Mosel. This sector of the Mosel is almost all planted with Riesling on steep vineyards which run in a north-south direction. During the growing season, the days are extremely warm, with cool nights and it is nearly always windy. According to Roman, who really believes in the potential of this area, it is currently undergoing a revival. Keen outsiders are coming in and more young people from established wineries are dedicating themselves to working towards high quality wine production. With even co-operatives now advising their members to work towards quality, the results are evident. Grape prices have risen from €0.60 to €1.40 per litre. As the biggest problem is high production costs because of the steep vineyards, this can only be good news for the growers.
The town of Wiltingen has the largest concentration of vineyards in the Saar and amongst these sites is the Scharzhofberg. Because Scharzhof is an official name of part of the town of Wiltingen, the vineyard on the hill (‘berg’) is not required to state the town name on labels.
An 1868 classification of the Saar rated Scharzhofberg higher than the other vineyards, and it has been confirmed that the amount of minerals in the soil is higher than in any other Saar vineyard. Historically, the highest price ever achieved by a Mosel wine was a Berncasteler Doctor from Dr. Thanisch, but the highest average prices have always been achieved by Egon Müller’s Scharzhofberg wines.
According to Roman it is the combination of the specific soil, the climate and the human tradition of fine wine production (notably by Egon Müller) that makes Scharzhofberg so famous. Scharzhofberg is, he says: “the Montrachet of Germany”. The minerality of the dark Devonian slate is said to be the purest anywhere, giving an almost salty character. The climate is one of the coolest for wine growing in the world, with one of the highest diurnal swings in summer of around 20°C. This gives an extremely long ripening time between flowering and harvest, which in many years is 140-145 days. In the unusual 2007 vintage is was a record 160-165 days. This long period allows what he describes as ‘saltiness’ to develop in the grapes. All eight Scharzhofberg growers use the same farming methods, sharing the use of a helicopter to spray - Roman states this is extremely efficient. No insecticide is used as the sexual confusion method is practiced.
Viewpoints from Egon Müller Scharzhofberg is a very steep vineyard, facing south-south east. Within the vineyard, Egon Müller, whom we also visited, states that variation comes mainly from the altitude difference; 180m at the bottom and 310m at the top of the hill. Not only does this give different ripening times, but the soil consists of more broken-down slate at the bottom.
Müller is still the largest owner of
Scharzhofberg with 8.5 ha. The vineyard used to be owned entirely by the
Müller family, but it was divided up through the inheritance laws. He
has the largest proportion of old vines, with one ungrafted parcel
dating back to 1895-1905. In total he has around 3 ha ungrafted; Van
Volxem and Von Kesselstatt also own some ungrafted vines. There is
phylloxera present but mostly it is kept under check by the low amount
of organic matter in the soil and by the reasonably high rainfall. In
the dry year of 2003, some phylloxera did re-appear.
Bearing in mind that this vineyard does not face the river as is traditional for the best vineyards, we asked Egon what it was that really made the quality difference in Scharzhofberg. His answer was that it lies at the extreme limit between under-ripeness and perfect ripeness. Having said that, Egon Müller and the other vineyard owners we met were all very happy with the effects of climate change on their region, giving significantly earlier vintages and much more reliable ripening. Egon pointed out that in his father’s time in a decade there would be usually 1–2 catastrophic vintages; 3–4 where grapes were less than properly ripe; and at most 3 really good years. Today there are still differences between vintages, but the problem of under-ripe grapes simply doesn’t occur.
As we shared two old wines with Egon Müller, he explained that the development of a Scharzhofberg wine was that when very young it showed initially fruit character. This then disappears and one tastes mainly the structure of the wine. It takes around 20 years to develop fully, with the characteristic slate appearing.
The first wine was a Spätlese 1988 – a mere 20 years old. This had a matured honey character and a roundness that built on the palate to a fabulous length indicating plenty of life to come. Then we were served a wine from the much written-off, too hot year of 1976: this golden-coloured Scharzhofberger Auslese showed great life in it yet with a gorgeous smoothness, providing pure liquid pleasure.
Unique tasting opportunity
At the worst possible time for tasting,
after a convivial lunch with Roman and his wife, we gathered for a
unique tasting of wines from seven of the eight producers of
Scharzhofberg. Roughly in order of size of holding, these were Egon
Müller, Von Kesselstatt, Bischöfliches Weingüter, Van Volxem, Vereinigte
Hospiten, Von Hövel and Johannes Peters. The only producer missing was
Resch. As each had brought four or five wines there were 33 wines in
all. Most were from the still youthful 2007 vintage but a few older
sweeter wines were shown too.
Looking at my notes, generalizations are difficult, though delicacy and elegance are what appear most frequently in my notes of those I particularly enjoyed. My notes indicate that the Auslese style works really well here - no surprise I guess. For me, Bischöfliches Weingüter stood out as the most consistently fine across the styles.
© Wink Lorch 2008
A few tasting highlights from Brett Jones I have always enjoyed the annual VDP Grosser Ring tastings in London. Each producer may only show six wines, normally of the latest vintage. I would move from table to table to try the different qualities, which enabled me to understand the differences between producers as distinct to vintage variation. So having cut my teeth (oh, the acid on the molars!) at the big tasting in Trier the previous day, it was a delight to focus on wines just from Scharzhofberg.
I started with the Trocken 2007 wines from the two ecclesiastical producers, Vereinigte Hospiten and Bischöfliches Weingüter, whose Spätlese Trocken showed good ripe fruit which complemented its well rounded minerality. Johannes Peters’ Spätlese Trocken was richly concentrated with ripe fruit. There was also an enjoyable dry QbA 2004 from Van Volxem labelled ‘P’, which was full-bodied building to a long, rounded finish.
Back to 2007, Egon Müller’s Spätlese was fine, rich and fruity with strawberry notes and a hint of pepper on the palate. As a contrast the Von Hövel Spätlese had deep fruity minerality balanced by bright crisp acidity. The Vereinigte Hospiten Spätlese had lovely rich fruit with good mineral acidity as well as a touch of smoke.
The richer styles of wine were from 2007 and older vintages. Von Hövel showed two Auslesen, from 1990 and 1999; I preferred the 1999 as it was a lovely mid-gold with grapes, grapefruit and herbs on the nose, enticingly sweet with good acidity. The 2007 Auslese from Egon Müller was magnificent, allowing me to use it like a crystal ball to gaze into the future (especially having enjoyed the 1976 Auslese earlier in the morning). Lovely bright Muscat grapes and crystallised fruit preceded a lusciously sweet wine with a long, long finish.
This magnificent tasting was completed with Beerenauslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen. The Von Kesselstatt Beerenauslese 1989 was ripe, creamy; toasty with subtle hints of coffee, and the 1989 example from Bischöfliches Weingüter was deliciously rich though possibly hiding its light under a bushel as it was quite understated. I completed my tasting with the Van Hövel Trockenbeerenauslese 2005; the honeyed biscuit nose with just a hint of botrytis belied a wine with great sweetness and depth, underpinned with minerality.
And it is the minerality which is such a key to the wines of the Scharzhofberg vineyard, continually showing itself as the backbone of this selection of very good wines from a very special area. © Brett Jones 2008 Photos of Roman Niewodniczanski in the vineyard and Egon Müller © Wink Lorch 2008 Photo of Roman Niewodniczanski with map and tasting photos © Brett Jones 2008
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AWEsome Book - Reviewed by Susan Hulme MW
Tokaj: A Companion for the Bibulous Traveller by David Copp. Published by PxB – price £10.95 from Amazon.
Those of you familiar with the Mitchell Beazley ‘Wine Atlas’ series in the late 1980s will be familiar with the intention behind this new book on the Tokaj region. But where the former served better as stay-at-home reference books due to their size, David Copp scores more highly with this extremely portable volume.
History With a quarter of its 158 pages taken up by short but informative chapters on the history of the region and its people there is enough background detail for the Tokaj novice but it also includes an excellent section on winemaking, grape varieties, styles and vintages which will prove useful long after your trip to Tokaj is over.
Touring The touring section is split up into the four main areas of Tokaj Hill, the Mád Basin, Erdőbénye / Tolcsva and Sárospatak. The excellent maps and directions, taking the town of Tokaj as the starting point, enable easy navigation within and between each area and to the recommended wineries and vineyards, each of which is profiled in more or less detail depending on their relative merits.
Travel guide The book functions of course like a conventional guide book and includes reviews of personally tested restaurants and accommodation; it also has the usual sections on general travel information, currency etc which will mean you can leave your Rough Guide at home. There is a lot of information but it never feels dry or crammed because of the wealth of photographs and the clear and logical layout. My only (small) gripe is the lack of a pronunciation guide to give a clue how to tackle some of the more heavily accented Hungarian names.
Most visits to Tokaj start and end in Budapest and the final chapter covers where best to taste and buy Tokaji in that wonderful city. Reading this guide from cover to cover will give you a thirst for both Tokaj (the region) and Tokaji (the wine) and hopefully will encourage you to get out there and use it. © Susan Hulme MW 2008 David has kindly offered the book at a special price of £6.50 (including postage and packaging) to AWE members, ordered direct from him at the address below. David Copp, Westways House, Horsecastles Lane, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 6BH, email: davidcopp@gmail.com website: www.davidcoppwines.co.uk
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Thermovinification by
Richard Bampfield MW
Process Grapes must be destemmed, so machine harvesting can be an advantage. Grapes are heated, by a heat exchanger, to 60 to 80 C and macerated at that temperature for 10 to 12 hours, depending on the vintage. The exact length will depend on tasting, to ensure that the maceration stops before unripe and vegetal tannins are extracted. Must is then cooled RAPIDLY (first by air, then by heat exchange) to about 20 C. This should not take more than 3 to 4 hours. Yeast is added to trigger fermentation which will normally take place at 20 to 25 C. Stephane prefers to ferment on marc to 1040, and then to finish fermentation on juice. That helps give the wine more structure and vigour. Some people (eg Cave de Rauzan) remove marc after maceration and ferment only on juice. The wines can often be enhanced by maceration on oak chips after fermentation. (in Bordeaux, illegal to use chips during fermentation, which is silly).
Benefits Extracts good colour, excellent primary aromatics and good tannins. Seems to burn off vegetal characters and any signs of rot. Gives wines more fat and sweetness of fruit. Means wines show well at competitions for first year reds.
Generally, the process will only be used for 20-30% of the crop. Although the wines produced by this process are very aromatic and fruity, they can fade quickly, so they need to be blended with wines with more structure.
Costs The machinery required for the process costs about 100,000 euros. Probably only viable if the estate has more than 50 hectares, especially as the process will typically only be used for 20 to 30% of the crop. © Richard Bampfield MW 2008
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Pierre Gerbais l’Originale – A 100% Pinot
Blanc cuvée, by
Anthony Stockbridge
Those of us who confine our Champagne visits to the area of vineyards dominated by Reims, Épernay and Aÿ are missing a treat. A group of Champagne producers 100 miles from Reims yet only 80 from Dijon, lies in what British wine students know as the Aube region but, what the French call the Côtes des Bars. On a recent trip to Bar-sur-Seine I discovered a rare champagne. This is a non-vintage cuvée consisting of 100% Pinot Blanc called ‘l’Originale’, produced by Champagne Pierre Gerbais at Celles-sur-Ource. This prompted me to do some research to establish exactly how rare this is. Grandfather’s rights We all know that only three grapes are permitted in the sparkling wines of Champagne; Pinots Noir and Meunier plus Chardonnay. The original appellation included four other white varieties; Pinot Blanc, Petit Meslier, Arbanne and Pinot Gris. By ‘grandfather’s rights’, if a viticulteur was growing them at the time these may still be used but further plantings are forbidden.
Old varieties There are only 92 hectares of these old varieties remaining in Champagne, a mere 0.27% of the whole area. Pinot Blanc is the most widely represented with 86 ha, mainly in the Côtes des Bars and a couple of communes in the Marne. Of the remainder there are 3.5 ha of Petit Meslier, 1.5 of Arbanne and 1 hectare of Pinot Gris. These again are mainly in the Côtes des Bars. There is no requirement for Champagne makers to declare the make-up of the blend and most of these grapes are treated as though they were Chardonnay; blending them in the cuvée to produce the house style. A very few houses do make a feature of their use of the old cépages; Champagne Moutard in Buxeuil make a cuvée Arbanne and Champagne Duval Leroy in Vertus make a cuvée ‘Authentis’ Petit Meslier. Pierre Gerbais, a family-run house, has three ha of old Pinot Blanc from which it makes only 5,000 bottles of l’Originale per year; and then only in good years which works out to about one year in four. Yes, this is unique. Traditional The wine is made in the prescribed manner with slow pressing in traditional Cocquard presses followed by settling, racking and primary fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. The wine is racked again towards the end of February and bottled with the addition of the ‘Liqueur de Tirage’. While the appellation rules require a minimum period of fifteen months on the lees for NV and three years for vintage champagne, l'Originale spends no less than six years on the lees. The great prestigious houses of Épernay and Reims rarely do this with champagnes costing over €200 per bottle so at €20 a bottle I simply had to try it. The wine displays a fine mousse over a delicate, pale golden wine. On the nose one detects brioche, butter and melon and the palate is very slightly off-dry (11 g/l of residual sugar), silky lemon and crème anglais with a very long finish. What incredible value for money! So where can you buy it? Unfortunately not in the UK. Champagne Pierre Gerbais is one of a large number of winemakers in France who only sell to local restaurants, regular customers and callers to the winery. I can promise you that the detour will be worth it. © Anthony Stockbridge 2008
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21st Miguel Torres Wine Course by Susan Hulme MW
This 4 day trip was aimed mainly at exporters and trade and was very much a multinational event with delegates from Eastern Europe (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia) as well as Israel, Canada and Singapore among others. The course covered a variety of topics: an in-depth, step-by-step guide to the way Torres produce their commercial rootstocks; lectures on viticulture, marketing and research and development; visits and tastings at various Torres properties including the Jean Leon winery and the Torres vineyard holdings in Priorat. There was also a tour of the Torres brandy installation and a fun evening where not just the wines but the food was tasted blind! Torres invest 2% of their annual return on Research and Development projects and some common themes emerged over the week: the effects of climate change and how Torres are reacting to it; their continued research into ancestral Catalan vine varieties and how they are using the latest techniques to monitor vigour and ripeness. Climate change Penedès is divided into 3 zones: lower, middle and upper, at between 500-800 metres altitude and starting at 40km from the sea. For every 100m there is an almost 1o decrease in temperature. So Alt Penedès can be 5o less than the temperature near the sea. In response to climate change Torres are having to plant the grape varieties they used to grow in lower Penedès now in mid-Penedès. According to Miguel Torres Sr the temperature has only increased by 1o in the last 40 years in this area but the effects are noticeable. They now harvest 12-13 days before they used to. They are also now planting Pinot Noir and Chardonnay at altitudes of 1000 metres on the lower slopes of the Pyrenees. Interestingly their vineyards in Chile are not suffering the effects of climate change as they are here. Viticultural responses Torres are experimenting with vineyard techniques to help counteract the effects of climate change. The strategies used nowadays are not to advance ripening but to delay it. This is done by a number of means:
Environmentally responsible
Miguel Torres told us that in the 19th Century, there were more than 100 different vitis vinifera varieties but after phylollexera only 10-12 varieties were left. For the past 15 years, Torres have been trying to rediscover old Catalan varieties; so far they have discovered 58 of them and of these, 14 are unknown and autochthonous. Their Grans Muralles wine includes 2 of these rediscovered varieties: Garró and Samsó.
This research is done in conjunction with INRA and IRTA. They use in vitro reproduction for these varieties because it is quicker and once they feel a plant is unique, they grow it and send it to Montpellier for DNA analysis.
Yields & Vigour Torres use QuickBird Satellite imaging to monitor yields and vigour; the infra-red images are very sensitive to chlorophyll levels but the readings can be hampered by cloud cover. They have therefore started to use a 'GreenSeeker' system to monitor quality and yield. When mounted on a mechanical harvester (or other such machine), the device takes readings from the plants as the machine moves up and down the rows and them transmits real time data to the company database using a GPS antenna, thereby building up image maps of the vineyards. Although GreenSeekers cost 500O euros, the readings are precise and reliable.
© Susan Hulme MW 2008 With grateful thanks to Kate Sweet at Limm Communications and everyone at Torres and John E Fells & Sons Ltd.
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AWEsome Wine by Laura Clay
Château Roques Mauriac Damnation 2005, Bordeaux Supérieur As a professional I am not, of course, influenced by names and labels when selecting my wines – but what a name, not to mention a truly dazzling presentation! A deserving Gold Medal Winner at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards, this Bordeaux Supérieur comprises 85% Cabernet Franc, 15% Merlot with grapes coming from the southern central area of Entre-Deux-Mers and aged in oak for around 16 months, 50% new.
Made to a modern style , one might even call it a ‘funky Bordeaux’, even more so than some we tasted at the AGM, this a wine of dark, intense colour a clear indication of what is to come. Red fruit and coffee aromas are open and obvious on the nose whilst the palate is voluminous, rich and powerful yet with a brilliant velvety mouth-feel and elegance. The berry fruit flavours mingle with a dark chocolate edge and a slightly spicy complexity and balanced tannin structure complete an extraordinary wine. At £14.99 it is on the steep side for its appellation but worth every penny for its quality. For stockists contact Patrice Calvet UK Ltd, contact@bvcbordeaux.xom © Laura Clay 2008
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AWEsome Internet by
Wink Lorch
Able Grape – a new wine-dedicated search engine There have been plenty of wine portals created on the internet over the past decade, some having reasonable search facilities. However, now we have a dedicated search engine for wine, created by Doug Cook, a San Francisco software engineer and search engine specialist, whose CV includes a spell at the giant Yahoo. Doug got the wine bug and it was when he was studying for WSET Diploma that he became frustrated in searching for wine-related items on the standard search engines. At first glance www.ablegrape.com seems like any old search engine, but it’s worth following the link under the box where you type in your search request, which states “First time using Able Grape? We're a little different — see some examples of how.” Here it explains how the search engine differs from Google, Yahoo etc., which it does in subtle and useful ways.
Filters
The best thing
about a search on Able Grape is that you can use filters to choose
what type of site you are looking for.
So, if I type
in “Savoie” (it’s recommended that you leave out the word “wine”),
it comes up with 38,506 matches,
Language Deliberately, Able Grape is not language specific, which is appropriate for wine with many useful sites being not in the English language. Usefully, it uses little flags to tell you in which languages the sites shown in the results are written. There are currently over 11 million pages on Able Grape, but you can submit a site by sending Doug an email and, hoping he’s not too inundated with work and he approves it, it should then appear in searches after a couple of weeks. The website is currently in what’s known as ‘Beta version’ i.e. in test mode. © Wink Lorch 2008
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Please update your Directory of Members with the following changes:
We are pleased to welcome new associate member Barry Howarth:
Barry Howarth 62 Barley Cop Lane Lancaster LA1 2PP
Change of address: Peter Edwards has moved to: 2 Rectory Dell Melmerby Cumbria CA10 1HH Tel: 01768 889101 Other details remain unchanged
Emails & Website: - Tom Jarvis email: tom@atomic-wine.co.uk website: www.atomic-wine.co.uk
mobile: 07710 414260 - Linda Simpson email: linnysimpson@btinternet.com
- Ian Symonds email: symonds@netvigator.com
WSET - newly nominated corporate member (replacing Erica Dent): Ngarita Warden Tel: 020 7089 3800 Email: nwarden@wset.co.uk |
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Anyone interested in becoming a member of the AWE should contact our membership secretary Alison Moller: Email - molleralison@yahoo.co.uk Tel: 07718 468 463 Address: Little Mead, Langley Lower Green, Saffron Walden, Essex CB11 4SB
Prospective members should hold the WSET Diploma or equivalent.
Please note the administrative office
telephone number has changed to 01753 882320. See below for full
details.
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AWE Inspiring News
Editor: Susan Hulme MW Sub-editor / Proof-reader: Paul Howard Many thanks to Paul Howard and to all of our contributors.
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At the
Richter estate the grapes are picked at much higher Oechsle levels than
the legal requirement – for Kabinett at least 90, for Spätlese at least
95, and for Auslese at least 100. Three passes are done to select the
best quality, to eliminate all inferior grapes and to keep perfect
botrytis bunches or single berries for Auslese, BA and TBA.
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But
Roman Niewodniczanski enthusiastically welcomed us into Weingut Van
Volxem, in the centre of Wiltingen, formerly a Jesuit monastery, located
on what appears to have been an early Roman settlement, from the
artefacts excavated during recent refurbishment work. We were ushered
into a grand wood panelled room, with solid wood furniture and large
table set with tasting glasses, plates of gorgeous fresh bread and a
wine list revealing a selection of Volxem wines (– nine before lunch and
5 afterwards), showcasing his work, since 1999 when he acquired the
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We visited the winery – which was located
in an area that looked like driving up a suburban cul-de-sac. The
property is modern, clean and efficiently intended for contemporary
winemaking. The features here were a gravity designed press house to
ensure no pumping of must and new French and American barriques and
stainless steel rather than traditional old ‘fudres’. Indeed his winery
was more like a New World winery than anything else we saw during our
trip.
The reds were a revelation and obviously a
great source of pride for Philipp, who has been awarded five times for
producing the best red wine in Germany. 
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Tasting Notes
Just in case you
imagined that Clochemerle was a figment of novelist Gabriel Chevalier’s
fertile imagination, adapted into a classic BBC comedy-drama in the
early ‘seventies – we can assure you that this village really exists
‘somewhere’ off the road from Villefranche to Beaujeu, and sports
arguably the most famous urinal in the whole of France. We know. Some of
us have even tried to use it. 
The meat was roasted Cuisses de
Volaille (free-range chicken legs). Served with their own juices on
a bed of bulgar wheat and fenugreek sprouts with a sprinkling of almond
flakes, there was more that a hint of Moroccan cuisine in this
combination. Another delicious dish, cooked to perfection.
Tasting Notes
Amuse-bouche were followed by
Petits pots d’escargots de Bourgogne aux croûtons dorés – I’m
assured they were delicious - or Terrine de Lapereau. These were
a perfect match with the Château St Jacques Beaujolais Villages 2005.
Once again this proved how well Beaujolais wines complement food.
A little train took us up to “La
Cuverie” where we saw the large scale operation. Attractive views
from the roof top reminded all of us of the super visit to the
appellations: Brouilly, Côte de Brouilly, Chénas, Chiroubles, Fleurie,
Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Régnié, and St. Amour; plus Beaujolais
and Beaujolais-Villages.
Encostas
do Condado – a 4 year old company based in the Cávado sub-region,
producing 80% whites from Loureiro, Trajadura and Arinto and 20% reds
from Vinhão. 
Kabinett's,
particularly of the recently bottled 2007, gave enticing glimpses of the
delights of a great Mosel vintage. Egon Müller’s was very attractive
with plump herby notes and I even detected a hint of incense in the
Kabinett of Bischöfliches Weingüter! The Von Kesselstatt Kabinett
Feinherb (the preferred description for Halb-Trocken – it sounds more
pleasant and can have slightly more residual sugar) was a stylish medium
dry wine. Van Volxem was showing a 2000 Kabinett, an early Roman
vintage, which showed good maturity and a hint of the glories to come
from this winery.
Ancient Catalan Varieties
