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A brief look at the past week in wine...
Bordeaux wine names get legal cover in China
Chinese authorities have agreed to protect the legal status of nearly 50 Bordeaux wine appellations in what could prove a landmark deal in the country. China appears increasingly willing to recognise the concept of geographical indications (GI), which restrict rights to certain names for specific products.
Chinese authorities recognised Bordeaux as a protected GI in June 2015 recognition and Beijing this week officially recognised all still wine appellations within the Bordeaux region. Bordeaux is the first wine region to receive recognition of such a large number of names – almost 50 appellations in total, including less well-known ones such as Bordeaux Haut Benauge and Graves de Vayres. Currently only five other international wine and spirits names have been accorded the same protection – Cognac, Champagne, Napa Valley, Scotch Whisky and Tequila.
Bordeaux’s wine bureau (CIVB) said the move would make it easier to combat forgeries and brand squatting in China.
It has been working with the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) since 2011 to achieve this recognition. Certain appellations, such as St-Julien and St-Estèphe, are also separately registered as trademarks in China.
CIVB president Bernard Farges said, ‘I salute the hugely impressive work of the AQSIQ, that has explored every detail of this complex subject. Both France and China are in full agreement on the importance of this geographic recognition.’
China remains the highest value and volume export destination for Bordeaux wines, with over 63 million bottles heading there in 2015, with a value of €277 million – over one quarter of all exports from the region.
‘Catastrophic’ hail in Chablis, Beaujolais and Cognac
Fierce hailstorms have damaged vineyards in parts of Chablis in Burgundy, plus Beaujolais and Cognac, leading the country's farming federation to declare a 'state of catastrophe' in the worst-hit areas. Hail in Chablis is expected to have severely damaged vineyards in the southern part of the famous Chardonnay region in Burgundy.
There have also been reports of serious hail damage in nearby Beaujolais and also Cognac, further west. Full damage reports were not yet known by Tuesday 31 May, but France’s national farming federation, FNSEA, has declared a ‘state of catastrophe’. One producer told France’s Le Figaro newspaper, ‘it’s Apocalypse Now’.
FNSEA’s declaration has not yet been confirmed by France’s agriculture ministry, but French agriculture minister Stéphane Le Foll said he had ‘mobilised the state’s full resources’ to assess damage and find a way to help those affected. The latest outburst from the skies marks a tough beginning to the 2016 growing season in some parts of Burgundy, and particularly Chablis.
It is the second hailstorm that some vineyards have experienced already this year and frost had already damaged some growers’ first buds in April.
This time, violent hail in southern Chablis was expected to have caused extensive damage to vineyards in the communes of Courgis, Préhy and Chichée. Some Premier Cru and Grand Cru vineyards were affected, but it was too early to know the damage due to subsequent heavy rain. That rain has forced the winemakers to delay spraying sulphur or comfrey on the leaves in the vineyards, which has increased risk of mildew.
Heavy rain during the vine flowering period can also affect yields, but it was again too early to know the extent of the problem.
English sparkling wine ‘undervalued’, says Master of Wine
Many English sparkling wines are undervalued compared to their Champagne equivalents, Stephen Skelton MW has told an international audience of 600 wine producers, buyers, marketers and media.
The renowned English wine industry consultant and Regional Chair for the UK at the Decanter World Wine Awards made the comment during a tasting of English sparkling wines at the ninth International Cool Climate Wine Symposium, this year held in Brighton.
Skelton explained that the UK currently had 2,000ha under vine in production compared with 38,000ha in Champagne, so in that context the sheer scarcity of English sparkling wine combined with demand made it more exclusive.
With the available land in the UK, he said the potential for sparkling wine production was 128 million bottles a year, compared with 310 million bottles for Champagne in its restricted production zone.
‘I don’t think in any way English sparkling wines are overpriced,’ said Skelton. ‘In fact I think many of them are undercharging for what is a very high-quality product.’ ‘Britain is famous for its fruit – strawberries, apples, blackcurrants – and rightly so; it cannot be beaten. We have great acidity from our cool climate and great physiological ripeness from our long growing season. And that’s the same for our grapes.’
Cheers!
The Grand Cru Team
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E. Guigal Tasting Evening 23rd June 2016
Grand Cru Co are delighted to host an E. Guigal wine tasting evening on the 23rd of June with special guest speaker Brett Crittenden. E. Guigal is the most famous wine producer in Côte-Rôtie and one of the finest in the Rhône Valley. It was founded by Etienne Guigal in 1946 and taken over by his son Marcel in 1961. Maison Guigal produces some exquisite single vineyard wines from all over the region. Brett Crittenden is Guigal's Brand Ambassador. He has worked in the wine industry for more than 40 years. Crittenden spent much time working for Moet and Chandon around the world before working with Guigal. He is a published wine writer and regular contributor to TV and radio as well as being a senior judge at the prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards. The evening will start at 7pm and costs £30 per ticket. For more information please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call the shop on 020 8650 0085 to get your tickets but be quick as we expect to fill up very quickly!
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Skinny Prosecco
Mmmm.... Not quite sure what to make of this.
The average glass of Prosecco is 80 calories....this new product is being marketed at 67....not really a massive gain/loss, however you want to think of it. ....you'll have to brush your hair once more (per glass), or clean your teeth again.
The general rule of thumb, is that natural sugar residue from the grapes, turns to alcohol....the riper, sweeter the grape, the higher the alcohol tends to be, and therefore more calorific ....slightly different for sparkling wines as raw sugar is added as part of the 'process'..."dosage", to balance the natural tartness.
We seem to have a product here that, all of a sudden, seems to be challenging the established way, or at least playing with it. My immediate thought is slightly sceptical.....is this someone trying to create a product that is in keeping with modern, healthy, feel good times, because no one else has?.......I'm sure time will tell. I'll happily taste it with an open mind.
May be it is a look to the future.
May be wine makers have been spot on for the past few centuries.
May be there is room for both....diet/light coke or regular coke?
As I always say to my customers, wine is like art, very personal, extremely subjective. One person's Rembrandt is another's Banksey....and long may that be the case!
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A brief look at the past week in wine...
Spanish call on French Ambassador for Answers
On Wednesday, the Spanish Foreign Ministry summoned the French ambassador, issuing a statement to Paris and the European Commission following Monday’s attacks on Spanish wine tankers.
The statement accuses France of violating basic European Union rules: ‘Spain has already officially passed on its protest to the French authorities, and urges them to adopt all appropriate measures to guarantee, with absolute security, the free movement of people and goods, one of the basic principles of the European Union.’
The incident, which saw 70,000hl of Spanish wine gushing across the French motorway, was in protest by French growers angry at cheap Spanish prices. The protestors wrote on the side of the trucks ‘wine not complaint’ in reference to Spain’s supposed weaker production regulations that allow prices to be lower.
The Spanish Federation of Freight Transportation (CETM) that protect the rights of freighters, claim the protest and subsequent attacks on the tankers were witnessed by French police and reporters who did nothing to stop the protesters.
UK based newspaper The Telegraph reported that the French region’s top state representative was filmed shortly after the tanker hijacking stating that investigations would be made into whether the Spanish wine was compliant or not. No mention was made of punishing the attackers.
Steven Spurrier praises 2015 Medoc
Spurrier praised the fruit dominant, modern style of many Bordeaux 2015 Médoc wines, in an interview on his initial impression of the vintage to Decanter.com.
‘The whole of Médoc has done very well and my line is Bordeaux is back,’ he said, speaking at Château Belgrave, where estate owner and negociant Dourthe held its primeur tasting.
‘There’s a great difference in my view between the modern style, which means making a lot of the fruit, and the old-fashioned style which is still a bit rustic.
‘It’s not like Bordeaux 10 years ago, when tannins could be hard as nails. In 2015, the fruit dominates the tannins and the acidity.
It’s not 2010, but it will ‘have a big place in people’s hearts’
Spurrier stressed that he didn’t feel the 2015 en primeur wines were quite at level of the greatest vitnages so far this century. ‘In hindsight, I think this vintage will be viewed less good than 2005, 2009 and 2010 but only fractionally less good.’ He drew comparison with 2001, adding ‘everyone says it’s less good than 2000, but everyone loves drinking it. This 2015 vitnage will have a big place in people’s hearts.’
Chateau Margaux Director dies
Paul Pontallier died this morning (28 March) on the eve of the Bordeaux 2015 en primeur campaign. Pontallier, who had been battling cancer for some time, had spent more than 30 years at first growth estate Château Margaux, joining the company in 1983 and becoming managing director in 1990 after the retirement of Philippe Barré.
He has been widely credited with significant improvements in the wine, alongside estate owner Corinne Mentzelopoulos.
Born April 22 1956, Pontallier studied at Montpellier and at the faculty of oenology in Bordeaux under the renowned Emile Peynaud, where he wrote a thesis on how red wine ages in barrel – graduating in 1981. After a short period of military service, during which he taught oenology at the Catholic University of Santiago in Chile, he joined Margaux and has been an intrinsic part of the estate ever since.
Cheers!
The Grand Cru Team
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Margaret River takes on new varietals
While Margaret River is reputed for its Chardonnay and Cabernets, some new European varieties have emerged in the region - including one from the Balkans - that are further increasing the diversity of Australian cultivars. Amato Vino is one such Margaret River producer who is stepping away from the mainstream varieties and is the first in Australia to produce the ancient Balkans variety, Slankamenka Bela.
‘I’ve always had a penchant for unusual varieties but it wasn’t until I attended an alternative varieties wine show that I decided to make wine from new plantings of Nero d’Avola, Vermentino and Grillo,’ said owner Brad Wehr. ‘The Slankamenka Bela came about by accident as I thought we had planted a Grillo – a Sicilian variety I am fond of – but after two years of trials we were doubtful the variety was actually Grillo. We undertook DNA testing and discovered it was the Slankamenka Bela, a variety nobody had ever heard of.’ This inimitable wine is medium-bodied and rushes about the mouth with zesty tropical and citrus fruit characters, with a firm line of talc-like minerality.
To pay homage to his family’s Austrian roots, Wills Domain owner Darren Haunold has introduced the first plantings of Scheurebe to the region. This aromatic grape variety, which is mainly grown in Germany and Austria, is a crossing of Riesling and Bouquet Blanc and is certainly tolerating the region’s Mediterranean climate. ‘I wanted to establish a new variety that suited both the terroir and my family’s history. The Scheurebe is grown at a slightly damper spot in the vineyard which suits the variety perfectly,’ said Haunold.
Latour 2000 attracts praise on low price
Latour released its latest set of wines on Tuesday 22 March, as part of its new strategy of putting mature wines onto the market rather than selling them before bottling under the Bordeaux en primeur system. The first wine Château Latour 2000 was released at €770 per bottle ex-négociant from Bordeaux, and was being offered by merchants in London for around £8,000 per case of 12 75cl bottles. The second wine Les Forts de Latour 2009 was released at €150 per bottle ex-négociant.
Data from fine wine trading platform Liv-ex shows that Latour 2000 was being sold at several hundred pounds more than its secondary market price; perhaps suggesting confidence that consumers would pay for the added value of the wine having come direct from Latour cellars in Pauillac. Initial reactions were broadly positive in a market that has been relatively lukewarm to the top Bordeaux wines in recent years.
In Bordeaux itself, most négociants said that Latour 2000 sold out rapidly. An exact figure for the quantity of wine released could not be obtained, but it was believed to be the entirety of stocks left at the château. The price was ‘within reason, allowing some margin to be added by the merchants’, said one broker.
Les Forts de Latour 2009 was reportedly seeing less enthusiasm, because the price offered represented a premium of around 20% on stocks already out on the market.
La Dauphine goes Biodynamic and Organic!
Château de La Dauphine, owned by the Labrune family since December 2015 and with Michel Rolland as consultant, has pressed ahead with organic and biodynamic certification despite difficult vintages during its conversion period.
In 2012, La Dauphine lost 50% of the normal crop from its 40 hectares of vines. The following year, in the even more difficult Bordeaux 2013 vintage, up to 90% of the crop was lost. ‘But we believe in this system, and carried on,’ deputy CEO Stéphanie Barousse told the press, confirming that the estate has now received both Demeter and Ecocert certification. ‘It is wonderful to be now fully certified for the excellent Bordeaux 2015 vintage, which is also back to normal yield for us.’
‘It has been a hard few years but we believe this is an important way to farm our vines, and believe this is the future for quality winemaking.’ Growing numbers of Bordeaux estates have shown interest in organic and biodynamic methods – alongside long-standing converts like Pontet-Canet and Climens. However, a recent investigative documentary aired on French television said the Bordeaux area was the biggest pesticide user in the country.
1855 classified Château Dauzac in Margaux has also signaled that it is increasing its focus on biodynamic farming. It has purchased an extra hectare of land in AOC Margaux that has laid fallow since the 1950s but will be replanted with Cabernet Sauvignon and farmed biodynamically from next year.
Cheers!
The Grand Cru Team
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Are sulfites in wine harmful?
SO2 definitely has a bad rap when it comes to popular opinion. That could have a lot to do with the terse couplet ‘contains sulfites’, legally required to grace almost all bottles of wine sold in the US since 1988, and within the EU since 2005. Only those with less than 10 parts per million (PPM) are exempted, and here’s the rub – the fermentation process can produce more than that naturally, without any added SO2, meaning that even many ‘no added sulfite’ wines must display the offending words on the label.
Does this mean sulfites in wine are harmful? Probably not, at least not in the minuscule amounts found in modern wines – typically 20-200 PPM. Compare that to a handful of dried fruit, which will have been dosed with anywhere from 500-3,000 PPM. While this amount could theoretically cause an adverse reaction in an asthmatic, it’s extremely rare: sulfite intolerance reportedly affects less than 1% of the population. Sulfites are probably not responsible for your hangover either, as Andrew Waterhouse, professor of enology at UC Davis, asserts: ‘There is no medical research data showing that sulfites cause headaches.’
Given the apparent lack of health risks, why do winemakers like Muster insist on reducing their sulfite usage to a bare minimum, or even to zero? Despite its usefulness in slowing oxidation and knocking out harmful bacteria, some believe SO2 also mutes the delicate nuances that express vintage or vineyard character, as Muster proved to me so definitively in our tasting.
What’s happening in the market?
The latest market figures from Bordeaux négociants, care of Eleanor Wine in February 2016, show that the 2013 vintage (the one that is hitting the market now, just as the 2015 en primeurs are to be tasted) is being offered at either at or below release price in 90% of cases. A full 63% has not budged in price either way, with 27% trading at below opening price and just 10% showing a rise (the best rise, with an impressive 74%, is Petit Mouton, and there is also a cheering 19% rise for the increasingly strong Chateau Carmes Haut-Brion). The percentage drops for the worst performers are not as miserable as you might think by the way – the worst drop is 7% for Pagodes Cos d’Estournel, but its release price was only 2% under that of 2012, clearly not enough for the vintage.
Even the better quality 2012 vintage has 55% of estates being offered either at or below release price, and just 45% seeing an increase since En Primeur (although this compares favourably to two years ago, in 2014, when only 17.6% had increased in price).
But the Bordelais are both super resilient and super thick skinned when it comes to valuing their wine, and it has been pretty much universally accepted that their exit prices for the 2015s are going to be higher than the last few years.
The logic of Bordeaux when it comes to pricing a quality vintage makes this a certainty, and after four years of relatively weak vintages (even if that is a little unfair to the 2014s) there is an appetite for the good stuff.
On top of that we all know that, whatever they say, the historical set up of Bordeaux means that châteaux don’t have to worry too much about whether Berry Bros, Corneys, Zachys or Watson’s are happy with the prices – they just have to worry about whether the Bordeaux négociants are going to buy.
Osbourne singles out wine trade
Wine was the only alcoholic drink not to benefit from a freeze in duty in Osborne’s Budget speech to Parliament today (16 March).
Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA), said ‘We are disappointed that 30m wine consumers have been singled out for a duty rise.’ In last year’s pre-election budget, Osborne appeased wine drinkers with a freeze on duty – but wine still fared the worst, because beer and spirit duties were cut.
Osborne’s announcement may put more financial pressure on the wine supply chain, particularly at a time when the sterling currency has weakened against the euro, effectively making it more expensive to import wine from the eurozone countries such as France, Spain and Italy.
‘The freeze in wine duty in 2015 has resulted in £118m extra in revenue to the UK Treasury in the last 10 months, up 4% [on the previous year], which makes it very unfair that wine has been penalised,’ said Beale. ‘We also deeply regret that the Government has missed this important opportunity to support the emerging English wine industry, which is a real home-grown success story that needs nurturing rather than being hit by another unfair tax increase.’
Cheers!
