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A brief look at the past week in wine...

US wine exports hit 461m litres in volume last year, with about 90% of the totals accounted for by wines from California, said the state’s Wine Institute.
The 28 states of the European Union led the way with imports totalling $622m, ahead of Canada on $461m, Hong Kong ($97m), Japan ($96m) and China ($56m). Exports of US and California wine to the UK increased by 28% in value versus 2014. However, some in the UK wine trade believe
Linsey Gallagher, the Wine Institute’s vice president international marketing, said more than 170 California wineries were now exporting to 138 countries. She added: ‘California wine exports have increased 91% by value in the last decade and we’re seeing a “premiumisation” trend, with dollar sales outpacing volume growth. 

The 3,000 bottle, private cellar of Pierre Bergé, the former managing director of Maison Yves Saint Laurent who was also the life partner of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, contains a host of old vintages from top French producers and will be up for auction on 10 March atMaison Drouot.
A bottle of Heidsieck Monopole ‘Goût Américain’ (‘American Taste’) Champagne from 1907 is expected to top the sale, with an estimate of €5,000. Among the other highlights are a rare Jeroboam of Château Climens 1921, a bottle of Château Lafite-Rothschild 1895, three bottles of Château Haut-Brion 1945, six bottles of Château Ausone 1937 and two bottles of Bollinger RD 1961.
The Burgundy region will be represented by 12 bottles of Bonne Mares Comte de Vogüe 1989, nineteen bottles of Domaine de la Romanée Conti (DRC) Echézeaux 1990, two bottles of DRC Grands Echézeaux 1961, eleven bottles of DRC Richebourg 1989, and twelve bottles of DRC La Tâche 1996.
Also from Bordeaux, the cellar contains eight bottles of Ausone 1959, three magnums of Haut-Brion 1953 and a double magnum of Haut-Brion 1959, six bottles of Latour 1959 and two jeroboams of Mouton-Rothschild, from 1975 and 1978.
Champagne will be notably represented by two bottles of Bollinger RD 1961 (disgorged on 15 April 1969), two magnums of Dom Pérignon 1975, and five bottles of Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 1961.
The Heisdsieck Monopole 1907 comes from a shipwreck. In 1916, Heidsieck Monopole shipped 3,000 bottles to the Imperial Russian Army, aboard the schooner Jönköping. But, on 3 November 1916, the Jönköping was attacked and sunk by a German submarine. In July 1998, at the eastern point of the Baltic Sea, a Swedish submarine expedition found the wreck of the Jönköping at a depth of 300 ft and succeeded in salvaging 2,400 bottles. 

Burgundy estate Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) topped the annual Sotheby’s Wine Ranking for the third year in a row, with more than US$10m-worth of wine sold during the year. The top 10 list, now in its third year, calculates fine wine sales from Sotheby’s auctions and retail operations, with the aim of creating a ‘high-level snapshot’ of global demand for fine wine.
Sotheby’s auction receipts totalled $60.4m in 2015, down 7.5% on the year before despite a number of high-profile, single owner auctions and direct from the winery sales.
Burgundy was the big winner last year, accounting for 40% of Sotheby’s total sales (up from 26%), not far behind Bordeaux’s share of 46% (down from 62%). DRC alone accounted for 17% of the company’s worldwide sales.
Burgundy en primeur resultsAn auction of wines direct from Château Mouton Rothschild in January last year helped elevate Mouton to second place on the list, overtaking Pétrus, Château Lafite Rothschild and Château Latour with total sales of $6.1m – still some distance behind DRC at $10.3m.
Another sale of wines direct from Château Margaux lifted the property into fourth spot, despite a slight fall in total sales.
But of the six Bordeaux properties in the top 10, only Mouton recorded an increase in sales last year, in contrast to leading Burgundy domaines DRC (up 16%), Armand Rousseau (up 88%) and Georges Roumier (up 113%).
Asian buyers accounted for 52% of sales (down slightly from 55% last year), compared to 30% from North America (24% in 2014), 15% from Europe (18% in 2014) and 3% from Latin America (2% in 2014).
The top-grossing lot of the year was a six-bottle case of DRC 1990, which fetched $158,000 in Hong Kong. 

Cheers! 

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EXCLUSIVE MOTHERS DAY PROMOTION!

 

Looking for Mothers Day inspiration? Look no further!

What better way to say you love her than with a delicious bottle of her favourite wine and a hand crafted bouquet of flowers?

We have an exclusive offer in conjunction with the Beckenham Flower Studio on the High Street. Grab a 10% off voucher this week with every purchase made here at Grand Cru Co.

Make mum feel extra special with our Janisson-Baradon champagne. It's utterly fab and only £18.95 a bottle! We have a huge selection of wines, so pop in and we'll help you pick out a bottle she loves from just £8.50.

Go on, spoil her, she deserves it!

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Welcome to the World of Wine News, a quick glimpse at whats been happening in and around wine in general.

There are 1,368 known wine grape varieties. But 80 percent of the world’s wine production comes from 20. Of the remaining vitis vinifera, hundreds are at risk of going the way of the dodo. For instance, 155 Mediterranean endangered varieties are planted on less than 24 acres, according to the French Wine Mosaic Project, one of several institutions whose sole purpose is saving grapes from the abyss. Many grapes on the lengthy endangered list are at-risk for good reason: They make lousy wine. But several are not just drinkable, but damn delicious and deserve to be tasted. Below are several rarities worth trying. Pour them and you’ll not only expand your palate, you’ll help bring these varieties back from the brink. 

Abouriou: A high-tannin, low-acid red grape, it’s planted on 800 acres in southern France and a few acres in California.
Producer: Old World Winery (Russian River Valley)

Abrustine: So at-risk, researchers are unclear how many actual vines exist of this native Tuscan red grape.
Producer: Podere Santa Felicita (Tuscany)

Altesse: A white grape found in France’s mountainous Savoie region.
Producer: Domaine Nicolas Gonin (Savoie)

Charbono: Grown on less than 250 acres in California, the grape is being revived by several notable producers. Charbono is the same grape as Argentine Bonarda and French Corbeau.
Producers: August Briggs, Bonny Doon, Pacific Star, Robert Foley and Villa Helena

Erbaluce: This ancient variety from Piedmont was first written about in 1606, and it’s grown on 780 acres. It can be made in a number of styles, but seek it out as a passito-style dessert wine.
Producer: Luigi Ferrando (Piedmont)

 

The Premiere Napa Valley auction 2016 included 226 unique ‘micro-lots’ of between 60 and 240 bottles each, all of them hand-labelled, individually numbered and signed by the winemaker. Nearly 200 came from the acclaimed 2014 vintage. For the first time, wine trade bidders from all over the world were allowed to bid online for 26 of the 226 wines, via the E-Premiere Napa Valley Online Auction. Top lots at this year’s event included wines from Italics Winegrowers, Memento Mori, Nine Suns, Realm Cellars, Shafer Vineyards, Duckhorn Vineyards and Silver Oak Cellars.

The 2016 auction coincided with the death of one of California’s wine pioneers in the 20th Century, Peter Mondavi, albeit the news was not announced until later in the weekend. There were many words of tribute on social media by Monday (22 February). More than 1,000 wine professionals attended the event, which is open to licensed members of the trade to buy wines for their customers, and is the longest-running regional barrel auction of wine futures in the US.

‘We’re thrilled with the results and we had a great day sharing our wines with our partners in the trade,’ said Doug Shafer of Shafer Vineyards, this year’s Premiere Napa Valley steering committee chair. ‘Over the past 20 years, Premiere has helped Napa Valley’s vintners to really push the quality envelope. Because of this event, I believe we’re all making even better wines.’

 

An alliance of campaign groups, including Confédération Paysanne and Générations Futures, urged people to take part in the Bordeaux pesticide protest last Sunday (14 February). Organisers reported a ‘great success’ for the event after seeing an estimated 600 protesters join them in the streets.

The move follows a television documentary on France 2 entitled ‘pesticides, our children at risk’, which pin-pointed the Gironde region that includes Bordeaux as one of the biggest pesticide users in France. More than 3m people watched the documentary, including the president of the Bordeaux wine council (CIVB), Bernard Farges. He told Decanter.com that he watched ‘the whole documentary, from start to finish, with careful attention’.

The other bodies involved in organising Sunday’s march were Collectif Alerte Pesticides Léognan, Les Amis de la Terre and Allassac ONGF. Générations Futures, an environmental campaign group, said that pesticides was ‘no longer just an issue for winemakers’. It was something that now concerned everybody in society, it said.

The CIVB has said little since the documentary, but stated that 45% of Bordeaux winemakers are registered as using sustainable agriculture, which includes a commitment to cut pesticide use.

 

 

 

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What a lovely sunny day! Exactly what the doctor ordered! Well, that and a nice bottle of plonk to make it that little bit brighter. This week we have a few random bottles open of different styles to give you an idea of what you might enjoy as we slowly approach summer once again!

Chateau Teyssier 2009 @ £15.95 - Buy it here!

Hugel Classic Riesling 2013 @ £15.45 - Buy it here!

Errazuriz Wild Ferment Pinot Noir 2014 @ £14.95 - Buy it here!

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Brrrrrrr! It's freezing today so we've opened some delicious warming reds for you to try this week. We've a Syrah from northern Rhone, a Pinotage from South Africa and a huge Bordeaux from Pomerol as well as the biggest Malbec you will have ever come across! Pop in to warm up and try a sample.

 

Colombo et Fille Crozes Hermitage 2013 @ £13.95 - Buy it here!

Warwick Estate Pinotage 2013 @ £13.95 - Buy it here!

Christian Moeuix Pomerol 2010 @ £21.95 - Buy it here!

Chakana Ayni Malbec @ £21.25 - Buy it here!

 

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This Sunday is Valentines day and we all know what that means! Chocolates, flowers, wine and relaxation all around! Why not take this opportunity to come down to the shop and get 10% off of our Entire range of sparkling wines, from Prosecco to Champagne it's all included. What about wines of the week you say?

 

 

Rive della Chiesa Prosecco NV @ £9.99 - Buy it here!

Ca' Morlin Rosato Spumante NV @ £12.95 - Buy it here!

Ca' di Alte Prosecco Spumante Extra Dry DOC NV @ £12.95 - Buy it here!

We also have our new Prosecco and Italian sparkling Pink open for tasting as well as our house Prosecco too so it really is the perfect chance to come down and have a try of these gorgeous sparkling wines. Fruity and bubbly and definitely the present to choose.

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